Houston Public Golf is BRUTAL

[Troy_McClure]

Is it really this bad? 

 

$135 to play Blackhorse South 

$156 at GCOH

$93 at Cypresswood... on THOSE greens....

 

all of this, in the dead of winter. 

 

I am in despair. 

[SC-TX 88]

It’s terrible. For the year round weather we have the public courses are trash.  Woodforest was the only good public course and it went fully private. 

[Troy_McClure]

I’m a fan of High Meadow Ranch but even they are $99 on weekends now. 
 

$100 to tee it up on an okay public track is crazy. Inflation is real. 

[Troy_McClure]

17 hours ago, SC-TX 88 said:

It’s terrible. For the year round weather we have the public courses are trash.  Woodforest was the only good public course and it went fully private. 

I don't live far from WoFo. Toyed with the idea of joining, but after playing it, it's simply not worth the $. 

[ND2005]

I have lived in 5 states, all different types of climates. 

 

Houston is BY FAR the worst golf city I've lived in. 

 

I pretty much only play Memorial Park or Gus Wortham, depending on when I get a tee time (which requires either staying up til midnight seven days in advance for Gus, or waking up at 5:55am 14 days in advance for Memorial)

[Troy_McClure]

1 hour ago, ND2005 said:

I have lived in 5 states, all different types of climates. 

 

Houston is BY FAR the worst golf city I've lived in. 

 

I pretty much only play Memorial Park or Gus Wortham, depending on when I get a tee time (which requires either staying up til midnight seven days in advance for Gus, or waking up at 5:55am 14 days in advance for Memorial)

Memorial is nice, but it isn't all that in my opinion. It's tough for me to really love Bermuda courses, they just don't usually pass the eye test. 
Playing Highland Pines tomorrow since a friend is a starter there and I get it reduced. Zoysia to the rescue. 

 

Anyone with experience at The Wilderness in Lake Jackson? Bit of a drive from the north side but heard good things and the rates on the weekend are in the $70's. 

[ND2005]

14 minutes ago, Troy_McClure said:

Memorial is nice, but it isn't all that in my opinion. It's tough for me to really love Bermuda courses, they just don't usually pass the eye test. 
Playing Highland Pines tomorrow since a friend is a starter there and I get it reduced. Zoysia to the rescue. 

 

Anyone with experience at The Wilderness in Lake Jackson? Bit of a drive from the north side but heard good things and the rates on the weekend are in the $70's. 

Wilderness is a really good layout, however they had some issues this year and lost several greens. They are renovating soon I think, but not planning to make the trek down there until I am sure they are in better condition. 
 

Memorial I actually think the greens are the best feature of the course. Really fun/tough green complexes. I live less than 10 min away and get the city of Houston rate so it’s a no-brainer. I need to get someone smarter than me to write some code to auto-reserve the tee times when the window opens. 

[Troy_McClure]

22 minutes ago, ND2005 said:

Wilderness is a really good layout, however they had some issues this year and lost several greens. They are renovating soon I think, but not planning to make the trek down there until I am sure they are in better condition. 
 

Memorial I actually think the greens are the best feature of the course. Really fun/tough green complexes. I live less than 10 min away and get the city of Houston rate so it’s a no-brainer. I need to get someone smarter than me to write some code to auto-reserve the tee times when the window opens. 

Greens, absolutely. I haven't played since the week before it closed for HOU Open but I enjoyed it. Again, visually for me, meh... greens were great though, penalizes hard for missing on the wrong side. Hit 15/18 GIR and shot 72. Greens are smarter than me. 

Shame to hear about Wilderness, I'd rather not do the 5am starts and go play further away since it's basically a wash with gas costs, but Austin, here we come. 

[Anonymous Hack]

On 1/14/2023 at 12:34 PM, ND2005 said:

I have lived in 5 states, all different types of climates. 

 

Houston is BY FAR the worst golf city I've lived in. 

 

I pretty much only play Memorial Park or Gus Wortham, depending on when I get a tee time (which requires either staying up til midnight seven days in advance for Gus, or waking up at 5:55am 14 days in advance for Memorial)

Does anybody have any tips for getting these early weekend times at Memorial/Gus. I do this every week and it's exhausting and extremely obvious that most of the times are slotted before they open it up to the public. There is no way a bunch of geezers are beating me to these tee times when I'm refreshing the page at midnight or 6am on the dot. Who do I have to pay?

[ND2005]

19 hours ago, Anonymous Hack said:

Does anybody have any tips for getting these early weekend times at Memorial/Gus. I do this every week and it's exhausting and extremely obvious that most of the times are slotted before they open it up to the public. There is no way a bunch of geezers are beating me to these tee times when I'm refreshing the page at midnight or 6am on the dot. Who do I have to pay?

 

Usually if I log on exactly on time I'll get something early. Maybe not 7am but reasonable. 

 

I suspect there's a number of people out there who've written a script to automate it. 

[SEP1006]

20 hours ago, Anonymous Hack said:

Does anybody have any tips for getting these early weekend times at Memorial/Gus. I do this every week and it's exhausting and extremely obvious that most of the times are slotted before they open it up to the public. There is no way a bunch of geezers are beating me to these tee times when I'm refreshing the page at midnight or 6am on the dot. Who do I have to pay?

 

 

No offense. But if somebody did have any tips or ways that assure them an early tee time, they sure as he!! aren't going to post it here or anywhere else for that matter.

 

Good luck though!!!!

[SnowbirdTom]

It's gotten worse on local greens fees.  Cinco Ranch, Meadowbrook Farms and the rest of the beat to death courses in the Katy area are demanding premium pricing for threadbare playing conditions. 

 

I played Memorial yesterday and was shocked at how wide the fairways were for a PGA tour stop.  IIRC, I missed exactly one fairway with a pulled driver, but still had a clean shot back into play.  The overseeding is filling in, but the greens are heavily oversanded and the new green on 17 is horrendously hard packed.  

 

Cypress Lakes was less than impressive also.  

[Lobby]

Do folks not consider Clear Creek a good option?

 

I played it a lot when I loved there

[jacob7071]

I think Clear Creek is a good option if you don't go in expecting it to be more than what it is.  It's a relatively cheap public course, so it's always crowded.  Don't expect to play in under 4 hours.  I actually think the conditions are pretty good for the price point.  The rough seems to be more hardpan than grass, but if they watered it and kept the carts off and allowed it to grow, it would probably be more expensive, and the pace of play would slow down while people look for balls.  I tend to go to Clear Creek when I just want to hit a golf ball around and don't want to pay much.  But I'll always choose Gus if I can get a tee time b/c it's about the same price and a much nicer course.  

 

I don't know how long ago you lived there, but 15-20 years ago, you could hit it anywhere at Clear Creek and still play it.  Within the past 5 years or so, they've let some native areas grow in between some of the fairways.  I like it better like that, but you'll lose some golf balls with a really bad shot.  

 

Back to the OP's comment, yes, awful public golf options in Houston.  Worse than any city I've played in.

Edited December 4, 2023 by jacob7071

[snagy2000]

Awful public courses outside of a handful. I live in Greatwood and they only water, very little btw, the greens and tees. Fairways have huge cracks and tons of areas which use to have grass are nothing but dirt. What was once one of the best courses in Houston has hit rock bottom after the developer sold the course many years ago. Needless to say, I've only played it once in the last 10 years. Southwest side of town really only has a few privates which tend to be in better than average condition. Hearing really good thing about Highland Pines, but it's an hour drive from my area. 

[SC-TX 88]

Highland Pines is pretty much the only public in Houston I’ll play right now. Greens still need some time to grow in but they do a great job with the course there. 

[ND2005]

12 hours ago, snagy2000 said:

Awful public courses outside of a handful. I live in Greatwood and they only water, very little btw, the greens and tees. Fairways have huge cracks and tons of areas which use to have grass are nothing but dirt. What was once one of the best courses in Houston has hit rock bottom after the developer sold the course many years ago. Needless to say, I've only played it once in the last 10 years. Southwest side of town really only has a few privates which tend to be in better than average condition. Hearing really good thing about Highland Pines, but it's an hour drive from my area. 

 

Highland Pines is a REALLY fun track. I like it a lot. But, similar to you it is a solid hour drive (~40) miles for me. I'm just not willing to do that on any kind of routine basis - spending 4.5 to 5 hours on a round is bad enough, but then chalking up 2 hours commute on top of that just eats up your whole day. 

 

I am screwed with my location - my job requires me to be on-site by 6:30 multiple days a week, so I am not willing to move out to the burbs. Every decent course (except the munis) is a trek for me, and the clubs I would be interested in joining are so far I doubt I would get decent use out of them. 

 

I will just continue to spend my golf money on golf tourism instead until something changes. 

[skaarsgard]

On 1/14/2023 at 12:34 PM, ND2005 said:

I have lived in 5 states, all different types of climates. 

 

Houston is BY FAR the worst golf city I've lived in. 

 

I pretty much only play Memorial Park or Gus Wortham, depending on when I get a tee time (which requires either staying up til midnight seven days in advance for Gus, or waking up at 5:55am 14 days in advance for Memorial)

Agreed - I'm from the SF bay area and while pricing is likely worse there, I think only Scottsdale and Orlando can compete with the quality and abundance of SF/ Napa/ East Bay and Moterrey.  

 

Been in Houston for about 5 years and the public tracks are pretty much few and far between.  

 

Clear Creek (if you're into cheap golf) is a good deal.   their membership is $60 per month with $20 weekdays and $30 weekends.   Real fun track, green keepers keep f-ing up the winters but its the best deal around I'd say.  I'm there twice a week minimum

[Deng808]

I attribute the greens fee boom a product of 2020. 
 

Personal opinion it’s so frustrating knowing I can’t just roll out to the courses I used to play at 3pm and run thru a round in two hours. 

 

With that said golf is golf to me so I’ve adjusted. I play Sharpstown most frequently (it’s so easy to make a tee time) and occasionally if I know I can play ahead of time I’ll play anywhere in Houston. 
 

Houston golf isn’t brutal it’s actually great it’s the over priced greens fees and over saturation of players thats brutal.

[ND2005]

On 2/10/2024 at 5:50 PM, Deng808 said:

 

Houston golf isn’t brutal it’s actually great

 

It really isn't. A large part of it is topography and soil (fancy way of saying Houston is a flat mud pit). 

 

The quality of the public courses is really not good - from an architectural standpoint as well as a conditions standpoint.

 

Then you throw in the driving distances, the costs, the overcrowdedness/pace of play - and the picture gets even bleaker. 

[FlaShFTW]

On 2/10/2024 at 5:50 PM, Deng808 said:

I attribute the greens fee boom a product of 2020. 
 

Personal opinion it’s so frustrating knowing I can’t just roll out to the courses I used to play at 3pm and run thru a round in two hours. 

 

With that said golf is golf to me so I’ve adjusted. I play Sharpstown most frequently (it’s so easy to make a tee time) and occasionally if I know I can play ahead of time I’ll play anywhere in Houston. 
 

Houston golf isn’t brutal it’s actually great it’s the over priced greens fees and over saturation of players thats brutal.

Clear Creek has the potential for really fast rounds. Went out there in 2022 a bunch and you could race around the course in the afternoons like around 3pm. Gets even more wide open on cold/rainy days or during the summers.

 

If you can bear the Houston heat, summer walk-ons at Memorial, from my experience, are pretty solid if you just want a quick 9 later in the afternoon or even a full 18 if you get on the waitlist at a reasonable time. Memorial holds open the tee times at the half hour mark (8:30, 9:30, etc) for walk-ons as an FYI so if you show up to the course at 6:15 in the morning, especially as a single, you can get on the 8:30 time or at minimum, the 9:30 time. My friends and I would take turns waking up super early to wait at the pro shop at 6am to be the first ones there to guarantee the 8:30 slot. 

 

Agree with ND2005 though that Houston public golf is a crap shoot. The only good budget options that are in good shape (Memorial and Gus) are impossible to get a tee time, otherwise a cheaper course would mean Hermann Park or Sharpstown, both of which are not maintained the best. Good enough if you have novice friends who want a casual round though. Even Clear Creek is 72 dollars for a weekend round now. 

[TXGOLFJUNKIE]

Highland Pines will have some issues getting the zoysia to come back after the winter. The greens are just about as thin grass wise as any other course in the area. I just hope the owners keep HP in better shape than the other courses in their network...Augusta Pines and Gleannloch Pines are just about doo-doo level. 

 

High Meadow Ranch is a great track but it's 4.5+ hours on the weekdays. I can't imagine the pace on the weekends. 

 

I do miss the pre-covid days where you could play Tour 18 for $35 weekday mornings, Panorama was $22 weekday afternoons and Memorial was $49 to ride. Of course, golfnow was actually worth something back in 2019-2021.

 

Just find some buddies that are members somewhere and whore yourself out. Seriously...I do it and eventually you find a good arrangement with someone. He provides the golf, I provide the booze, coke, hookers, gold bars, etc. 

[MGN01]

Been living in Houston since 1997 and been transferred on work to various states but had to come back here as home base of work.  Yes, public golf is inadequate for the demand and its gotten worse.  My most recent posting was 3 years in Columbus, Ohio, and it is a mecca for muni golf.  Some lovely courses with terrain and well kept fairways and greens at a reasonable price.  And...you won't die playing on a July afternoon!  Shouldn't complain since Houston has been a good base for a Chemical Engineer like myself at least from a livelihood standpoint.  As I approach retirement, I am now considering some Country Clubs.  I live in Southwest Houston and am open to any suggestions apart from Sweetwater (which I've played quite a bit and is in contention).  Thanks.

[SnowbirdTom]

Three winters in Houston/Katy snowbirding and the best deal I found pricewise was to join Willow Fork CC on a flex membership. Allowed unlimited golf after 1PM with low quarterly F&B (good food!/don't drink alcohol), full range and practice facility access and 7 day advance booking for tee times. I walked every round, so no cart fees. Entry fee was a smallish write off and monthly dues were about the same as four rounds of decent public golf.  I lived 5 minutes away, played 3-5 times a week, made several good friends there and really enjoyed the experience.  Even won the 2 man Christmas scramble much to my amusement!  😁

 

The month I resigned my membership to come back to Michigan, a new group of owners took over the club and were sinking some serious $$ into needed repairs and maintenance.  Unknown to me if the monthly dues have gone up now, but I'd expect it.

 

Sadly, we won't be back as my son moved home to Michigan with us.  We'll probably do a couple month long AirBnB trips around the country for winter golf this year.

[YellowV1x]

18 hours ago, MGN01 said:

Been living in Houston since 1997 and been transferred on work to various states but had to come back here as home base of work.  Yes, public golf is inadequate for the demand and its gotten worse.  My most recent posting was 3 years in Columbus, Ohio, and it is a mecca for muni golf.  Some lovely courses with terrain and well kept fairways and greens at a reasonable price.  And...you won't die playing on a July afternoon!  Shouldn't complain since Houston has been a good base for a Chemical Engineer like myself at least from a livelihood standpoint.  As I approach retirement, I am now considering some Country Clubs.  I live in Southwest Houston and am open to any suggestions apart from Sweetwater (which I've played quite a bit and is in contention).  Thanks.

 

I just looked at BraeBurn, Westwood, and Riverbend.  All were good depending on what you are looking for.  If price isn't a consideration then I thought BraeBurn was the best overall.  Riverbend is the least expensive of the three and possibly the best deal on a country club in Houston (certainly of the three that I looked at).  Westwood was a very good course, but it is golf only (no pool or tennis).

[MGN01]

4 hours ago, YellowV1x said:

 

I just looked at BraeBurn, Westwood, and Riverbend.  All were good depending on what you are looking for.  If price isn't a consideration then I thought BraeBurn was the best overall.  Riverbend is the least expensive of the three and possibly the best deal on a country club in Houston (certainly of the three that I looked at).  Westwood was a very good course, but it is golf only (no pool or tennis).

Thanks, bud.  

[TM golf guy]

23 hours ago, MGN01 said:

Been living in Houston since 1997 and been transferred on work to various states but had to come back here as home base of work.  Yes, public golf is inadequate for the demand and its gotten worse.  My most recent posting was 3 years in Columbus, Ohio, and it is a mecca for muni golf.  Some lovely courses with terrain and well kept fairways and greens at a reasonable price.  And...you won't die playing on a July afternoon!  Shouldn't complain since Houston has been a good base for a Chemical Engineer like myself at least from a livelihood standpoint.  As I approach retirement, I am now considering some Country Clubs.  I live in Southwest Houston and am open to any suggestions apart from Sweetwater (which I've played quite a bit and is in contention).  Thanks.

Black Hawk is nice, just a bit steeper than Sweetwater or Sugar Creek on initiation. Sugar Creek is also in the same general area you’re looking for, and a good track. Facilities are older, but the course is good.