Quail Valley CC (Mo City) is now open to the public

[xplyboy]

As of July 4, Quail Valley is open to the public for play. The course opens Tues-Sunday(Monday closed).

 

Green Fee = $23

Cart= $12/half cart

 

Those fees are for any day anytime. Starting Aug 1, they will have twilite(after 4pm) for $15 green fee.

Just thought I'd let everyone know if they didn't already.

[TM golf guy]

Is the course in bad shape? I haven't been out there in a long time.

[xplyboy]

Is the course in bad shape? I haven't been out there in a long time.

 

Haven't been out there either but I do know one of the 18 is closed but planned to be opened after renovations. Apparently the city is trying to renovate everything about the course. Plant flowers, trim trees, etc. You can go to missouricitytx.gov for all the info.

[TM golf guy]

Thanks for the info. I knew the city took over, but I didn't know it was already open. Maybe I will go out there one day next week and give it a go.

[xplyboy]

Thanks for the info. I knew the city took over, but I didn't know it was already open. Maybe I will go out there one day next week and give it a go.

 

No problem. If you get out there b4 I do, please let us know of the conditions.

[xplyboy]

Um update on Quail Valley...

 

No go. Played there yesterday and the conditions were pretty bad. The front nine was horrible but the back got a little better. All the sands were just dried up mud. Unless the city does a major renovation, I will never go back there which is a shame cause I live 5 minutes from there.

 

I really wanted to like it!

[Hoover98]

Amazing that they used to play the Houston Open there, and it was THE place to live in the area 30 years ago.

[southtown817]

Bump. Anyone play in the last week or so? May go out there tomorrow.

[clmax]

southtown,

 

Did you end up playing there? If so, perhaps you could provide an update.

 

Also, is this course very well suited for walking?

 

Thanks,

-Greg

[generalpatton]

Amazing that they used to play the Houston Open there, and it was THE place to live in the area 30 years ago.

 

I lived in Quail Valley and belonged to the club from '99 to 2005 when I moved away. It was still a pretty good place until it was sold to the owners Missouri City took over from in 2002 or so. They started doing a lot of weird stuff to try and generate cash like selling off property, etc. The original course and the one the Houston Open was played on was a combination of holes on what would become the 2 18's - LaQunita and Eldorado. Once a year they used to have a tournament where they would put the course back to the original layout and you could play it that way.

 

It was the place to be in Houston for a time. Frank Beard, drummer of ZZ Top built the big house with the pool on the tee of #2 LaQuinta. I think most of the Houston Oilers from the "luv ya blue" days lived out there. The State Farm office out on hwy. 6 just outside QV used to be Bum Phillips house I'm told.

 

I believe the course the city has open is the LaQuinta course as that's the one that was left open at the end. If so, they had re-built the greens with tif-eagle right before I left and they were really nice. There were a couple of holes though that became too fast and you couldn't hold an iron on them, #6 for instance.

 

As for walking, it's an easy course to walk as far as terrain but there's a lot of distance between greens and tees in some cases. Also, the courses are "links style" in that they don't loop back to the clubhouse at #9, you go out and don't come back until #18. There used to be halfway houses, not sure if those are still open or not.

[Hoover98]

My anut and uncle live in QV and he said they are going to re-open the El Dorado course, also. Its a pretty crappy situation they all had to go through, but maybe the city's help will revive the place a little - it surely needed it.

[fgazra]

I played there 3 weeks ago. the course was in good condition and the greens were fast and hard. :clapping:

[liongolf_ike]

I played there 3 weeks ago. the course was in good condition and the greens were fast and hard. :clapping:

 

 

Theres no way you played at Quail Valley three weeks ago. I live right near the course and it isnt even open. hmm

[RickK]

This is an "unofficial" update on what is going on at Quail Valley. I don't work there, I just play golf there.

The El Dorado course is being totally rebuilt with many water hazards expanded or being added. The watering system is being installed presently and once it is completed grass can be planted. Then it is up to mother nature to make it grow. Planned opening for the totally rebuilt El Dorado course is early 2010. Obviously routing of the course could not be changed since it is built inside the Quail Valley subdivision. But, the old course was bulldozed up and they started the shaping of each hole, placement of hazards, and such pretty much from scratch. The new course will have significant more mounding than did the old El Dorado course.

As far as the LaQuinta course is concerned, the weather has not been kind. When the city took over, the irrigation system for the course was in horrible shape and failing. A totally new irrigation system had to be installed. Rather than just do a plug and fix scenario, new piping, controls, pumps, and sprinkler heads have been installed. Unfortuantely, we have had very little rain and they have had to hand water the greens but have been unable to water the fairways and tee boxes. This has led to the course looking pretty much burnt up and hard...other than the greens which are in great shape. Also, once the city took over, they came in and worked on the sand traps which had gotten in horrible shape under the prior management. Now they have nice white soft sand in them. They look great. The new watering system should have been turned on this week and I believe I read where it has been. If so, this will mean the course should be back in pretty good shape within a month. I should add...there have been inherent problems for years with the green on the par 3 #5 hole. Also, the bulkhead in front of the green was in dangerously poor condition. A decision was made to rebuild the #5 green complex totally. That is underway. Hole #6 tee box has been turned into a temporary green for hole #5 and hole #6 has been shortened with the tee box being moved forward. The temporary green is what it is and what you should expect for a temporary green...pretty bad. But, it sure is a challenging shot with water in front of the tee box and all along the entire right side and beyond the hole.

Also, they have reopened the grille and the food is very good.

 

Those of us who have played there for years are anxiously awaiting the opening of the El Dorado course. But, now that the LaQuinta course can be watered completely with the new redesigned irrigation system...we feel that LaQuinta will once again be a quality track.

 

Sorry to be longwinded but wanted to give as much info as I could.

[b_smith07]

Man I didnt realize all of this was goin on since I left the south houston area for college two years ago. QV has the opportunity to become a great track and it looks like its well underway. I played many HGA junior tournaments out there on the La Quinta course i beleive (the one that has the par three along the road near the entrance and the dog-leg right par 4 right after it with water short). I enjoyed playing out there....it definetly rewards hitting fairways and greens and is more of a position-golf course rather than a bombers alley - something not a lot of courses are nowadays. I sure hope Mo City can turn this place into the gem it once was!

[guymsullaway]

[quote name='b_smith07' post='1763046' date='Jun 18 2009, 01:51 AM']Man I didnt realize all of this was goin on since I left the south houston area for college two years ago. QV has the opportunity to become a great track and it looks like its well underway. I played many HGA junior tournaments out there on the La Quinta course i beleive (the one that has the par three along the road near the entrance and the dog-leg right par 4 right after it with water short). I enjoyed playing out there....it definetly rewards hitting fairways and greens and is more of a position-golf course rather than a bombers alley - something not a lot of courses are nowadays. I sure hope Mo City can turn this place into the gem it once was![/quote]


That is the el dorado course. I played there a few weeks ago and i can attest that the previous comments are correct. La Quinta is in okay shape (i have seen it better); however, it is TREMENDOUSLY better since the new management has taken over. The greens are still a little firm, but should grow in nicely.

Like everybody else, I too am eagrly awaiting the changes to el Dorado. I know that they are adding more fairway bunkers to number one, making number 10 into a par 5 (adding a "moat" around the green and moving it back and to the left 120ish yards) and are completely reshaping EVERYTHING about holes 13-15. Was not able to walk the course last time i was out there (tried and got kicked off for being in the construction area)

From what i have heard, El Dorado is supposed to be a top 5 in houston after they are done....

[RickK]

Another "unofficial" update on Quail Valley.

The par 3 #5 on the La Quinta course was rebuilt pretty much from scratch...new bulkhead, new bunkers, redesigned totally. Rumor has it that it will reopen for play Labor Day weekend and at that time the tee box for #6 will go back to its original location which is now being used as a temporary green for #5.

The new irrigation system is working with a few problems still to be worked out. Not going to kid you, La Quinta is still rough around the edges where all the irrigation system work went on but the healing process is underway.

All but one green is in great shape. The green on #6 had to be patched but the problems are really around the endges of the green and not in play. The tee boxes for the most part are in good shape also.

As far as the El Dorado course is concerned, all the new greens are in place and grass is growing. The bunkers are in and the areas around the bunkers and around the greens have all been sodded. They are pumping an abundant amount of water on the new grass. To the best of my knowledge, all the new cart paths are in. From what you can see, the course is going to be a good test of golf. Looking forward to it opening...just hope they don't open it too quickly just for the revenue stream.

[RickK]

Another unofficial update on Quail Valley.....

The ElDorado course is set to re-open, totally redone...not just renovated. It will open for play Friday after Thanksgiving. It has been a long time coming.

Don't expect to be off the cart paths before spring, or so I have heard, which is great. Otherwise, it would get beat up during the winter months and take a long time to heal.

[swbyps]

I lived there from about '81 to '88 and it was the place to be back then. Those were my high school and college years. My family belonged to the club and there were 4 courses back then...ElDorado, LaQuinta, Executive 9, and a par 3 course. It was great! I played ElDorado with my dad at the beginning of this year and it was in good shape.

[RickK]

If you played the beginning of this year (2009), you would have had to play the La Quinta course. The Eldorado course was closed by the former owners about 2 years ago now. When the City of Missouri City took it over in June of 2008, El Dorado was overgrown in weeds. La Quinta early this year was definitely in great shape. It got a little rough around the edges this summer and there are still scars where the new irrigation system was put in. But, overall...it is really in darn good shape considering what it has been thru.

The El Dorado course, when it opens later this month, will have the same routing as the old El Dorado course did (not much way to change that due to it running thru the housing community) but the course itself has undergone massive changes. I figured they would just come in and redo the greens, bunkers and tee boxes plus add new irrigation. Man was I ever surprised. They came in with earth moving equipment and stripped it down to the bare earth, then started moving dirt around, digging new lakes, reshaping and contouring everything. It will be a much more modern looking golf course.

As far as the old Par 3 course and the Executive course...that land will probably never be used for anything golf related again. Lots of discussion amongst the city fathers about how the land should be used. For all practical purposes, it will remain parkland (supposedly) just not golf course.

[TXGOLFJUNKIE]

Someone keep posting updates on the quality of this course. I would like to play it in the near future.

[swbyps]

[quote name='RickKimbrell' post='2045882' date='Nov 4 2009, 04:21 PM']If you played the beginning of this year (2009), you would have had to play the La Quinta course. The Eldorado course was closed by the former owners about 2 years ago now.[/quote]

Yep...You are right about that. It was La Quinta we played. It had probably been 20 years since I played out there.

[RickK]

Played the newly redesigned El Dorado course on Thanksgiving weekend. Play will be cart path only for some time. They do not want carts on the course since the grass is a bit sparse and it is not growing season for grass.

It seems they did what they could to lengthen every hole, considering it is surrounded by housing about all that could be done was push the tee boxes back and move the greens back. It did add some needed length. Mounding was created by using dirt excavated by digging more ponds. One very noticable change is the size of the greens. They are much larger than the original El Dorado greens were. And, the new greens have more undulation than the original greens...where most of the sloping was just back to front or some slight side to side. All the bunkers are new and the number of them increased. Some of the bunkering added really does not come into play for the average golfer but it certainly looks nice.

As far as the water that was added, for the most part much of it should not come into play as it is fairly close to the tee boxes. However a few holes were made more narrow by expanding some of the pre-existing water hazards. Holes that come into mind are #5 and #17.

The greens were very smooth but hard and not really receptive to shots. This was expected since all the greens are new. Lots of great pin placements on the holes.

Overall, really liked the changes to the golf course. If you play it, expect the grass to be thin in many of the fairways. It just has not had time to grown in properly. And, unless there has been a lot of rain, don't try flying the ball all the way to the flag.