Memorial Park Golf Course

While the routing remains much the same, the new Memorial Park Golf Course is stunning, and will be even more impressive once it matures.

Designer Tom Doak and the folks at Renaissance Golf have breathed new life into what was already considered a pretty decent municipal. Now it will be one of the best in the country and just the second muni to play host to a PGA Tour event.

The course now has way more interesting greens, less than half the bunkers than it had before and the holes now make good use of the land's natural features (like creeks), making this one of the must-play courses in Texas. Also, it now has five par 5s and five par 3s, a much larger lake between 16 and 17, and six inches of sandcapping that will help the course drain much better than before. It also now has a new system to recapture rainwater, making it possible to irrigate the course with reclaimed water almost 100 percent of the time.

While the course was in pretty good shape considering it was only shut down nine months ago for the renovation, it still needs to mature (the only reason I didn't give it five stars). And you can bet come next October, it will be flawless for its first Houston Open in more than 55 years (it moves from the Golf Club of Houston to Memorial).

My favorite parts of the new course are many. The second hole is a much better par 3 with the green moved to the other side of a ravine that used be behind the green. The ponds on the par-4 fifth and par-3 15th have been removed to create much more natural looking layouts that present many more options on playing the hole. And I love the way 16 now brings the lake into play as well as the par-4 17th, which now has a peninsula green.

Thanks to the generosity of Houston Astros owner Jim Crane and the Astros Golf Foundation, the entire project has been financed through private money. The good news is that the green fees remain the same, at least for now, Mayor Sylvester Turner said. I certainly hope we don't see any major increases anytime soon, because this is a tremendous gift for Houston golfers, but it would be a shame to see the longtime players here get priced out of the course.

I finally played this course after dreading the fact that some golf buddies kept telling me how hard it is to get to play the course. After signing up with GolfNow and having the ability to book it whenever, I was very excited to have a tee time booked. The only negative is that I was charged twice (Once through GolfNow, then the guy at the course charged me again). Other than that the range, course, staff were all great.

Surprisingly nice course, a bit long with lots of trees and open areas. The course was in great shape given the summer heat and lack of rain. I would definetly recommend this course.

Great Location inside the Loop. Course was in very good shape , greens were holding up nicely with the heat. Great Price, highly recommend!

This course will challenge any skill level. It is a must to keep it in the short grass or the fescue will gobble up your ball offering a real challenge of strength and skill. The greens roll true , slow in the early part of the day and speed up when the sun dries them up.

Always fun to play one of the traditional old tracks, but it is getting so much play it is getting kind of beat up. Paid around $70. About right for the experience....

Out-of-towner and really enjoyed playing the course. Course was in solid condition and a bargain for a Saturday morning tee time.

Just golfed 18 holes in under 4 hours while being harassed by the Marshall to pick up the pace! The course play over 7000 yards so anything under 4 hours is quick . When asked about it after we finished they said you finished didn't you! I will never give the course another dime over priced at 50 dollars for a round and not even the top course in Houston !

Waited fifteen yrs to play this course and the second my foot touched the first tee box rain started to fall--@#$%! Luckily, the rain stopped after 15 min., and the course handled the deluge well. The only puddles on the course were on the cart paths. Enjoyed the round with the help of Marshal's actually doing a good job keeping groups where they belonged.

Whoever sets up these bunkers doesn't know the first thing about bunkers. The Super needs to go to bunker school. They have way too much sand whic is just laziness. Play any decent course and see what a real bunker is supposed to be. They ruin the whole experience. The course would be great if the Super would visit the course and or knew what a bunker was supposed to play like.

Slow play but I'm just happy we got a tee time. Very popular

We Enjoyed our round at Memorial Park GC very much. It had poured earlier, but was not sloppy at all. The staff here were very helpful and friendly. Food was above average and was waiting for us at the turn. Top notch facility, and would enjoy playing here every time we come to houston. Very affordable as well.... This place is a premium course, at a very fair price...A+ Thanks!

very long and tight fairways. greens are not great in the winter

After all these years -- and a 1995 renovation -- Memorial Park is still a great test. Once home to the Houston Open, it now stages the city amateurs. Best of all, it's located right in the center of town, surrounded by jogging trails, tennis courts and ball fields. Still less than $50 to play, it's also one of the few walkable courses in Houston. As for the layout itself, plenty of great holes, including the dogleg left ninth that plays over a hazard and the 613-yard par-5 16th.