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Best Golf Courses in Houston


Houston has scores of great barbecue joints, Tex-Mex places, seafood restaurants and food trucks. And you don’t have to go very far to run into one of the best golf courses in Houston, either.

 

With nearly 200 golf courses in the Houston metropolitan area, there’s no shortage of choices for where to tee it up. And with more than half of those courses open to the public, plenty of the best golf courses in Houston are affordable, too, in the Bayou City.

 

In fact, the only course that regularly costs more than $100 to play is the longtime host of the Houston Open, the Golf Club of Houston Tournament Course. Even in tour condition, it’s just $175. But several of the best golf courses in Houston can be played for around $50 or less, including cart.

 

Among the public offerings is the municipal jewel Memorial Park Golf Course, which once hosted the Houston Open and has been the site of the Greater Houston City Amateur Championship for decades. Opened in 1935, this John Bredemus design (renovated in 1995) is a championship course that plays over 7,300 yards from the back tees. It’s only about $50 to play with a cart, and while tee times can be difficult, the course is certainly worth the effort.

 

The nice part about Houston-area golf is there are good choices in all parts of the city and suburbs. In the southern part of the city, just a couple miles from NRG Stadium, you’ll find Wildcat Golf Club (pictured above), 36 holes built on an old oilfield and landfill. Or you can take on the 27-hole Timber Creek Golf Club in Friendswood, or check out the highly-rated Timber Creek near Lake Jackson, southwest of Houston near the coast. Speaking of the coast, in Galveston is another terrific muni, Moody Gardens Golf Course, an all-paspalum layout with water on nearly every hole.

 

The north, west and east sides have great options, too. Just north of The Woodlands is Woodforest Golf Club at Fish Creek, a 27-hole Steve Elkington layout that regularly boasts the best greens in the Houston area. Or head a little east over to Humble and play the original replica course, Tour 18 Houston, which features tribute holes to Augusta, Bay Hill, Oakmont and many other great courses.

 

On the northwest side, visit Black Horse Golf Club in Cypress, which features 36 holes of championship pedigree built through wetlands and forest, as well as utilizing an old quarry.

 

Going west, there are a couple of good bets in Katy. The Golf Club at Cinco Ranch is a Carlton Gipson design that got renovated a few years ago, and Meadowbrook Farms Golf Club, a premium daily fee that was once destined to become private, is one of Greg Norman’s better designs.

 

Finally, east of the city in Mont Belvieu is Eagle Pointe, which might be the best value in the entire region. Local residents pay hardly anything at all to play this wonderfully interesting muni, and visitors usually pay less than $40 with a cart. With rolling landscape, towering pines and holes along a river, it’s well worth the drive and then some.

 

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