Houston Golf Course Scene

Port Arthur Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, www.portarthurtexas.com,
800-235-7822.

With three courses in Port Arthur and even more in the area, you will certainly find a course to enjoy. The newest course is the Palms at Pleasure Island. Of course if you want the non-traditional, a disc golf course is also available. Port Arthur, Texas is a great location for conventions and/or meetings. The city offers a wide range of locations for conventions/ meetings. For smaller groups there are various hotels that can be used.

If you could drive less than an hour outside of Houston to play golf in a wilderness park setting with no homes and very little sign of civilization at all. If you could play a 4-year-old Jeff Brauer designed course that’s growing into its surroundings yet might still be the best-kept secret in Texas. Wouldn’t you jump at the chance?

The Wilderness at Lake Jackson invites you to southern Brazoria County to visit just the 13th course in Texas given Audubon Certified Cooperative Sanctuary status for its environmental care and variety of birds and beasts (boars, deer, wild pigs and yes, even an occasional gator) that will be watching your trek through this natural setting. 

The wilderness theme carries through the rustic clubhouse that features its own duck blind in the pro shop, to camouflaged golf carts, to the smells of its cooker at the halfway grill, located near the outdoor pavilion that hosts group outings of all sizes, with 20-40 player groups a house specialty. Their mantra is to “do a common thing in an uncommon manner,” and you’ll see why every time you visit.

High Meadow Ranch could rest on its gorgeous, rustic Hill Countrystyle charm, nestled within the million-dollar homes in the southwest Montgomery County town of Magnolia. High Meadow Ranch could also rest on its considerable accolades. Named “Best New Course” by Golf Courses of Texas Magazine when it opened in 1999, Golf Digest has given it 4-Stars and rated it among the Top 25 in all of Texas, while the Houston Chronicle has it in the top two of area courses you can play.

But here’s what you really need to know about High Meadow Ranch. General Manager Cody Spivey is also the superintendent, meaning this course will always be in impeccable shape! The innovative design of PGA TOUR-playing Texan David Ogrin and Tim Nugent emphasizes shot values by creating a wide variety of angles and utilizing the natural obstacles throughout its three unique 6-hole loops with no parallel fairways. 

Wildcat Golf Club, the preferred course of Houston’s sports franchises, is more than just a golf club, it’s an experience. Wildcat opened in November 2001, and every year the club builds on its tradition of excellence. Thirty-six holes of championship, perfectly conditioned golf is the main attraction.

The Highlands course plays as a links-style challenge while the Lakes course provides plenty of water to navigate.

Both offer breathtaking views of downtown and the Houston skyline. Add in the famous dramatic elevation changes and you will find the most unique golf experience in the Greater Houston area.

Every golf course likes to tell you how different it is. But how many Houston-area courses have 40-foot elevation changes, are secluded within a thick pine forest and also have a recreation center and spectacular wave pool on-site?

Eagle Pointe Golf Club is located in Mont Belvieu, less than 35 minutes from downtown Houston off I-10, Eagle Pointe’s par-71 layout from Houston’s own Rick Forester features rolling fairways between stunningly tall pines, elevation changes that will surprise you and plenty of water to deal with from Cherry Point Gully, the Old River and multiple waterfalls and ponds. There are no homes on 17 of the 18 holes, and won’t be anytime in the near future, so a peaceful round is guaranteed with plenty of birdies to be seen, and maybe made, if you can conquer the pride and joy of Eagle Pointe, the greens. 

Are you ready to fall in love with golf again?

Then take the Sweetest Drive in Houston to the sweetest drives in Houston, River Ridge Golf Club. Located just over the Brazos River between Brookshire and Sealy, River Ridge is an easy drive from anywhere on Houston’s west side and offers up 27 delicious drives of exciting golf. You will discover a lush parklandstyle setting with no homes to intrude on your solitude, and rolling terrain that will give you different shot options on each hole.

Join the many area luminaries who have visited for the McDonald’s Dave Marr Cup (raising over $500,000 for the Ronald McDonald House), with recent Honorary Chairmen including Jeff Bagwell, Former Sec. of State James Baker, and President George H. W. Bush. Or the Texas professionals who have raved about the course’s challenge during the South Texas PGA Championship, or the avid amateurs who have played the Texas Golf Association Four Ball, the Texas Women’s Mid-Amateur or the qualifier for the USGA’s Women’s Public Links Championship. 

Even its name conjures up a different time and place. Oaks, hundreds of them, over a century old, unlike anywhere else in Harris County, bring a southern plantation feel to an area just northwest of Houston off US 290 that features not only wonderful golf, but tennis, fishing and family fun on 330 acres near Hockley.

Rooted in the Past, Growing with the Future

It’s not all about going back in time. Remember those oak trees? Houston Oaks’ commitment to preserving that Old South feeling has led to a program of planting 100 new oak trees every year for the next five years. Houston Oaks has brought in a full-time arborist, built a new family pool and added a ninehole executive and family golf course, and will keep development to just 20 residential lots of an acre-plus, wrapped around that executive course with either golf or lake views.

The future of Houston Oaks Golf & Country Club is all about growing with families that choose the more relaxed lifestyle of this unique slice of heaven on earth, and groups looking for that peaceful getaway for their outing, family or company picnic, wedding or other special event. 

Tucked away in the heart of Texas Hill Country, the Flying L Guest Ranch provides ample accommodations and entertainment for the entire family. The Flying L and its diversity bestows a special and unique ambiance to its guests.

Whether it is a horseback ride that brings out childhood dreams, a day at the “Lone Star lagoon” Water park, a relaxing round of golf with the infamous Texas Hill Country as a backdrop, a cowboy cookout under the Texas skies featuring the finest of cuisine, a productive meeting away from the distractions of the city, an evening spent with a real cowboy singing classics around the campfire, or sitting in a rocker with your favorite western novel underneath a massive Live Oak. It is truly a place where “you can have it all”, with a western flare.

Lodging at the Flying L is a unique and premier Experience. Our one and two bedroom suite style lodging is spacious, comfortable and professionally appointed with Texas flare. 

Evergreen Point offers up a slice of Lone Star history with its family-run operation that is passionate for the property and the game of golf. Located in Baytown, minutes from the San Jacinto Battlefield where Sam Houston and his army won independence for Texas, the Evergreen Plantation was purchased by the Hazelwood family in the mid-1990s. The property was subsequently turned into a showpiece for golf just a mile-and-a-half from the Fred Hartman Bridge, 20 minutes outside the I-610 loop, 30 minutes east downtown Houston. 

Betty Hazelwood’s sons and their wives are carrying on that legacy at this traditional-style, 4-Star Golf Digest Places to Play, known for its great TifDwarf greens and even greater service, with Chad Marti of the famed Houston golf family as the Director of Golf. Water hazards are present on 15 of the 18 holes, but they can be avoided by using the surprisingly rolling terrain.