Moody Gardens gives Galveston a premier daily-fee facility

A $16.5 million renovation project has transformed struggling Galveston Municipal Golf Course into the new Moody Gardens Golf Course, a par-72 layout expected to rank as one of the best public courses in Texas rivaling the state's finest municipal venues.

Opened in early June, Moody Gardens is the culmination of a two-year project undertaken by the City of Galveston, the Moody Foundation and Moody Gardens intent on making the 32-mile-long, 2-mile wide south Texas island more attractive to traveling golfers while giving residents a reason not to leave home. 

The redesign was completed by the renowned Jacobsen-Hardy Golf Course Design firm, which also handled the renovation work at Galveston Island Country Club. The firm is based in Houston and draws upon the talents of former PGA Tour player Peter Jacobsen and acclaimed golf instructor Jim Hardy, who was named the 2007 PGA Instructor of the Year.

The atmosphere engrossing Moody Gardens is reminiscent of a windswept Scottish Links design but also features a few tropical island-like characteristics. During the redesign more than 700 palm trees were either brought in or moved to help frame the golf course and create ideal target lines; you're not likely to see any palm trees lining Carnoustie's fairways anytime soon.

Prior to the work completed by Jacobsen-Hardy, the golf course sat just 12 inches above sea level in an area that is highly vulnerable to routine storm flooding. In order to combat the problems produced by coastal storms and the relative incompatibility between Bermuda grass and saltwater, the design team instituted two changes.

First, the golf course grounds were raised by two, and sometimes by as many as five feet, in certain places to help improve drainage and add links-style undulation to the land.

Secondly, a turf expert specializing in saltwater-friendly paspalum grass was brought in to help convert the course's playing surfaces. Moody Gardens now employs a type of turf called Seashore Paspalum, which is highly-tolerant to saltwater.

A cultivated variation of Seashore Paspalum, Seaspray Paspalum was used in the fairways, tee boxes and rough. Yet another offshoot of Seashore Paspalum, Supreme Paspalum, was used to seed the greens. It's estimated that the grass conserves up to 25 percent more water than Bermuda, which will help Moody Gardens cut operating costs.

The re-routing of the course's first five holes transformed what had been more of a "warm-up" area into a full-blown practice facility equipped with a full-sized driving range and short-game practice area.

The $16.5 million allocated by the Moody Foundation wasn't just spent reshaping the golf course and improving its overall aesthetic value. Yes, a good chunk of that money was used on the total reconstruction of the golf course, which includes the complete re-routing of the first five holes. The clubhouse, containing the pro shop and grill, has also been redesigned to the tune of $2 million. Developers also spent $2 million to expand an existing desalination plant that serves as a cleansing unit for the city's runoff water that is piped in from roughly two miles away. And as always in Galveston, sturdy structures are desirable, so the final $1.5 million was put into a steel maintenance building able to withstand hurricane force winds.

The finished product is a premier yet affordable daily-fee facility that will rival any in the state of Texas in terms of aesthetics and overall playability. For more information, call Moody Gardens at 1-800-582-4673 or visit www.moodygardensgolf.com.