Beginner Courses - Houston

[texan33]

Hello! Does anyone have recommendations for good public courses in Houston for a beginner? 9 hole or otherwise? Thanks!

[HJJ003]

  On 10/8/2020 at 9:09 PM, texan33 said:

Hello! Does anyone have recommendations for good public courses in Houston for a beginner? 9 hole or otherwise? Thanks!

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What side of Houston? Not many 9 hole tracks in Houston. However, there are a few public courses that may be good just depends on what side of town you are on. 

[texan33]

Southwest Houston 

[HJJ003]

Don't Know about 9-hole tracks that side (doubt there are any), but Sharpstown Park is affordable and very playable for beginners.

[texan33]

  On 10/10/2020 at 8:02 PM, HJJ003 said:

Don't Know about 9-hole tracks that side (doubt there are any), but Sharpstown Park is affordable and very playable for beginners.

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Thank you!

[DwightC]

Can't really help you.  But my son and I learned to play golf thirty years ago at the old Herman Park course, back when it played like a hardpan track in a Dan Jenkins novel, before it was redone, the nines reversed and an effort made to turn it into something upscale.   A scruffy muni track patrolled, not by course marshals, but overweight Houston cops on golf carts, featuring 'ding man' who (when the cops weren't looking) tried to extort 50 bucks from passing golfers 'because your ball hit my car over there'.  We loved the place.  We lived about five minutes away and early on Saturday mornings I'd take him out to hit balls on the driving range and we'd listen to the elephants trumpeting while they were being fed in the zoo across the drive.

Very happy memories.  Good luck finding a place to make your own.  Oh, and after we got a bit better we started driving down to Southwyck (sp?) in Pearland, which in the aftermath of the S&L crisis was where the University of Houston golf team of Freddy Couples days practiced.  That was a much better place to actually play golf.  I've got no idea what kind of shape it's in now.

[HJJ003]

  On 11/17/2020 at 12:48 AM, DwightC said:

Can't really help you.  But my son and I learned to play golf thirty years ago at the old Herman Park course, back when it played like a hardpan track in a Dan Jenkins novel, before it was redone, the nines reversed and an effort made to turn it into something upscale.   A scruffy muni track patrolled, not by course marshals, but overweight Houston cops on golf carts, featuring 'ding man' who (when the cops weren't looking) tried to extort 50 bucks from passing golfers 'because your ball hit my car over there'.  We loved the place.  We lived about five minutes away and early on Saturday mornings I'd take him out to hit balls on the driving range and we'd listen to the elephants trumpeting while they were being fed in the zoo across the drive.

Very happy memories.  Good luck finding a place to make your own.  Oh, and after we got a bit better we started driving down to Southwyck (sp?) in Pearland, which in the aftermath of the S&L crisis was where the University of Houston golf team of Freddy Couples days practiced.  That was a much better place to actually play golf.  I've got no idea what kind of shape it's in now.

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Played Herman Park last year. Glad you have such fond memories of the place, it’s always fun to think back to places like that. The courses themselves are rarely special but the memories are. The track hasn’t changed much since you left (expect Marshals now...), it’s still a goat track for the most part and lots of hard pan but playing near the monkey cages on the second hole is something I will never forget lol.

Played southwyck earlier this year. Whatever was once great is long long gone. Horrendous condition when I played it. 

[RyckyRych]

I'm a bit late to the party but Clear Creek would be pretty decent overall for a beginner. The muni in Pasadena would be good also.