Tour 18, Houston

[Farquod]

OK, guys, here you go. For info, go to:

http://www.tour18golf.com/houston/index.aspx

Many of the pics I took are posted in the gallery. Here're a few of my thoughts and faves.

First of all, price. For $44 with cart and lunch buffet (well, kinda. It ain't Red Lobster ) the pricing was fine. The condition of the course was fair to good. A few of the greens had been aerated and sanded. The greens were hard but not real fast, running about a 9 on the stimp.

Prices I think go up to $95 on the weekend. FWIW, I would have expected better facilities for that price.

The weather was 92* and sunny to start, and not too humid. It clouded over later, the air got thicker, and the ball flight shortened.

I had gotten off the plane, spent more than an hour at the airport getting my bag and car, and drove right to the course to play. This could have some bearing on my impressions, FYI.

I had limited warm up, which matched the warmup facilities. The range mats were all quite worn. The putting green was indicative of the course greens, tho. They were all Bermuda, cut really low.

I went out as a single on 10, but was caught behind 2 groups of 4 who were S-L-O-W. So I looked around and was able to hook up with 3 guys on 18, and played that hole (The monster at Doral. Sorry, no pics of that one. I figured that joining up and whipping out the camera on the first hole would be a bit much) and the front nine with them, before going back and finishing the back as a single. They were a good group of guys. Jason, Sean, Kyle, thanks again!



The course was nowhere near as difficult as I imagined. Playing from the shootouts, it measured 6300 yards at a slope of 124, pretty basic, really. It's like 6800 from the tips, again, not too bad.

With regard to specific holes:

Hole 2. Bayhill. Ummmmmmmmmm, nasty carry on this hole. Betcha it's 260 straight away (check the site). I was gonna try to carry it, just for shits and giggles, but my body screamed NOOOO!!! and forced an aggressive fade, maybe about 260 total yards, based on the hole layout yardages on the site. This still left me about 330 out, again, based on the yardages on the site. Even at that, I was forced to carry water with my second shot, which I hit to about 130. Fatted the 8 iron, pitched up and 2 putted for bogie. The hole is an impressive one, but is really not a bad par if you don't get seduced by the need to carry the water with your tee shot. Two of the guys I played with got very wet. After an impressive first attempt, which probably carried close to 240 before splashdown, Kyle hit a low screamer that skipped an impressive 12 or 15 times before giving up the ghost.









Holes 5, 6, and 7, Augusta 11-13. I parred 11 and 13, and put 2 in the water on 12. The green on 12 is TEENY.





Amen corner is really not as imposing as I imagined. It would be a bitch to birdie, since it is surrounded in the front by that narrow brook, and anything short of the elevated green will roll back in. Similarly, it slopes precipitously on the fairway side for a good 10-15 yards, so anything running toward the green will keep on going into the water.

Hole 9, Sawgrass 17. The island green. I hit a 7 iron to carry 135 into the wind. Ended up on the front of the green, below the hump, and the pin was cut in the back. I was the only one dry. 3 putted for bogie, BTW. Just sweet.



Hole 12, Colonial 3. Wicked dogleg left. Since I'm working on the swing adjustment, I can't draw my driver anymore, but can hit one of 3 shots: A nice fade, straight, and a duck. The straight appeared on this hole, as I was trying to draw, but not duck. It left me with the lie you see, as I went straight through the fairway.



I hit a 3 iron close, pitched up over the sand and 2 putted for bogie. Really nice hole, with a lotta visual interest.



Hole 13, Pebble Beach 14. Very pretty hole. I include it only because I had my best drive of the day, about 275. I put my approach shot into the front bunker, which had a 9 foot face. Out and 2 putt. Another bogie.



Hole 16, Merion 11. I thought this was the coolest hole on the course, believe it or not. Blind tee shot, and so much danger around the green that you better be precise with your approach. Parred it.





I've put some other pics up in the gallery, but these are the highlights. Overall a fair round of 86 (45-41) with one double (on 1, I lost a ball and had to drop) and I took a triple 6 on #6. 7 pars.

[Silver]

looks cool...interesting at the very least, thanks for the pics

[Bravo]

Thanks for the pix...

My impression of the course was that it approximated closely these famous holes. From your description, the #12 at Amen Corner did a pretty good job...

Holes 10 and 11 at Augusta are fairly steep downhill. I've been to Houston about 200 times and have never seen anything close to anyone's definition of "hill". Are these holes downhill - in that the course designer moved a lot of earth to create a downhill hole? Or are they flat as a pancake like most of Houston?

Also, my impression of your cost for the greens fees/cart and lunch was great. I thought this was a $100+ track any/all days...

[Rockford35]

Great pics.

I went out tonight and my version of Amen Corner was getting the 9th green in before it started raining again.

Cool concept for a course. Like Bravo said, i'm sure alot of those holes are alot more intimidating in reality versus a mock up of each. But it's still very cool allowing schmucks like us to play some of those infamous holes.

Nice work, F.

R35

[Farquod]

Originally Posted by Bravo

Holes 10 and 11 at Augusta are fairly steep downhill. I've been to Houston about 200 times and have never seen anything close to anyone's definition of "hill". Are these holes downhill - in that the course designer moved a lot of earth to create a downhill hole? Or are they flat as a pancake like most of Houston?

They moved some earth, B. The first hole had a fairly blind tee shot, and my approach was from a downhill lie, over a berm that was protecting the front of the green. Water to the left.

The par 3 was downhill a little bit, but not too much. On Amen Corner, the drive was maybe a little downhill (the tee boxes were raised, I think) and then it peaked around the turn and sloped downhill to the creek in front of the green, which was raised significantly after the creek. Here, I have another pic of it that I didn't post earlier. I'll attach it here. Wave at Kyle.



Re: the price point, the facilities here were really nothing to rave about. It appears that there are a series of these courses around the country, and it would be interesting to get feedback from guys playing these other locations to see if the amenities differ.

I must say that the Bermuda greens are a bitch to putt. We don't get much grain up here, with all the bent grass. There's some if they don't roll them, but nothing like the Bermuda. The grain makes a huge difference in the speed of the putt. Tell me, do you get used to it? I resorted to banging everything in from 4 feet or less.

[Farquod]

Originally Posted by rockford35

I went out tonight and my version of Amen Corner was getting the 9th green in before it started raining again.

Just like baptism, baby.

"I don't think the heavy stuff is gonna fall for some time, yet!"

[Bravo]

Originally Posted by Farquod

They moved some earth, B. The first hole had a fairly blind tee shot, and my approach was from a downhill lie, over a berm that was protecting the front of the green. Water to the left.

The par 3 was downhill a little bit, but not too much. On Amen Corner, the drive was maybe a little downhill (the tee boxes were raised, I think) and then it peaked around the turn and sloped downhill to the creek in front of the green, which was raised significantly after the creek. Here, I have another pic of it that I didn't post earlier. I'll attach it here. Wave at Kyle.



Re: the price point, the facilities here were really nothing to rave about. It appears that there are a series of these courses around the country, and it would be interesting to get feedback from guys playing these other locations to see if the amenities differ.

I must say that the Bermuda greens are a bitch to putt. We don't get much grain up here, with all the bent grass. There's some if they don't roll them, but nothing like the Bermuda. The grain makes a huge difference in the speed of the putt. Tell me, do you get used to it? I resorted to banging everything in from 4 feet or less.

I putted on bermuda greens my entire life until 20 years ago when virtually every course here converted to bentgrass.

I hate the grain in coarse bermuda greens. Inevitably, 2-3 times per round, your ball will take an inexplicable and unexpected turn as it heads toward the hole...

There is a new strain now called Tiftdwarf that has a much smaller blade and subsequently much less "grain" effect...I have played on several course in the Gulf Coast area that have these greens and they are good to excellent.

The Tour 18 course in Houston likely did not have bentgrass greens because they don't tolerate salty air/water environments well and bermudagrass will...

Thanks again for your pics. I had wondered for years about these courses.

[DaveE]

Nice pics. I was suppose to go there a couple of weeks ago but had to cancel so thanks for the mini tour.