Golf Club of Houston - Member Course

This was my first time playing The Tournament course at Golf Club of Houston. My tee time was pushed back over 1.5 hrs. due to rain and the course being wet.

The course is beautiful and was in good shape but due to the rain was very wet and soggy and cart path only. I got a deal on TeeOff.com. I thought the value of the course for what I payed was fantastic.

The greens were in great condition (smooth, quick with lots of subtle slopes and undulations). The tee boxes and fairways were great.

I would highly recommend this course to anyone looking to play.

CliffNotes for those just checking reviews:

- Car was broken into (smashed window) during an afternoon round.

- Staff was apologetic about the situation, but otherwise not helpful.

- This has happened before, and security cameras are not installed to cover the Guest Parking Lot.

- Other than the smash & grab, a nice course that was fun to play.

I played this course while in Houston visiting my in-laws for a few days. I’ll start with the positives: the twilight rate of $45 was a steal compared to some of the other courses. The course was in great shape despite the amount of rain. The marshal allowed me to play as a single since it was pretty open, and good pace of play allowed me to complete the round in under 3 hours.

Now for the negative: During the round, someone smashed the middle window on the driver’s side of my car and took a backpack. This happened in broad daylight sometime between 2:00 (when I arrived) and 4:30 (when my bank’s fraud dept called me about some attempted charges.) Upon getting back to my car, I called the pro shop to let them know about what had happened. The person in the pro shop was apologetic for what had happened, but that was about it; no one came out to check on the situation, see if they could do anything to assist, etc... After filing a report with a police officer, I went in to let someone know that there was a ton of glass in the parking lot. They were closing up, and I was helped a lot by a woman whose name I can’t remember. She took my name and info, and said she’d pass it along to the GM who would call in the morning after checking the security cameras. She was the most helpful person in all of this. I called him (Repeat: I. Called. Him.) at 2pm the next day, left a message, and he called back. He was also apologetic, said there was nothing on the cameras, and that was that.

During this process, I was told “we haven’t had a break-in in months... for a while, an officer would do patrols through the parking lot.” I read a review about a break-in a year ago in what sounds like a similar situation. Overall, everyone I dealt with was nice and apologetic about the situation, but that was about it. It’s easy to be nice to someone who has just had their car’s window smashed in and stolen from while on your property. However, playing on a course with such a good reputation, I expected more. More assistance, more communication — anything that could have helped take the bad taste out of my mouth. This is a course that plays host to a PGA Tour event, not the local muni. Had this happened to a member, naturally, more assistance would have been given. I’m not naïve enough to expect the same treatment as a member who pays thousands per year, but some attempt to remedy the situation given the circumstances would have been nice.

Last thing: if this has happened multiple times, put some cameras on the light poles that would cover the entire parking lot.

CliffNotes for those just checking reviews:

- Car was broken into (smashed window) during an afternoon round.

- Staff was apologetic about the situation, but otherwise not helpful.

- This has happened before, and security cameras are not installed to cover the Guest Parking Lot.

- Other than the smash & grab, a nice course that was fun to play.

I played this course while in Houston visiting my in-laws for a few days. I’ll start with the positives: the twilight rate of $45 was a steal compared to some of the other courses. The course was in great shape despite the amount of rain. The marshal allowed me to play as a single since it was pretty open, and good pace of play allowed me to complete the round in under 3 hours.

Now for the negative: During the round, someone smashed the middle window on the driver’s side of my car and took a backpack. This happened in broad daylight sometime between 2:00 (when I arrived) and 4:30 (when my bank’s fraud dept called me about some attempted charges.) Upon getting back to my car, I called the pro shop to let them know about what had happened. The person in the pro shop was apologetic for what had happened, but that was about it; no one came out to check on the situation, see if they could do anything to assist, etc... After filing a report with a police officer, I went in to let someone know that there was a ton of glass in the parking lot. They were closing up, and I was helped a lot by a woman whose name I can’t remember. She took my name and info, and said she’d pass it along to the GM who would call in the morning after checking the security cameras. She was the most helpful person in all of this. I called him (Repeat: I. Called. Him.) at 2pm the next day, left a message, and he called back. He was also apologetic, said there was nothing on the cameras, and that was that.

During this process, I was told “we haven’t had a break-in in months... for a while, an officer would do patrols through the parking lot.” I read a review about a break-in a year ago in what sounds like a similar situation. Overall, everyone I dealt with was nice and apologetic about the situation, but that was about it. It’s easy to be nice to someone who has just had their car’s window smashed in and stolen from while on your property. However, playing on a course with such a good reputation, I expected more. More assistance, more communication — anything that could have helped take the bad taste out of my mouth. This is a course that plays host to a PGA Tour event, not the local muni. Had this happened to a member, naturally, more assistance would have been given. I’m not naïve enough to expect the same treatment as a member who pays thousands per year, but some attempt to remedy the situation given the circumstances would have been nice.

Last thing: if this has happened multiple times, put some cameras on the light poles that would cover the entire parking lot.

It was fun to play the same course as the big boys play .

Course is in great condition, lots of water though.

Due to rain it was cart path only but we also pretty much had the course to ourselves as well.

First 10 holes were great. Greens were just aerated but played ok. Thunder came and left but when it came back rain was too much. Had to call it.

Staff failed to mention the greens were punched after we paid our fee...I would have never have played here had I known that. One thing I value is course conditions and for what we paid for the round I expected much more. Our caddie was amazing and I appreciate his hustle on the course....his name is Austin and if you can have him join your group I highly recommend him.

Staff was great our caddy Austin was amazing but the aerated greens were awful. Hopefully they’ll be in shape before too long because the course was great otherwise.

The course was in good shape other than tee box's greens were smooth but not overly fast good day to play

The course is beautiful and was in good shape, but I was surprised by some patches of dead grass in the fairways, particularly because it is an expensive round. The layout was fun but also seemed a bit redundant. This would be a 4-star rating if not for the ridiculous cost. There are plenty of other courses in the area you could play for much cheaper and a similarly nice golf experience.

Have been to Shell Houston Open numerous times in past so excited about playing the Tournament Course. Two of us teed off at 0900 on a Monday morning and finished in a bit over 3 hours. Greens were holding well and rolling very smoothly with good speed although not lightning fast today. Fairways were in very good shape, tee boxes still coming into their own and only thing not quite up to standard yet. Really enjoyed the diversity of holes from blue tees, think I played just about every club in the bag. Yes a bit pricey including forecaddie but for us was well worth it and greatly enjoyed the day.

Had a great 3 days full of golf planned with guys visiting from Florida. Friday and Sunday went well, however Saturday was awful. Had intentionally booked the Golf Club of Houston to play the Tournament Course, host of the PGA Shell Houston Open in previous years, to see where the Pro's play. Booked tee time through GolfNow.com to include a forecaddie since no one in the foursome had played there before. Arrived over an hour early to allow plenty of warm up time and time to shop for apparel in Pro Shop as this group likes to get new "gear." As i checked in, I knew something had gone wrong as I gave my tee time and name and the guy behind the desk politely said give him a moment and walked to the back offices. After 5+ minutes, he came back and told me he had good news and bad news. Bad news was he was unable to get us off at our tee time of 11:40AM on the Tournament course as a tournament was scheduled/double booked. Good news he could get us off at 11:40AM on the Member course or 2:10PM on the Tournament course. Also, there would not be any forecaddie available for the round.

I made the reservation for the Tournament Course on April 10, almost a full month in advance. When we expressed our displeasure with the pro shop clerk, he had little to no sympathy, just asked us which tee time we would prefer. I pressed how this issue was not identified sooner, and he had no comment and stated nothing could be done now. He stated there were no discounts available because the round was booked online and fully pre-paid.

Our group was thoroughly disappointed, as we had intentionally booked the Tournament Course to play where the Pro's play, after following the tournament all these years. I even had buddies fly in from out of town, excited/expecting to play the renowed course. The Member course was fine, but a let down as our hopes were to play the Tournament Course. And yet again, since none of us had played out there, we didnt have any help from the forecaddie we were supposed to have.

All in all, it was very disappointing on GCOH and Golfnow for lack of communication/follow through on their part. Complete unprofessionalism.

The course was in bad shape. Slow play. Additionally I was charged $23 from the course in addition to the 91 I paid online. Not quite the "Hot Deal" that was advertised

Love the course, it’s in perfect shape. 3rd time to play here and 2nd time I quit on hold 13. Management needs to do a better job of booking tee times or have someone enforce slow play. You got amateurs waiting for the green to clear on a 285yd par 4, then they all shank it or top it. Had 5 groups stacked up without a Marshall in site. Just gets annoying when you can’t even finish a round because of slow players.

Tournament course is an embarrassment to our city. Makes Herman Park look like Augusta. Tee boxes were absolute mess. Many burned out areas of black dirt and sand on both fairways and greens. Only sand to hit off on driving range. Not a trash can, ball washer or water on the course. Has to be worst condition course to offer caddies in the country. They need to clean house and start over. Used to not seeing a sideways blade of grass when playing there this time of year. Crazy how quick such a great course can turn into a goat track with poor management.