El Dorado at Quail Valley Golf Course
About
Developers eventually had their way with this cow pasture on the fringe of Houston. Loaded with native pecans and oaks and supplemented with even more transplanted trees, the terrain is ideal for golf, with two creeks and five natural lakes on the property. In fact, it's good enough to host the PGA Tour's Houston Open in 1973 and 1974.
The traditional El Dorado Course plays to a par 70 and features five par 3s that go 190-yards-plus from the tips. Jay Riviere designed the back nine.
Jeff Blume managed the redesign and complete renovation of the El Dorado Course in 2009.
| Tee | Par | Length | Rating | Slope |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black | 71 | 6931 yards | 74.6 | 138 |
| Blue | 71 | 6552 yards | 72.8 | 135 |
| White | 71 | 6146 yards | 71.0 | 128 |
| Gold | 71 | 5685 yards | 68.7 | 122 |
| Gold (W) | 71 | 5685 yards | 73.8 | 136 |
| Red (W) | 71 | 5100 yards | 70.7 | 123 |
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black M: 74.6/138 | 526 | 201 | 425 | 403 | 399 | 222 | 578 | 211 | 397 | 3362 | 516 | 222 | 404 | 412 | 224 | 401 | 403 | 399 | 588 | 3569 | 6931 |
| Blue M: 72.8/135 | 515 | 151 | 406 | 378 | 383 | 198 | 552 | 195 | 372 | 3150 | 499 | 204 | 388 | 398 | 208 | 382 | 377 | 385 | 561 | 3402 | 6552 |
| White M: 71.0/128 | 505 | 143 | 374 | 352 | 347 | 187 | 533 | 178 | 358 | 2977 | 484 | 191 | 360 | 372 | 184 | 362 | 342 | 350 | 524 | 3169 | 6146 |
| Gold M: 68.7/122 W: 73.8/136 | 462 | 129 | 352 | 304 | 322 | 170 | 522 | 155 | 339 | 2755 | 468 | 173 | 339 | 355 | 154 | 350 | 320 | 321 | 450 | 2930 | 5685 |
| Red M: 66.3/117 W: 70.7/123 | 420 | 107 | 329 | 261 | 298 | 147 | 463 | 127 | 311 | 2463 | 427 | 148 | 303 | 323 | 115 | 336 | 297 | 264 | 424 | 2637 | 5100 |
| Handicap | 5 | 13 | 7 | 9 | 1 | 17 | 3 | 15 | 11 | 8 | 18 | 14 | 6 | 16 | 4 | 10 | 2 | 12 | |||
| Par | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 35 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 36 | 71 |
| Handicap (W) | 5 | 17 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 15 | 3 | 13 | 11 | 8 | 16 | 14 | 4 | 18 | 10 | 12 | 2 | 6 |
Course Details
Rentals/Services
Practice/Instruction
Policies
Food & Beverage
Bar, Snacks, Grill, RestaurantAvailable Facilities
ClubhouseAccolades
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Golf Advisor: Top Courses in Texas (2022 #22)
Reviews
Reviewer Photos
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Photo submitted by u000003288063 on 10/22/2025
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Weather beautiful Photo submitted by u000003288063 on 10/22/2025
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Conditions great Photo submitted by u000003288063 on 10/22/2025
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Photo submitted by Houston2020 on 09/27/2025
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Photo submitted by Houston2020 on 09/27/2025
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Photo submitted by 18Hdotorg on 05/30/2022
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Photo submitted by afmarko99 on 09/19/2020
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Photo submitted by caddyshack79 on 07/06/2020
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Photo submitted by Floyd600 on 04/08/2020
Great Layout!
I love the layout of the course and I play it whenever I find it on sale. Greens might still be in a transition phase and grass hasn’t come in all the way. Other than that was in great shape. Even sand traps were raked with a good consistency!
Great course
Course and staff were great. Range was very good. Only problem with the course is that like a lot of courses thru neighborhoods there were a lot of street crossings. Played a lot of these types but have never in my life seen so many inconsiderate drivers. These people would literally run over you and never bother them. Good luck on crossings.
Thank you Andrew. We appreciate the compliments. There are a good number of street crossings in Houston's original master-planned community. They were built around the golf course, so we hope you make it back to play again.
nice course but had a group of five players ahead of us - way too slow.
overall nice course and challenge layout. very satisfied and enjoyed play there. but somehow, there is a group of FIVE people played ahead of us. not only slow, but really slow. so we have to wait each hole until they cleared. not sure why the course allowed a group of FIVE to play in one group. other than that, all good and will come to play again.
Brian, we apologize that the play was slow for you but it seems like you enjoyed your visit here. We do appreciate the heads up because we do indeed allow fivesomes, and our course attendants are supposed to keep them moving along with the group in front of them or allow others to pass if need be. Thank you and hope to make Quail Valley one of your regular courses.
Right on! Thank you and hope you make it back to play again soon.
Nicely maintained Golf Course
Very nice golf course. Greens difficult to read. Well maintained and pace of play decent.
There are people who have been playing this course since it was redesigned in 2010 and we're all still trying to figure out some of these breaks. Thank you for visiting from Cleveland and hope to have you back.
Eight balls into the drink,.
Had a great time. El Dorado is challenging with water lurking. Last few holes especially. Marshall was active, keeping things flowing. Great amenities in the clubhouse. Can’t wait to play it again.
Definitely a premium on straight shots on El Dorado. Thank you for coming out and look forward to having you back.
First time
Played the El Dorado Quayle Valley course for the first time. Course was in good shape and will play again soon!
Thank you for playing El Dorado. Hope to have you back soon again.
The Challenge of El Dorado
Nice shape for the Spring weather. Plenty of challenge here. The par 3s are long long. Staff was top rate. Enjoyable. I would definitely play again.
You must have played the back tees. Those par 3s are tough! Thank you for coming out all the way from Forth Worth, and we hope to have you back again.
Thank you Mike. Hope you make it out to play Quail Valley more often!
Fun course!!
Played the el dorado course it was a fun and sometimes challenging course, better bring your game if u play from the tips!! Green where in pretty good shape, they where running slow when I played which was nice!!
Our goal is to help everyone have fun here, so it looks we were successful. Thank you for coming out and hope you make it back again.
Greens were in great condition despite the time of the year.
Thank you very much. We're working hard to keep up with the weather again this year.
First Visit to the facility
This course is truly integrated into the housing community here, with lots of street crossings. The course is very interesting and as challenging as it gets around the Houston Area. For my iron play to be effective I need drier turf. I missed too many greens while hitting through saturated turf. The par 3s were as tough as they get. I got the yips out there a few times. Some of the greens were like putting on a table top too; especially putting downhill. I played the blue tees. Nice golf course!
Thanks again SuperDave. The par-3s are beasts! Hope you make it back over to Quail Valley again.
Disappointing
Slow play due to cartpath only conditions,coupled with poor drainage resulted in 9 holes taking over 2 and a half hours on a horrible wet course. We left after 9 holes.
If we could, we'd rework with South Texas weather. Thank you for coming, so we hope you give El Dorado another try with that rain check when the weather is a little better.
El Dorado
This was a very beautiful course. it was a bit more difficult than I was expecting. the greens rolled very quickly and the rough was long. The bunkers were fluffy and steep. I enjoyed hole 10 as it was a very nice risk reward par 5 where you were looking at Birdy easily. when I'm looking for a challenge I will definitely return to this amazingly beautiful course.
It can be a tough course, but like you said, it's a beauty. Thank you for coming out and we look forward to having you back again.
Great golf round
Overall course and fairways are above average for public courses in Houston. Greens were in great condition, pace couldn't be better. Will certainly return!
Thank you for coming out last Friday. We look forward to having you back again.
Driving range was closed. Putting greens were horrible and then we got run off at 12:00 pm for them to spray them. So there was practically no warm up prior to the tee time. You would think you would spray practice areas first thing or in the evening when people are not on them??? Greens were ok but the fairways were suspect at times. Pace of play was over 4:45 while following a 5 some. Never saw a marshal on the course
Apologies for the practice/warm-up facilities not being open. We're doing a lot of work to revamp them. Despite the busy holiday week, we do our best to help all our guests have fun here and have been getting cheers for the course conditions, so we hope you appreciated that aspect of your experience and make it back for another visit. We'll do our best to make it up to you.
Many thanks. Hope we can earn a 5th star next time.
Beautiful Course
Course was in excellent condition from tee to green. The only issue were the tee boxes. The ground on the tee boxes was very hard. Had to use short tees. Only a minor adjustment. Fairways in excellent condition. Sand has been replaced in 90% of sand traps due to Harvey. Greens also in excellent condition. Pace of play was excellent 3hr 45min. I'll be back.
Thank you Mel. We're in the process of converting those 10% of washed out bunkers into grass bunkers, so all should be good on your next visit. See you soon again.
Thank you. Much appreciated coming from a good golfer that plays regularly!