Moody Gardens
About Moody Gardens
Moody Gardens is a large resort and attraction area with a hotel, conference center and 18 holes of golf in the coastal town of Galveston, Texas. It is well known for its three pyramids home to an aquarium and rain forest attractions. It has not only an onsite waterpark but is next to Schlitterbahn as well. There are six dining concepts, as well as a spa and fitness center. It's within easy access to historic downtown Galveston, Pleasure Pier and the beaches. The golf course originally opened in 1989 but was totally redesigned by Peter Jacobsen and Jim Hardy in 2008. This watery layout features scenic views of the gulf, bridges and bayous, and the back nine plays alongside the small Galveston airport. The course is links-inspired with gulf breezes and wall-to-wall paspalum turf. Historic Galveston is less than an hour's drive from downtown Houston, making Moody Gardens a popular day trip destination as well as for weekend vacation getaways.Facts
Amenities
Services
Rules
Golf courses at Moody Gardens
Images from Moody Gardens
Reviews
Reviewer Photos
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Photo submitted by Alvinrt on 05/21/2024
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Photo submitted by CharlesLately on 05/19/2024
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Photo submitted by TDOYEL11 on 07/17/2023
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Photo submitted by TDOYEL11 on 07/17/2023
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Photo submitted by TDOYEL11 on 07/17/2023
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Photo submitted by GKing77098 on 05/07/2023
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Photo submitted by GKing77098 on 05/07/2023
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Photo submitted by pdcurran on 01/09/2023
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Photo submitted by u8529739 on 01/07/2023
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Photo submitted by u8529739 on 01/07/2023
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Photo submitted by u8529739 on 01/07/2023
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Photo submitted by SMOKEY2020 on 06/24/2022
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Photo submitted by SMOKEY2020 on 06/24/2022
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17th green Photo submitted by u8529739 on 03/13/2022
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Photo submitted by ShibTx on 11/17/2021
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Background: Moody Gardens Discover, Rainforest, Aquarium, & Hotel. Photo submitted by GordonATX on 10/07/2021
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Photo submitted by Zeuswon on 05/29/2021
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Photo submitted by Zeuswon on 04/12/2021
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Pelican watching me on #8 bridge. Photo submitted by u8529739 on 02/10/2021
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Photo submitted by u169948982 on 01/22/2021
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My son and I Photo submitted by garthedc on 09/07/2020
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Photo submitted by lv370540 on 09/02/2020
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Photo submitted by Joshfast on 06/15/2020
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14th Hole Approach Photo submitted by GolferJake78 on 06/15/2019
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18th Hole Approach Photo submitted by GolferJake78 on 06/15/2019
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Photo submitted by Robert1518933 on 04/25/2019
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Photo submitted by barry9114506 on 05/17/2017
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Photo submitted by sanwaldjf on 06/28/2016
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Photo submitted by itismej83 on 08/16/2014
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18th Fairway looking across the pond to the 18th green Photo submitted by bobby6830772 on 06/21/2013
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Photo submitted by u000001596690 on 10/15/2012
Nice course
Course was in nice shape. Very playable. Fairways, greens and bunkers were all well maintained. Pace of play was alright. They do allow 5-somes which I’m not a fan of. Overall I enjoyed the course. I would definitely play again.
Hello and thank you for your 5-star rating, u314162398616! We're delighted you enjoyed your round. Please book another round with us soon, and thanks for choosing Moody Gardens Golf Course!
Hi, u00000996148. We would love to hear more about your positive experience on our course. Please contact us to share with us your favorite part of your experience. Thanks for golfing at Moody Gardens Golf Course!
Hi, NmRM3I6MoKgOredxWGJY. Thank you so much for the great review. We are glad you had an incredible time, and we hope to see you again soon! Thanks for choosing Moody Gardens Golf Course.
We would love to hear more about your positive experience on our course. Please contact us to share your favorite part of your experience and what we can do to earn that last star! Thanks for golfing at Moody Gardens Golf Course!
Hello and thank you for your 5-star rating, shibTX1! We're delighted you enjoyed your round. Please book another round with us soon, and thanks for choosing Moody Gardens Golf Course!
Still recovering
This place lost a ton of palms in last Feb freeze. Conditions overall are not as good as usual…….needs some TLC. Greens are OK but everything else needs some work.
We appreciate you taking the time to review the course and rate us, MrBogey55. We are going to pass on your feedback to the team. Thanks for visiting Moody Gardens Golf Course, and we hope to see you again in the future.
Always in great condition
Fairways and greens are always fantastic shape. Green keeper and staff do a great job. The great conditioning regularly tempts me to drive out to the island from West Houston to play. Go out and play,!
Hello and thank you for your 5-star rating, u000004379348! We're delighted you enjoyed your round. Please book another round with us soon, and thanks for choosing Moody Gardens Golf Course!
We would love to hear more about your positive experience on our course. Please contact us to share your favorite part of your experience and what we can do to earn that last star! Thanks for golfing at Moody Gardens Golf Course!
One of the best public courses in Texas
One of the best public courses in Texas. The greens are immaculate!
Hi, shibTX1. Thank you so much for the great review. We are glad you had an incredible time, and we hope to see you again soon! Thanks for choosing Moody Gardens Golf Course.
Great day on the links!
Course is in spectacular shape! It is a shame that the freeze killed so many palm trees. It appears that they were hoping more would come back but they are having to cut down the ones that didn’t make it. They will be missed as hearing the wind blow thru the palms gives it that tropical feel!
Hi, GoGolf719. Thank you so much for the great review. We are glad you had an incredible time, and we hope to see you again soon! Thanks for choosing Moody Gardens Golf Course.
Hi, jdessens. We are so pleased that you enjoyed your time at Moody Gardens Golf Course. We look forward to seeing you on the course soon for another 5-star experience!
Excellent condition. Fast greens, nice walk.
Moody gardens is in great shape with any ball in the fairway getting a great lie with a little fluff underneath. Staff is top notch and stater does a great job, pairing up twosomes and singles.
Thank you for taking the time to review us, u8529739. Your feedback is valuable, and we look forward to delivering you excellent service again soon. Moody Gardens Golf Course thanks you!
Hello u790674159,
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave an excellent rating! We really appreciate your business. Please let us know what we can do for you in the future to earn that last star!
Hi, shibTX1. We would love to hear more about your positive experience on our course. Please contact us to share with us your favorite part of your experience. Thanks for golfing at Moody Gardens Golf Course!
Course is in great shape
No complaints greens rolled good fairways were nice traps were in great shape. Hot deal made the hour and a half drive worth it.
Thank you for taking the time to review us, moisesherrera7. Your feedback is valuable, and we look forward to delivering you excellent service again soon. Moody Gardens Golf Course thanks you!
Great day!
The course was in excellent shape as usual. Had a wonderfully time playing as the weather was pretty nice. It was kinda of windy which makes Moody that much more challenging!
Hi, GoGolf719. Thank you so much for the great review. We are glad you had an incredible time, and we hope to see you again soon! Thanks for choosing Moody Gardens Golf Course.
Good, Bad, Ugly
The Good: I am a long time patron of the course. I love playing it. It is always in excellent condition.
The Bad: since the new manager the prices have shot up to the point where friends coming from out of town do you not want to pay that much to play the course.
The Ugly: The new manager can use some training in dealing with his customers in a more professional manner. However the rest of the staff very pleasant and kind.
Water water everywhere!
This was my first time at MGGC. Because we were running late, I didn't get to check out the clubhouse etc. It appeared to be an older building left over from the former Galveston Muny. It's elevated such that the main floor is on the 2nd floor. I could see that the bar on one end of the building was surrounded by windows and had the usual sports on TVs. So that's a plus.
Two marshals were hanging around the driving range and handling starter duties. They were super friendly ... some good ol' boys. We enjoyed chatting with them for a bit before they sent us off as a 2-some. I was fully in favor of that. I'm not a big fan of playing with strangers. That, and there was a good chance I'd have a poor scoring round; I did. We saw one of the marshals on the course later on but he was likely handling something rather than checking on players. He did have his radio volume up which (luckily) went off just *after* my partner's tee shot. He might want to turn the radio down or use an earpiece while out on the course.
Water, water, water ... it's everywhere on this course. Take a look at satellite imagery and/or your golf app in order to figure out your safe shots. And you can't hit near the water because that area is often marshy. Oh, and it'll be full of huge, hungry mosquitos. So when you find a Titleist Velocity with a blue dot bottom right of the logo ... that's mine. I left them all over that course! :)
Trees ... what trees? There are a lot of palm trees on the course and it looks like the freeze we had last winter killed half of them. Too bad. Past that, this course won't have any trees for you to worry about. You're either in grass (short/rough) or you're in the water. Well, you could end up in the bunkers; I did more than once. I can't really speak to their general condition because they'd been flooded +/- by the recent rains. Some had puddles and some were just soaked and hardening on top. I imagine the course would have to wait another day or so before they could turn them over and/or fluff them up ... if that's something they actively do. The course is flat -- no elevation changes whatsoever. As for the grounds, I didn't notice any real problems. The tee boxes, fairways, and greens were all in really nice shape. The greens were fast though. I don't know if that's normal or if they'd been cut (shorter) recently. But a putt that should've rolled 10ft was going about 14ft.
As for our particular day of play, it was WET. We'd had a day or two of overnight rain so the course was a little sloshy in spots. It seemed to drain fairly well though. Of course, the cart paths had numerous spots where it remained covered in big puddles. It's not a big deal, but is something that could possibly be added to the maintenance to-do list for a (... wait for it ...) rainy day. Speaking of the cart paths, I really wish every single course would use the red-white-blue-yellow paint striping. They do have the various/multiple distance markers on sprinkler heads ... so that's good. But I'm a fan of 'path paint' as it's so helpful to so many. During this COVID time, this is a rare course (that I've seen) that actually has coolers of water available. With COVID still messing with various things in our respective lives, most courses have not yet gone back to putting out water.
With the airport next door, we were treated to a loud single engine plane that was doing touch-n-go's with a quick vertical accent upon takeoff. It was fun to watch. Speaking of noise, I wasn't used to playing on a course that has streets bordering the course such that you get a somewhat steady stream of cars driving in/out of the course as well as the neighborhood next door. I did not care for that ... mostly because I'm just not used to it.
Thank you for your review, GordonATX. We will pass along your positive experience and feedback to our team at Moody Gardens Golf Course. We look forward to seeing you again soon.
Moody Gardens Golf Club
This course is great. The fairways are immaculate as are the greens. I have nothing negative to say about this course.
Hi, fspain. Thank you so much for the great review. We are glad you had an incredible time, and we hope to see you again soon! Thanks for choosing Moody Gardens Golf Course.
Thank you for your review, acnehls. We will pass along your positive experience and feedback to our team at Moody Gardens Golf Course. We look forward to seeing you again soon.