Memorial Park offers refreshed look, creative challenge in new spot on PGA TOUR calendar

HOUSTON – Memorial Park Golf Course is a public access haven for the Houston golf community. Locals never pay more than $38, and juniors play for just $10 during the week.

For the fourth consecutive season, Memorial Park will have its week in the limelight as host of the Texas Children’s Houston Open. But it offers a slightly different canvas than the PGA TOUR pros have seen in the past.

The previous three events at Memorial Park were contested in the fall, featuring Bermuda grass turf conditions. With the event moving to a spring date, the course was overseeded last fall – an intricate process that has transitioned Memorial Park to a challenge that reminds one of Augusta National, as players ready for the Masters in two weeks.

Memorial Park is a lengthy test, a par-70 that plays to 7,435 yards, and the Bermuda grass had made for unpredictable lies in the rough, both off the fairway – maybe a flier lie, maybe requiring a hack-out – and around the greens, necessitating chunk-and-run type shots with the ball sitting down.

Memorial Park’s rough is now cut at just 1.25 inches (overseeded rye), in contrast to 2-inch Bermuda rough from 2020-22. The venue, opened in 1936 and renovated by Tom Doak in 2019, offers sprawling contours around the greens, with sharp elevation changes that elicit thoughtful decision-making.

The Texas Children’s Houston Open now presents a test where creativity can fully shine, in the spirit of Augusta National, and players embrace it.

“There will be some guys that look silly around the greens because the greens are a challenging design,” said Peter Malnati, last week’s winner at the Valspar Championship. “But you're going to have really pure lies around the green, so you'll have the option to play different kinds of shots and won't be able to blame the turf for anything that goes wrong.

“So in theory it should make the course play a little easier, but there are still plenty of elements out there that'll be challenging.”

Earlier this week, players raved about the immaculate conditions presented at Memorial Park – “Aesthetically it’s a lot prettier,” said world No. 4 Wyndham Clark – as the overseeded rye supplants the Bermuda grass, which never goes completely dormant but can slow down quite a bit.

The rough is much more playable, enticing players to attack the greens boldly, often with mid-irons, as Memorial Park features five par 4s that play 490 yards or longer. This will also encourage more aggressive play off the tee, as the penalty for errant shots is less severe.

“It used to be some holes where it was really, really important to hit the fairway, especially with the Bermuda rough, and now there's not as much of a premium placed on that,” said world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who looks to become the first player to win three straight PGA TOUR starts since 2017. “You'll see a lot more drivers, people hitting it really far, and it will be much more of I'd say a second shot golf course this time around.”

Added Texas native Chandler Phillips: “This is a bomber’s paradise.”

Overseeding requires opening the canopy of Bermuda grass – “That means you scalp it and make it really ugly,” said Memorial Park Superintendent Parker Henry, who previously worked at Quail Hollow Club, longtime host venue of the Wells Fargo Championship. “You throw the seed down, use several different types of machines and spreaders – tractor-driven and push spreading – and you hope for no rain so you can control the water, and you give it about seven to 10 days, and it starts to wake up and you see the sprout coming. Next thing you know, you’re on your way to overseed.”

Overseeding is rarely seen in Houston-area golf, said Henry, who added that Memorial Park regulars have enjoyed the change – which has also improved the course’s visual aesthetic for public play. Memorial Park, twice the size of New York City’s Central Park, is a hub of activity for the United States’ fourth largest city. The course sees approximately 55,000 rounds annually, said (Houston) Astros Golf Foundation President Giles Kibbe.

This week, local recreational players will see TOUR pros adjust to Memorial Park’s new conditions, just as they did in recent months. It’s a unique bridge between players and fans that isn’t often seen on TOUR.

“Golf needs to be as accessible as possible,” said Sahith Theegala, a Los Angeles native who has adopted Houston as a second home. “It's awesome that the week after this tournament that anyone can go out and play and see how hard the golf course is set up and the conditions that we play on. I think it's important for the fans to see exactly what a PGA TOUR test is.

“There's got to be something like a fan challenge, or I think it would be awesome to see a scratch handicap go out and play like the Monday after a tournament, keep the same conditions and see what they would shoot just to put it into perspective how hard a PGA TOUR golf course is.”

They have no shortage of creative options to pursue at the new-look Memorial Park.