1908: Houston Country Club and the first big course
Organized golf in Houston starts with Houston Country Club, founded in 1908 by a group that included Will Farish, Walter Fondren, Howard Hughes Sr., Captain James Baker, Joseph Cullinan and Jesse Jones 1. Its first course still exists: it is today’s Gus Wortham Park Golf Course on the city’s east side 12.
The club put Houston on the early Texas golf map. It hosted the first Texas State Amateur played on an 18-hole course in 1911, and the Houston Invitational ran there from 1914 to 1954 (Francis Ouimet won in 1922) 1. A member, Ed MacClain, patented the original sand wedge in 1928 1. When the club moved to Tanglewood in 1957 to a Robert Trent Jones design, Gus Wortham bought the old course; the city bought it in 1973 and named it for him 12.
1922 to 1936: the city builds public golf
Hermann Park Golf Course opened in 1922 as Houston’s first municipal course 3. Memorial Park followed from a nine-hole, sand-green course built for soldiers recovering at the Camp Logan hospital; the course site dates that first nine to 1912, while the Texas Golf Hall of Fame says 1918 45. The Works Progress Administration made a golf course at Memorial Park its first government-sponsored project in Houston, and John Bredemus’s redesign opened in July 1936 45.
Those two parks are still the anchors of city golf, and both have been rebuilt with private money in the last decade (see below).
The Houston Open moves around town
The Houston Open has had more addresses than most Houstonians. It started at River Oaks Country Club in 1946, went to Memorial Park in 1947 and again from 1951 to 1963, then Sharpstown (1964-65), Champions (1966-71), Westwood (1972) and Quail Valley (1973-74) 6. Memorial Park’s winners in that era included Arnold Palmer, Bobby Locke and Jack Burke Jr. 25.
In 1975 the tournament moved north to The Woodlands, first at The Woodlands Country Club and then at the TPC at The Woodlands through 2002 610. Crowds of 200,000-plus outgrew the site and the TPC course could not be lengthened, Community Impact reported 10. From 2003 to 2019 the Open was played near Humble at Redstone, later renamed Golf Club of Houston: the Member Course from 2003 to 2005 and the Tournament Course from 2006 to 2019 11. In April 2018 the owner told the Houston Golf Association it no longer wanted to host 12.
The Astros Golf Foundation took over the event and moved it back inside the city, to a renovated Memorial Park, in November 2020 613. In 2026 the LPGA’s Chevron Championship moved to Memorial Park as well, so a municipal course now hosts both a PGA TOUR event and an LPGA major 14.
Champions: two tour pros build a championship club
Jack Burke Jr. and Jimmy Demaret founded Champions Golf Club in 1957 7. Burke had won the Masters and the PGA Championship in 1956; Demaret was a three-time Masters champion 7. Ralph Plummer’s Cypress Creek course opened in 1959 and George Fazio’s Jackrabbit in 1964 7.
Champions hosted the 1967 Ryder Cup, the 1969 U.S. Open (won by Orville Moody), five TOUR Championships between 1990 and 2003 and the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open 78. The USGA has since awarded it the 2029 U.S. Senior Women’s Open, the 2034 U.S. Mid-Amateur and the 2040 U.S. Senior Open 8. Houstonia reports the 1969 Open was the last men’s major held at a Texas club 9. Read the full Champions history.
Master plans bring golf to the suburbs
As Houston spread north and east, developers built courses into new master-planned communities. Atascocita Country Club opened in 1957 to a Ralph Plummer design, making it the Lake Houston area’s oldest club 22. Kingwood, developed by a King Ranch and Friendswood Development (Exxon) joint venture, opened its first Joe Finger course in 1974, the Lake Course in 1977 and the Forest Course in 1983 2021. The Woodlands, Walden on Lake Houston, Fall Creek and Champions-area neighborhoods followed the same model of homes along fairways.
Tour golf followed the suburbs too: the senior tour played Kingwood’s Deerwood from 1988 to 1994, and the event now called the Insperity Invitational started at Augusta Pines in 2004 before moving to The Woodlands in 2008 23. Read the Kingwood golf history.
Private money and public courses
Houston began handing day-to-day operation of city courses to private managers in 1989, starting with Hermann Park, according to a 1996 Houston Press investigation 15. The bigger shift came later. The Astros Golf Foundation paid for Tom Doak’s 2019 Memorial Park renovation, with Brooks Koepka as lead consultant 13. The nonprofit Houston Golf Association restored Gus Wortham, which reopened in October 2018 and runs under a long-term city lease 192. Hermann Park closed in September 2025 for a $30 million rebuild funded by the Astros Golf Foundation and the Hermann Park Conservancy, expected to finish in 2027 18.
Courses that are gone
Houston has lost a long list of courses, many of them to housing or flood control. Glenbrook Park’s course became the Houston Botanic Garden after the city approved the lease in 2015 16. Harris County Flood Control bought about 80 acres of Longwood in Cypress in 2023 17. Others are listed with sources in the closed courses section of the golf guide. For a buyer, the lesson is practical: a course behind a home is a business on private land, and businesses close. See what to check before buying a golf course home.
Common questions
What is the oldest golf course in Houston?
Gus Wortham Park Golf Course was Houston Country Club’s original course, opened in 1908. The city bought it in 1973 and named it for Gus Wortham.
Where is the Houston Open played now?
At Memorial Park Golf Course, a city course, since November 2020. It had been played near Humble at Golf Club of Houston (formerly Redstone) from 2003 to 2019.