Memorial Park’s new look is taking shape
Architect Tom Doak has the assignment of making Memorial Park Golf Course a challenging test for the PGA Tour player as well as keeping the course playable for the recreational golfer. Trying to please everyone is a balancing act.
In the midst of a privately funded $15 million, 10-month renovation to have the 18-hole, par-72 public golf course opened by Nov. 1, Friday marked 100 days until the week of the 2019 Houston Open. The Oct. 10-13 tournament will stay at the Golf Club of Houston in Humble one more year before moving to Memorial Park for the 2020 tournament.
Even though the course routing will be similar, as well as the length, it will be a different golf course while retaining that Memorial Park look. Characteristics of a Doak-designed course are generous fairways and alternate paths to get to the greens. Memorial will be no exception.
Among the major changes, irrigation has dramatically improved, and the number of bunkers reduced from 50 to less than 20. Greens, which will now have larger cupping areas and more elevation changes, have been moved around and fairways recontoured.
Back nine almost done
The back nine is almost complete. Grass is being planted on the fairways and the greens are scheduled to be grassed next week. And tree cutting was minimized in the renovation, which is on schedule to have the historic course open for play Nov. 1.
“We’re happy about it,” said Astros owner Jim Crane, the driving force to keep the Houston Open on the PGA Tour schedule. “When you see the course, it’s going to be one of the best golf courses in town. The property is just that great. It’s a great facility and this is going to take it to its peak, where it should be.”
The Nov. 1 target date needs to be reached and the course open for play for the Houston Open to be played at Memorial Park in 2020. The PGA Tour wants the course to be open for a full year before hosting a tour event.
“The golfer who knows Memorial Park very well is going to see a golf course that they don’t recognize,” said Giles Kibbe, president of the Astros Golf Foundation. “We’re excited about that. What we’ve done is a complete renovation. We dug up every hole, every green, every tee box. We took out the old irrigation system and old drainage system and put in new irrigation, new drainage.”
Four-time major winner Brooks Koepka is the PGA player lead consultant on the project, which started in mid-January. Doak, of Renaissance Golf Design, has enlisted Houston architect Mike Nuzzo as a consultant. Don Mahaffey, of Greenscape Methods, is the general contractor.
“One of the other major impacts from Tom was looking at routing options,” Nuzzo said. “To play 60,000 rounds a year is paramount, and also having a great fan experience (for the Houston Open) is just as important.
“Some of the shifting of greens helped create more of a community area (for viewing). So (Nos.) 13 and 16 greens are close together and fans will have a great vantage point. Instead of having the action spread throughout, there will be more hot spots within the golf course. There’s a number of greens shifted together so the fans will get the experience of multiple exciting elements happening.”
Under the new design, Memorial will have a more open look and the natural ravines on the front nine will be evident. The course will favor the creative player. The biggest challenge in the Memorial Park design is drainage. New contours will direct water to the enlarged irrigation pond between Nos. 11 and 16. Tee boxes and fairways have been shifted to bring the ravines into play.
“A big thing is the rain water capture and water conservation of the course,” said Jason Harsh, director of City of Houston operations. “It takes us off city water.”
Huge rains won’t be a detriment to the course.
“Especially in the Houston area, what kills golf is these rainfalls we have and not being able to get back on the golf course,” Harsh said.
Only the par-3 second hole and the No. 3 tee box are out of the original corridor. Eight of the 18 greens have shifted positions. The major changes are the second green location and the third tee location, both shifted to the other side of the ravine, farther south, similar to where No. 7 green is.
There’s also a major change to the 12th green. No. 13 is being shortened and is now a driveable par 4, and No. 14 has been lengthened. No. 13 tee has a great view of downtown toward the Galleria area, and the green is prominent on that hole.
The short 460-yard par 5 No. 8 has been lengthened; No. 9 changes from par 4 to par 3; No. 14 becomes a par 5; No. 17 a short par 4. The par-5 first hole will be lengthened.
“A lot of people ask, ‘What’s the new signature hole?’ and I’m like, I just start going through the list — No. 2, 3. There’s so many holes that are just awesome holes,” Harsh said. “It’s hard to just pick one.”
More undulation in greens
The greens will have more undulation. The relatively flat putting surfaces were not dramatically altered during the 1995 renovation.
There’s a variety in hole lengths, hole strategy, bunker locations, green orientations, green shapes and sizes.
Even though the No. 1 green was tweaked, the hole always had a good view of the Williams Tower, and still does.
“When you’re playing, you can see other hole locations and see more of the golf course,” Nuzzo said. “And for the fan, you’ll be able to see a lot more of what’s happening around the golf course as well.”