Tournament Course at Redstone Golf Club just what the PGA Tour ordered

By Mike Bailey, Senior Staff Writer

HUMBLE, Texas - When the Redstone Co. wrestled the Shell Houston Open away from The Woodlands four years ago, Redstone moved quickly to adapt its then soon-to-be-opened Peter Jacobsen-Jim Hardy Redstone Golf Club for a PGA Tour event.

At the time, Jacobsen went so far as to suggest that fellow tour players would like his design so much they might influence Houston Golf Association officials to keep the tournament there. The plan all along, however, was to play the event at the Jacobsen-Hardy course until a new course, specifically designed for a tour event, could be built.

That day has come.

Earlier this month, Redstone Golf Club unveiled its new Tournament Course. Unspoiled by homes, it's a big golf course, long and wide enough to let spectators see what they enjoy the most - booming drives - but with enough variety to call for most every shot in the bag.

To get an idea how big the new golf course is, consider this: The Member Course - as the Jacobsen-Hardy design is now known - is more than 7,500 yards long, but sits on just 140 acres. The 7,422-yard Tournament Course covers more than 376 acres. Rees Jones said it gave him the freedom to create the kind of course he wanted.

"It has a natural beauty that people are going to be overwhelmed by," Jones said. "With five sets of tee boxes, all of which have been laser leveled and sand-capped, the course will offer challenges to professionals and playability for recreational golfers of all skill levels."

Director of Golf Dick Harmon said he thinks the new course has more character than the Member Course, which was originally designed as a private country club and now is just that.

"It's not just straight away," Harmon said. "It has more doglegs. It's prettier, like Pinehurst or something. The holes seemed to be more framed. There's more water."

Indeed, the new Tournament Course isn't a stopgap. It's designed, from the tips at least, with tour players in mind, which is one of the reasons David Toms consulted on the project.

"Redstone has made it easy for me to be here," Toms said. "Normally a tour player is not as involved in the design process, but I have had a lot of access and input. The course is challenging, but fair. There is a lot of variety so that not one type of player has an advantage, which is what we need on the tour now."

The key word is "variety." Unlike the Member Course, the Tournament Course doesn't just seem like one long par 4 after another (although to be fair, the Member Course does have a couple of shorter holes; you just don't seem to remember them.). In typical fashion, Jones eases the player in with shorter par 4s on both nines before ramping up the challenges.

There are a good variety of par 4s, par 5s and, particularly, par 3s. Harmon likes the 16th, at 199 yards, with bunkers and trees right.

"I think it's beautiful," he said. "With the bunkering and the green at a diagonal and the trees there, you can put the pin right and you've got to work it around it."

Head Professional Brett Nutt likes the seventh hole, the shortest on the course at 173 yards, but certainly not a pushover.

"It's a little shorter, so there's an opportunity to make birdie, but with water left, you could also make double bogey," Nutt said. "It really is a risk-reward type hole."

One of the more interesting holes during the tournament could prove to be the shortest par 4, the 335-yard 12th. With water all down the right side, longer hitters will be tempted to drive the green and so will you if you play the proper tees, which are as short as 238 yards.

After the 12th, is a 588-yard par 5 that some tour players will undoubtedly try to reach in two, followed two holes later by a 609-yard par 5.

The 487-yard 17th, which some might consider one of the most difficult on the course, features a creek about 300 yards off the tee and fairway bunkers to the right. Even for tour players, this hole could play long, considering it will often play into the wind.

Then there's the par-4, 484-yard finishing hole. With water down the entire left side and fairway bunkers right, the tee shot will present challenges even for the world's best, and it should make for high drama in a tight tournament.

"I think is a much harder hole than the current (finishing) one," said Harmon comparing the new course to the Member Course.

Harmon said the feedback has already been positive from tour players who have visited the course.

"I took Lucas Glover out there, and he loved it," Harmon said. "He thought it was a beautiful golf course, really. Green complexes are better. The bunkering and the undulations in the greens are a little different."

Which is what Jones sought to create.

"This course has a wonderful flow to it," Jones said. "It was built for today's golfers, giving players chances to make birdies on several holes and to make pars on others. But it has beautiful, old-fashioned bunkers, carved like those reminiscent of golf courses built in the depression era."

The verdict

Among the advantages of a big golf course is that it can accommodate more corporate tents and a lot more fans come PGA Tour tournament time. Fans also will be walking a lot more.

You could hit a couple of drivers between the first green and second tee and at least one driver between the 17th green and 18th tee. You can blame Greens Bayou on that one and perhaps wetlands on some of the other treks between greens and tees.

Still, with a golf car, the new Tournament Course is more enjoyable than the Member Course (which isn't really walkable either). Jones designed a course that encourages driver play and the greens are big, for the most part, but interesting. No two look alike and you get a great variety of bunkering, both in the fairways and on the greens.

Course conditions are good, especially the mini-verdi greens, which seem especially mature for a course that opened just a couple weeks ago.

The $125 green fees, which includes a forecaddie, may scare off some, but considering you're playing a PGA Tour-quality course, it's a bargain. Most tour courses aren't even open to the public and the ones that are generally go for much more.

Stay and play

With Redstone Golf Club located just 15 minutes from George Bush Intercontinental Airport, there are plenty of hotel options. Here are a few:

Hyatt Regency Houston Airport
15747 John F. Kennedy Blvd.
Phone: (281) 987-1234

Marriott Houston Airport
18700 John F. Kennedy Blvd.
Phone: (281) 443-2310

Sofitel Houston
425 North Sam Houston Parkway
Phone: (281) 445-9000

Dining out

Vic and Anthony's
1510 Texas, downtown
(World-class steak and lobster house)
Phone: (713) 228-1111

The Downtown Aquarium
410 Bagby St. (Surrounded by midway carnival atmosphere outside, Guests dine inside while seated around a 200,000-gallon tank home to a wide variety of aquatic life.)
Phone: (713) 223-3474

Pappa's Seafood House
(One of several Houston locations)
11301 I-45 North at Aldine Bender
Phone: (281) 999-9928

China Bear Restaurant
(Not your average buffet)
15000 North Freeway
Phone: (281) 233-9800

Fast fact

Not only did Rees Jones design the new Tournament Course and two other courses for the Redstone Co. in Houston, he also designed the three-hole short course for The First Tee program at Redstone. He did that job for free.

August 22, 2005