Memorial Park Golf Course

Overview: Memorial Park Golf Course is a public 18-hole Tom Doak reconstruction in Houston, Texas, built on a much older John Bredemus routing. The everyday course record lists par 72 and 7,164 yards, while championship setups for the Houston Open have used a longer par-70 configuration. That difference is part of the course’s modern identity: the same urban layout can serve public play and elite professional competition without losing its central character. Broad corridors, native-looking rough, sandy waste areas, sculpted greens and sharp changes in elevation create a course that is open but demands precision around the putting surfaces. The setting inside one of Houston’s major parks adds another layer, since the course combines city accessibility with enough scale and strategic variety to support a professional event.

History: Golf at Memorial Park began with a nine-hole sand course in 1912. The 18-hole course was established in 1934 and redesigned by John Bredemus in 1935 after the park’s hospital closed. In the 1990s, a campaign led by Houston Park Board member Nancy Reynolds helped build support for a major renewal. Tom Doak then led the complete reconstruction that reopened in 2019, using the historic public-golf setting as the foundation for a modern strategic course. The renovation also prepared Memorial Park to become the home of the Houston Open, giving the municipal course a new place in professional golf.

Did You Know? Memorial Park has hosted the Houston Open and is also home to the Chevron Championship in Houston’s current golf calendar. Its combination of daily public play and professional tournament setups is unusual for a city-owned course.