Wildcat Golf Club (Lakes Course)

Overview: The Lakes Course at Wildcat Golf Club is the water-led counterpart to the Highlands layout in south Houston. Roy Case designed the 18-hole routing to use ponds, elevation change and broad views as recurring strategic elements, while the current club describes both Wildcat courses as a blend of links-style layouts and Texas Hill Country character. The Houston skyline and NRG Stadium remain visible, but the Lakes course turns the player’s attention more often toward the next carry, the safe side of a fairway and the shape of the green. It is a city course with a surprisingly open visual scale.

History: Wildcat’s two-course facility was created as a golf destination close to Houston’s major sports venues, downtown attractions and the Texas Medical Center. The club continues to identify Roy Case as architect for both the Lakes and Highlands routings. Keeping the Lakes name separate matters in the directory: the two courses share a clubhouse and address but are not alternative names for one 18-hole course. Each is a complete routing with its own playing character.

Did You Know? Wildcat’s elevated site can reveal up to 100 feet of relief, an unusual amount for golf inside a large Gulf Coast city. On the Lakes course, that relief changes the apparent width of the water carries and makes a flat-looking fairway read differently from the tee. The visual combination of ponds, skyline and stadium architecture is a distinctly Houston signature, one that could not be reproduced at a remote resort.