Aced it!

Houston golf course tees up spot on list of country’s best municipal courses

Golf clap for the Memorial course.

Photo by Keyur Khamar/PGA TOUR

Houston is home to one of America’s above-par municipal golf courses.

A new Golf.com ranking of the country’s 30 best municipal courses puts Memorial Park at No. 7 overall. The beloved space opened in 1936; golf course architect John Bredemus developed the original layout.

In 2019, golf course architect Tom Doak oversaw the course’s $18.5 million makeover. A year later, Memorial Park became the first Doak course to welcome a PGA Tour event (the Houston Open).

“Doak’s mandate was to dream up a Goldilocks design, a course that would ask compelling questions of the world’s best golfers while answering the needs of its [municipal] clientele during jam-packed, year-round play,” Golf.com says.

The Astros Golf Foundation financed renovation of the Memorial Park course. It’s now only the second PGA-certified, municipally owned golf course in the U.S.

The 18-hole, 600-acre Memorial Park course logs more than 60,000 rounds of golf each year.

Elsewhere in Texas, San Antonio’s Brackenridge Park Golf Course comes in at No. 16. Golf course architect A.W. Tillinghast designed the 18-hole course, which opened in 1916, and golf course architect John Colligan updated the course in 2008.

The first municipal golf course in Texas, Brackenridge Park hosted the inaugural Texas Open in 1922 and is the location of the Texas Golf Hall of Fame.

“Anyone playing golf in San Antonio should tee it up at Brackenridge to enjoy its wonderful history and fun city-park layout,” says the Municipal Golf Association San Antonio, known as the Alamo City Golf Trail.

Two other municipal courses earn kudos from Golf.com: Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston and Butterfield Trail Gulf Club in El Paso.

The other Texas course in Golf.com’s top 30 is the 18-hole Butterfield Trail course in El Paso.

“As recently as last summer, Butterfield Trail was in dire economic straits, but thanks to funding from a new investment group, the course — with wide fairways, sand dunes, and framed by the mountains beyond — is thriving again,” Golf.com says.

A panel of 10 experts rated dozens of courses to come up with the 30-course ranking.

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Editor's note: It's time to look back at the top Houston news of the week, including restaurant openings and a major acquisition for MFAH. Plus, where to celebrate New Year's Eve in Houston. Catch up on our most popular stories below, then visit this guide to the best Christmas weekend events.

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2. Houston's only Michelin-recognized Tex-Mex restaurant now open in Bellaire. It didn’t take Sambrooks Hospitality Group long to turn Mandito’s into Candente. First announced in September, the restaurant’s second location officially opened December 22.

3. 25 Houston restaurants celebrating New Year's Eve with caviar, bubbles, and more. Houston restaurants are ringing in the new year with indulgent menus featuring caviar, lobster, and steak, along with plenty of bubbly.

4. Houston museum acquires historic Masonic lodge property for new greenspace. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston has acquired a prime parcel to expand its campus in the Museum District.

Holland Lodge masonic building The building at 4911 will be torn down for the new greenspace. Holland Lodge No. 1, A.F. & A.M./Facebook

5. Houston's richest residents, best suburbs, and more top city news in 2025. As 2025 comes to a close, we're looking back at the stories that defined Houston this year. These are the City Life stories that captured Houston's attention.