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Houston, Texas
Play the newest venue on the PGA Tour before the pros do Houston ... we have solved the problem! America's space capital is also one of its great golf towns, but the glut of out-of-this-world courses makes narrowing the field more daunting than a moon walk. These courses will turn any buddy trip into a blast.
Redstone Golf Club
Redstone's new Tournament Course,
designed by Rees Jones and David Toms and opened in August, will host the PGA Tour's Shell Houston Open starting in 2006. (Redstone's other course, which previously hosted the event, has gone private.) If you opt to play from the tips, the shortest par 5 you'll face is 564 yards long. If you move up a set of tees, you'll still face plenty of challenges with tough bunkers, water hazards and greens that have more curves than Jennifer Lopez. Access to the private Member Course--which was unanimously well-received by Tour pros--is available for guests of the Houstonian Hotel.
Magnolia Creek
Golfers with a lot of imagination (and a bad fake accent) can pretend they're playing Scottish links golf at this 27-hole facility just south of town. There's one lone tree on the entire property--a pine in the center of the sixth on the Scotland course--but plenty of knolls, waist-high grass and wind off the Gulf of Mexico. And polish your Texas wedge: Many greens have severe collection areas.
BlackHorse Golf Club Peter Jacobsen and Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher Jim Hardy designed the two tracks here. The North course demands sharp iron play to avoid the jailhouse bunkers protecting the greens. The South is more tree-lined and less testing, but you'll still need plenty of stick to carry a marsh on the 213-yard 17th. Both courses are routed around wetlands--water is in play on 19 of the 36 holes--and you seldom will have a level stance.
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