RADIO
Hello and welcome to my official course and tournament preview piece for the 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open, which will be played at Memorial Park Golf Course located just outside of Houston, Texas. The goal each week is to provide a comprehensive and in-depth look at the specs of the golf course to help you best understand historical trends and stat profiles that have proven to be indicators of success at this tournament in the past. The golf course is the ever-changing variable week to week on the PGA Tour and it is pivotal to understand the specs in great detail while researching the tournament.
We have a solid amount of data and course analytics to properly make some assessments regarding advantageous player skill sets and course setup specifics. Memorial Park has hosted this PGA Tour event since 2020, when the tournament moved from the Golf Club of Houston to the freshly renovated Memorial Park grounds following a 34 million dollar renovation by Tom Doak and his team. They have once again beefed up the total distance on the scorecard this year in an attempt to tame the professional players and challenge them on this unique public golf course that sees nearly 60,000 rounds per year of play.
Here is the scoop on Memorial Park and what to expect for the 2024 Houston Open.
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An Introduction to the Course
Originally designed in 1935 by John Bredemus as a city municipal course, Memorial Park underwent a massive face lift just 6 years ago by Tom Doak which was funded in part by Houston Astros owner Jim Crane. Doak, best known for his masterful usage of topography and natural, rugged architectural style consulted at the time with Brooks Koepka to length the public track and make it suitable for hosting a professional tournament one week per year. They had to do while also understanding that they other 51 weeks per year, the course had to maintain it's playability for the general public.
One of the biggest challenges that Doak was faced with was fixing the draining so that the golf course could be properly maintained throughout the year and handle whatever weather that Texas would bring without compromising the playing conditions. One of the unique aspects that Doak typically deploys with his design which was also something Koepka vehemently wanted to see was a nice variety of Par-3s. Memorial Park has that, with five par 3's ranging from 150 to 235 yards.
One of the other notable changes that Doak made, which may be uncommon to some, is that he removed over half the bunkers on the course. When he arrived on the property, the golf course had 54 bunkers. Now it only has 21. Removing them helps to reduce the maintenance cost and get golfers back on the course quickly after heavy rain, something all too common in the Houston area. He worked to create a dramatic closing stretch which I believe he achieved, and this golf course is one of the best public designs in the country.
Recently renovated by Tom Doak, Memorial Park has elements of all three schools of golf course design. The course provides an interesting test for the professional while maintaining playability for the weekend warrior.
More on three schools of design:
— Fried Egg Golf (@fried_egg_golf) November 10, 2022
Recent Winners Since the Move to Memorial Park
2023: Tony Finau
2021: Jason Kokrak
2020: Carlos Ortiz
The Scorecard - Houston Open
Course Specs
Do not mistake the fact that this is a municipal golf course for thinking it will be a pitch and putt. This is a big-boy golf course. Stretching 7,435 yards as a par-70 will make this one of the longest golf courses that players will face all season. Five par-3s are in play at a wide spectrum of yardages and the three par-5s on the scorecard average 596 yards.
There are also numerous very long par 4's. Five will play over 490 yards this week and it would appear they substantially lengthened the 5th hole. Last year hole #5 played under 400 yards in all and four rounds and was the easiest non-par-5 on the golf course. This year the scorecard has it being moved back nearly 50 yards and playing 440 yards. We will see if they elect to move the tee up a few days, but the ability for them to now play it back offers no reprieve for those shorter hitters looking to finally hit a wedge into a par-4.
In 2022, Memorial Park hosted the Houston Open in November but has since moved to its new spot on the schedule of late-March. This means overseed has been deployed throughout the golf course from tee to green. In turn, this allows for the superintendent to utilize much tighter mowing, specifically around the greens which will highlight the runoff areas around the green that Doak is well known for and prove to be difficult for players to get up and down when they miss greens.
The greens average 7,000 sq. feet in size and will predominantly play like the POA Trivialis overseed we have seen in the last couple of tournaments. The course is treelined and features numerous native areas that play similar to a barranca or ditch running alongside many of the fairways which induce a complete randomness to your lie if you have errant shots. This course provides a great test and should set up for a fun week in Houston.
Statistical Considerations
Let's start here, I firmly believe you have to be a highly proficient long iron player to win at Memorial Park. Nearly half of the approach shots are coming in from beyond 175 yards and 33% of those will be from 200+ yards. in 2023, three of the top four on the leaderboard finished ninth or better in strokes gained approach for the week. Distance and ball speed is a major plus for a player on a course with six holes playing more than 500 yards.
I also believe it is a positive asset if you can hit the ball low. Houston tends to have gusting winds that are difficult to predict, so keeping the ball low will help you achieve additional accuracy. Here is what Tony Finau said after his win here in 2023. "Yeah, I’ve always looked at myself as a good ball-striker and I have no problem hitting the ball low. Those are things that are very good when I play in this Texas wind. I definitely, you know, I don’t mind that the wind is blowing.”
I know it's the most difficult to predict, but you have to have a good putting week here to compete. The greens are not easy by any stretch of the imagination. This may shock you, but when Finau won here, he was 2nd in strokes gained putting. Kokrak was third. Ortiz was fifth.
Keep the ball in play, stripe your long irons, and find a hot putter. That is the recipe this week.
Approach shot distribution from 2023 at the Houston Open, via Data Golf:
Stat Radar Plot for Memorial Park, via RickRunGood.com:
Best Player Course Fit Rankings for the Valspar Championship:
- Scottie Scheffler
- Sahith Theegala
- Beau Hossler
- Mackenzie Hughes
- Ben Griffin
- Taylor Montgomery
- Alex Noren
- Stephan Jaeger
- Wyndham Clark
- Henrik Norlander
*Based on last 36 rounds of player data.
