Special Places - Redstone Golf Club

This week sees the first of two Texas events that sandwich the Masters, as the 64th playing of the Shell Houston Open takes place at Redstone Golf Club’s Tournament Course. Perennial fan favourite and 2003 event-winner Fred Couples is trying to make his eighteenth consecutive cut to claim the outright tournament record, and a high quality field will look to follow in the footsteps of all-time-greats Byron Nelson and Bobby Locke who won the first two Houston Opens in 1946 and 1947 respectively.

Redstone Golf Club opened in 2003 and began hosting the Shell Houston Open straight away on the Members Course. In 2005 the Tournament Course was laid out by renowned golf architect Rees Jones - son of legendary course designer Robert Trent Jones - with the assistance of player consultant David Toms, 2001 PGA Champion. The course was specially designed to host a PGA Tour event and has been the home of the Shell Houston Open since 2006.

This fan-friendly 6750m par 72 parkland layout is carved through a lush mix of oak, pine and cypress trees, and has wetlands filled with native plants and flowers. Playing the Tournament Course well requires smart shot selection, precision and placement. Right from the opening hole, a 360m par 4, precision is demanded to avoid the well-placed fairway bunkers and to find the right part of the subtle slopes on the green in order to have a realistic birdie opportunity.

Positioning rather than length is again at a premium on the next two holes, both par 4s under 400 metres. The round continues with a reachable par 5 followed by a difficult 440m par 4. Water is in play on many holes, and par is further defended by strategic bunkering, multi-level and uniquely sculpted greens that afford challenging pin placements, and a Texas wind that sometimes blows with the best. The 305m par 4 12th will encourage many players to go for the three-tier green that has an unusual trough across the centre, but the reward needs to be balanced against the risk of a shot pushed to the right ending up in the lake. The dramatic finishing par 4 18th, with a lake bordering the entire left side, will demand nerves of steel from anyone needing one last birdie on Sunday’s back-left pin placement.

The conditioning and setup of the course will make this a great warm-up for players competing in next week’s Masters.