Source: The Houston Chronicle
Glenbrook Golf Course is short but tough, like a point guard who loves to drive the paint, except quieter than most of them.
And more affordable.
One of seven courses in Houston's municipal stable, Glenbrook opened in the 1920s and hosted the Houston Open in 1929.
The course changed little until the 1980s, when Sims Bayou was widened to shuttle rainwater more quickly. Robert McKinney did the redesign, adding 300 yards of length and bringing more water into play.
"It's not Memorial or Old Orchard or Greatwood," said Art Lopez, whose Lopez Golf Management has overseen operations here since 1991, "but I'm proud of this golf course."
Glenbrook is a better track than its $ 25.75 greens fee suggests.
"Even if I could get more, I wouldn't do it," said Lopez. "I'm sensitive to price; I serve a market."
Maintained with care
The Chronicle reviewed Glenbrook GC last week under heavy overcast skies and behind significant rainfall.
"I was impressed by how little standing water there was," said reviewer Matt Holyoak, a beginning golfer and UH law student.
For a course that absorbs 40,000 rounds per year, Glenbrook is in good shape. There are bare spots, but most are where well-struck shots should not land.
The course opens with a 180-yard carry over Sims Bayou, which players cross six times in the round. The bayou also flanks other holes.
"There's more water than I'd like," said UH law student Colby Nuttall, who helped with the review, "but when you build around a bayou, what are you going to do?"
Practice area on the way
What they are doing at Glenbrook - after decades without - is adding a driving range.
The city has OK'd a reshaping of No. 18 to accommodate a practice area that will enable players to hit balls beforehand rather than face that first tee shot parking-lot cold. Also on the "to do" list this year is a revamp of the No. 2 green.
Much of that work will land on the plate of John Lara, a superintendent with emerald thumbs and fingers.
"Our greens are as good as Memorial's today," Lopez said.
Glenbrook's putting surfaces are relatively small, but their condition is above par. Read the line and roll the ball, and the putt will track to the hole.
At least some credit for maintenance of those surfaces, Lopez said, goes to Glenbrook's regulars, who repair their pitch marks and lift their feet. They are rewarded with honest chances at birdie after a couple of good shots to start a hole.
Doglegs and sand traps
Most holes on this golf course require thought on the box.
There are doglegs to cut or not to cut and a couple of short par 4s that can be played driver-chip or with a pair of 6-irons.
The course also features enough sand to replenish a beach - 63 bunkers in all.
None was raked on review day, but that may have been the result of more pressing maintenance issues in the wake of soaking rain.
Holes are cleverly designed but not well-marked. Sprinkler heads offer no help.
Incremental yardages are marked with colored fairway blocks and adjacent cart-path stripes, but many are faded and tough to see from a distance.
On No. 9, a beastly par 5 that crosses the bayou, "150" is painted onto the path but crossed out with paint of a different color.
"I didn't like No. 9 at all," said Holyoak.
The concrete marker on the tee box of the par-4 No. 12 shows a lake in front of the green, but the lake cannot be seen from the tee. (The shot is about 190-195 yards; aim left of the large bush that appears to be in the middle of the fairway but is not.)
The final word
Glenbrook is not an upper-tier golf course and doesn't portray itself as such.
Lopez socks most of his maintenance budget into greens and fairways, in that order, and presents the golf course as just what it is: a good value in an area where value matters a great deal.