Tour 18 Golf Course in Humble takes the weekend duffer on a journey down some of the most famous fairways in professional golf without the traveling expenses. You would have to visit 16 courses around the country to play the original holes that are simulated on this public golf course on the north side of Houston.
“It’s amazingly like the real thing,” said a member of our party as we worked our way to the first green. The hole is modeled after the finishing hole at Harbour Town Golf Links on South Carolina’s Hilton Head Island. “The only thing that is missing is the red-and-white lighthouse in the distance and the Atlantic Ocean off to the side,” he said.
At one time a faux lighthouse did peek above the pine trees that line the back of the green. The hole looked so much like the real thing that a lawsuit forced the managers of the course to remove it. Each of the 18 signs at the tee boxes announces: “This hole was inspired by [enter the name of the hole and club name] and is not affiliated with, endorsed, or sponsored by [said golf club].” The lawyers require the course to tell the players they aren’t at Augusta, Sawgrass, Colonial, or Pebble Beach, just in case someone might mistake it for the real thing.
While most of us won’t have an opportunity to play all the original holes, Tour 18 is a great substitute. Keep in mind that the course is made up of 18 holes, which have tripped some of the best players ever to play the game as well as created some of the most exciting moments in golf. Very few weekend hackers have much of a chance to beat the par-72 course, but it’s a thrill to take up the challenge of holes that have been featured in some of golf’s most famous tournaments.
The island green on the final hole of the front nine of Tour 18 is the perfect example of how the course can make a golfer very humble or inflate their ego. A near-perfect copy of the island hole at the Tournament Players Club at Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra, Fla.: You can drown a lot of balls or make a fairly easy par 3.
Some holes are a stretch for the imagination, like the oddly shaped sand bunkers that are supposed to be Mickey Mouse ears in front of the 11th green. Still, it’s fun to get a sense of the width of the professional fairways and the number of bunkers and sand traps that threaten every approach. It is no wonder that a four-hour game can easily last an extra hour, and scores tend to soar.
If you take your golf game too seriously, you might not appreciate the humbling experience. The three holes borrowed from Augusta National Golf Club drop the famous “Amen Corner” onto the Coastal Plains. Jack Nicklaus called the par-3 12th hole at Augusta (number six at Tour 18), “the toughest tournament hole in all of golf.” Greg Norman called the next hole “the greatest hole in golf.” With recommendations like that, who wouldn’t get chills just trying their skills?
Besides being a challenging course, Tour 18 is almost as beautiful as the courses that it replicates all the way down to the flowers of Augusta surrounding the sixth green. Well-maintained fairways and greens make blaming the conditions a hollow excuse, and make even a bad outing a pleasure. The club has a nice driving range, putting green, and chipping bunkers if you need to warm up before your trip around the course.
Opened in 1992, Tour 18 can be a humbling and exciting experience on the links. Normal green fees range from $65 to $105, including a cart. The course is about 30 minutes north of downtown Houston off of U.S. 59 on FM 1960. For tee times and information, call 281/540-1818 or go to www.tour18golf.com. A second Tour 18 golf course opened north of Dallas in Flower Mound in 1995.
776th in a series. Day Trips, Vol. 2, a book of Day Trips 101-200, is available for $8.95, plus $3.05 for shipping, handling, and tax. Mail to: Day Trips, PO Box 33284, South Austin, TX 78704.
This article appears in May 5 • 2006.
