Redstone GC ready for '03 Tour stop

Golf Course News, Jan 2003 by Rice, Derek

HOUSTON - After a couple false starts due to bad weather in Houston, Redstone Golf Management was finally able to open its first 18-hole course at Redstone Golf Club in early December.

Designed by Jim Hardy and Peter Jacobsen, the course will host the 2003 Shell Houston Open two weeks after The Masters. A second 18-hole course, designed by Rees Jones, is currently in progress and is expected to open in fall 2004. The Jacobsen/Hardy course will be private, while the Jones course will be open to the public. The Shell Houston Open will move to the Jones course in 2005.

Jacobsen and Hardy turned the existing course at Redstone GC into a 7,508-yard course. Upon completion of the Jones course, the facility, which also includes a 31,000-square-foot teeing area for a double-ended practice facility, will encompass 440 yards.

Redstone brought in respected golf instructor Dick Harmon as director of golf in November, in anticipation of the club's opening. Harmon came over from the Redstone-- managed Houstonian Golf and Country Club.

"Those who have played this course before will not recognize it," Harmon said. "The course has gone through major improvements and is in beautiful shape right now. It will challenge players very well."

Harmon, who has been named general chairman of the 2003 Tour Championship to be played in Nov. 2003 at Champions Golf Club, will open a second Dick Harmon School of Golf at the course.

Among the improvements Jacobsen and Hardy made to the existing course were the installation of a computerized Toro irrigation system and TifEagle greens and TifSport fairways.

Jacobsen said the course will play with a level of difficulty for everyone, from the pros on down to juniors.

"I think the pros will find it difficult because of the length of the golf course (7,508 yards), but also fun and interesting because of the variation of the holes, he said. "When you need to make a course harder, just make it longer. We also made sure the course is playable in all types of weather, with particular attention given to drainage, given the weather in Houston."