My friend and I kicked off the Houston portion of our trip on the Tradition Course at Cypresswood Golf Club. Cypresswood (specifically the Tradition Course) always seems to get mentioned as one of the best public layouts in the Houston area.

The facility was close to our hotel so I ended up booking our Wednesday morning round on the Tradition Course and our Thursday morning round on the Cypress Course. You’ll need to jump forward two posts to read the Cypress Course review. Previously, the facility had 54 holes, but one course was closed. I’m not sure exactly when though!

We checked in on a humid morning and paid our $65 green fee. As it stands currently, the proshop is operating out of a trailer, in case that sort of thing matters to you. From what I have read the facility was heavily damaged by Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and is just now starting to recover.

The Tradition Course stands out because it is a Keith Foster design. Say what you like about Foster’s crimes, but when it comes to golf course architecture I generally enjoy his work. And, the Tradition Course was no exception.

The Tradition Course is routed through a wetlands area close to the George Bush Intercontinental Airport. The thing that impressed me the most about the course is its coastal Carolina feel! There aren’t any homes nearby and the course plays through a beautiful piece of wooded property, with plenty of pine trees. There are a few ponds which influence play as well. The green complexes are tucked into groups of trees and even on a gloomy day they stood out!

The other thing I liked about the design is how much the yardages varied on the par-4’s. From the blues, the 16th is a long one at 439 yards while the 17th (291 yards) is potentially driveable for the big hitters. Those are the extremes of the par-4 distances and you’ll find almost every other distance in-between.

We played the blue tees which are 72.0/135/6638 and from there I found the Tradition Course to be manageable. There is enough width to allow crooked shots but at the same time I didn’t find it easy to score. There isn’t much pressure off the tee (except for maybe the 16th), but the greens are small and you’ll need to try to focus as much as possible to hit them! Once on the greens I found them to be fairly severe surfaces.

My favorite hole on the Tradition Course was the 169 yard par-3 14th. Maybe it turned out to be my favorite because the sun started to shine about the time we got there, who knows! Still, it is a scenic par-3 that is framed by trees and a waste area short of the green.

The conditions were good, but not quite what I hoped for at one of the top public courses in the Houston area. In all fairness I think the course was under water after Hurricane Harvey, so it isn’t far removed from that event. Hopefully things continue to improve!

The greens appeared to be in the final stages of aeration and had a light layer of sand. They rolled pretty good and had some trickle. The fairways were lusher than what I’ve gotten used to in Dallas, so that was nice! The fairways here were actually wet and a bit long.

I think I would have been higher on the Tradition Course had the pace been quicker (4 hours for an early morning round – blah) and had fewer pins been cut into severe sections of the greens. Overall though, I enjoyed the course’s design and would certainly recommend a round here, mostly because of the natural setting. Visually, the course presents very well.

Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):