Golf course architect Jon Schmenk has signed on to renovate the 103-year-old Hermann Park Golf Course in Houston. The municipal layout will be totally reimagined to host and better accommodate more golfers while supporting sustainability concerns in the fourth most-populated city in the U.S.
The renovation will be backed by Astros Golf Foundation, with Wolf Point Golf Company hired to handle construction. Plans for a renovation have been discussed for years and were officially announced Aug. 7, and now the details of who is doing the work have been made clear. Construction will begin in September.
Hermann Park Golf Course is a popular if sometimes beaten-up layout south of downtown Houston, adjacent to the Houston Zoo just minutes from the massive Texas Medical Center. The course is part of the larger park, which is managed by the non-profit Hermann Park Conservancy.
The work to the golf course is part of a master plan for the entire park. The golf course project is estimated to cost $30 million and could take two years. The course is currently managed by a private contractor, but management will shift to the Houston Parks and Recreation Department.
Astros Golf Foundation was founded in 2018 by the baseball team’s owner, Jim Crane. The charitable group also backed architect Tom Doak’s 2019 renovation of Memorial Park Golf Course, which has since become the site of the PGA Tour’s Houston Open.
With the Houston skyline in the distance, the somewhat cramped Hermann Park currently plays to a par of 70 with a maximum length of 6,015 yards, short by modern standards. The facility includes an often packed but short driving range with nets at the far end to stop range balls from rolling into a fairway.
Hermann Park Golf Course was established in 1922 with a design by John Bredemus that has been renovated multiple times as the city has grown up around it.
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Schmenk’s plan changes everything. The new front nine – which will be lighted for night play – will feature all par-3 holes, while the back nine will stretch to 3,400 yards with a par of 36. The practice area also will be expanded and will include a two-story tee, similar to the facility constructed at Memorial Park Golf Course.
“To withstand the anticipated amount of play, the new layout will contain abundant tee space for golfers of varying skill levels, large softly contoured greens, even two double-greens on the par-3 course, gently rolling fairways and strategically placed hazards while trying to keep the course maintenance friendly,” Schmenk said in a media release announcing the details of the plan. “The layout will also provide plenty of challenge for the experienced golfer within a routing that preserves the large, old oak trees which should give the course an established, mature feel on opening day.”
Astros Golf Foundation is a major supporter of the nearby Texas Children’s Hospital, which has nearly 5 million patient encounters each year. Part of the plan for Hermann Park Golf Course is to support those patients with an adaptive First Tee area that will include artificial turf to accommodate wheelchairs and other special needs.
Wolf Point Golf Company is headed up by Don Mahaffey and his son Ryan. The company was formed after Don Mahaffey built the extremely private Wolf Point Club – now known as TXO – for rancher Al Stanger in Port Lacava, Texas. He also handled the construction work at Memorial Park.
“This is a great project, and we’re very proud to be involved,” Don Mahaffey – who will serve as project manager while Ryan leads construction in the field – said in the media release. “The community aspects of the project are obviously front and center, but perhaps the most interesting part of the plan from a golf-design point of view is that all the ponds on the course are interconnected and designed to capture stormwater for irrigation use. This system is very similar to the one we designed and built at Memorial Park, and that helped reduce potable water use by 50 percent. We are aiming for similar results here.”
Such impacts have been front and center for the Astros Golf Foundation, which has lobbied to start this project for several years.
“In order to make this a financially viable operation for the long-term, we have to significantly expand the driving range, which is a significant revenue generator; we need to increase the size of the ponds in order to create a stormwater recapture and irrigation system that is environmentally friendly; and we need to build a new clubhouse,” Giles Kibbe, president of Astros Golf Foundation, said in the media release. “Jim Crane’s goal is to provide all Houstonians with a great golf experience on a first-class facility at an affordable cost. Jim grew up as a caddie playing municipal courses. So, he wants the average golfer to be able to experience a great course in first-class condition. That’s what we did at Memorial Park, and that’s what we’re going to do at Hermann.”
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