Texas Children's Houston Open at Memorial Park – 2026 Preview

With the Florida Swing now complete and just two weeks remaining before the Masters, the PGA Tour heads to the Lone Star State and Memorial Park Golf Course for the Texas Children’s Houston Open. One of the premier public municipal courses in the country, Memorial Park is a long par 70 measuring 7,475 yards, with roots dating back to 1912.

The layout is somewhat unique, featuring five par 3s and three par 5s. Despite its length, the course is relatively straightforward in terms of hazards, with just 21 bunkers and only four holes bringing water into play. The primary defense of the course lies in its unique green complexes, which feature significant undulation, short-grass runoffs, and challenging false fronts. As course superintendent Parker Henry puts it, “Nothing is hidden—it’s all out in front of you. But these green complexes can be treacherous if players don’t hit their target.”

Playing to an average of +0.30 strokes over par per round across its first five editions, Memorial Park has historically emphasized the importance of a well-rounded game. However, with the tournament shifting from its fall slot (2020–2022) to the spring over the last two seasons, changes in agronomy have allowed the course to play less challenging overall. What was once a wall-to-wall Bermudagrass setup has transitioned to overseeded conditions, most notably with Poa trivialis on the greens.

The most impactful change, though, has come in the rough—moving from a penal 2.5″ Bermuda to a much more manageable 1.25″ ryegrass overseed. As a result, what was previously one of the more demanding non-major tee-to-green tests on Tour has softened. Players are now able to take a more aggressive approach out of the rough, without the same concern for flyers or unpredictable lies typically associated with Bermuda.

Both the data and the typical player field point to Memorial Park being one of the most pronounced courses for “bombers” on the PGA Tour. Whether looking at past winners like Min Woo Lee, Stephan Jaeger, Tony Finau, and Carlos Ortiz, or contenders such as Scottie Scheffler, Dustin Johnson, Thomas Detry, and Alejandro Tosti, a common thread emerges—elite distance off the tee. The same trend holds among players with consistent course history, including Taylor Pendrith, Wyndham Clark, and Keith Mitchell. As the second-longest course on Tour, those who can overpower the layout off the tee tend to hold a significant advantage.

The Field

Headlining the 135-player field are seven of the top-30 ranked players in the world led by No. 1 Scottie Scheffler who has played this event every year he’s been on Tour and has three T2 finishes since 2020. Other notables include Chris Gotterup, Ben Griffin, Harris English, Shane Lowry, Sam Burns, and Ryan Gerard. Min Woo Lee also returns to defend his 2024 title.

Past major champions Wyndham Clark, Jason Day, Lucas Glover, Adam Scott and Gary Woodland are also in the field as is Brooks Koepka, who is once again playing in a non-signature event as part of his return to the PGA Tour from LIV Golf.

Memorial Park Golf Course – History

Memorial Park Golf Course had its official beginning in 1912 when a rudimentary 9-hole course with sand greens was laid out and intended for soldiers who were staying nearby at Camp Logan. In 1935, architect John Bredemus redesigned the course and added a second nine. The course hosted the Houston Open 14 times from 1947-1965 before the event moved to different state courses in both Humble and The Woodlands.

In 2017, after Shell did not renew its deal after 25 years of sponsoring the Houston Open, Astros owner Jim Crane began planning to have the event return to the city of Houston. While Memorial Park underwent a complete restoration in 1994, it was still not suitable enough for PGA Tour standards. So fast forward to 2019 when Crane hired famed course designer Tom Doak to dramatically change the course with the goal of keeping it playable for the average golfer, and yet making it a more demanding challenge for Tour professionals.

Though the routing remained unchanged, the course was transformed in numerous ways. The course has a much more wide-open look thanks to the elimination of underbrush and many of the overhanging trees in certain areas. The ravine that runs through the front nine was incorporated into more holes. Eight of the original greens were moved and certain other holes were altered in different ways. Tour player, Brooks Koepka was brought on as a consultant to Doak’s team. His contributions included getting rid of half of the bunkers, incorporating more short grass around the greens, and creating additional water hazards on the closing stretch of holes.

Finish Position and Strokes Gained History at Memorial Park (2020-2025)

This includes the average finish position and Strokes Gained per round. Players are sorted by SG: Total. Memorial Park is the 15th least predictive course on the PGA Tour.

Course Features

Memorial Park Golf Course is a long par 70 measuring 7,475 yards, making it the second-longest layout in the annual Tour rotation. From 2020–2022, the course played to an average of +0.80 strokes over par per round. Since shifting to the spring, however, it has become significantly more scoreable, averaging -0.70 strokes per round.

While widely regarded as one of the most pronounced “bomber’s” courses on Tour, Memorial Park still demands a complete skill set—combining distance with accuracy, touch around the greens, and patience.

The course features overseeded ryegrass throughout the fairways and rough, paired with typically firm, “bouncy” greens that run fast—generally between 12–13 on the stimpmeter. With the transition to Poa trivialis in 2024, however, the greens have played slightly less firm than in the fall, easing the difficulty of approach shots.

With minimal penal bunkering, manageable rough, and limited water hazards, the course’s primary defenses lie in its heavily contoured green complexes and the potential for windy conditions.

Overall, Memorial Park is a relatively flat, parkland style layout, but Tom Doak did an excellent job introducing subtle nuance by creating the potential for uneven lies in the fairways and throughout the short grass areas around the greens. The exposed ravine that cuts across the front nine also adds an element of unexpected visual intrigue, something that is not fully appreciated until seen in person.

Along with a solid mix of doglegs and straight holes, Memorial Park features a wide variety of hole lengths, though longer holes are a defining theme. Three of the five par 3s measure over 200 yards, while eight par 4s stretch beyond 440 yards. The course really shows its teeth with five of those exceeding 490 yards, holes that carry a bogey or worse rate of 28.9%. Even the par 5s present a challenge, including the 576 yard 16th, which yields a birdie or better rate of just 22%.

The closing stretch from holes 15 through 18 stands out as the most compelling section of the course, offering a blend of risk and reward. The 15th, known as the loudest hole in Texas, is a short par 3 that can play anywhere from 115 to 155 yards. Despite its length, it demands precision, with a narrow green that provides very little margin for error. A false front on the right, a creek short and left, and limited safe miss areas make bogey or worse a real possibility.

The par 5 16th presents a significant decision point, as going for the green in two brings considerable risk. Water guards three sides of the green, leaving minimal room long for a bailout. The 17th is a short par 4 that requires two accurate shots to find a green set behind another water hazard. Finally, the closing 18th is a demanding 488 yard par 4 that plays as a slight dogleg right, offering multiple strategic options off the tee. The green slopes from left to back right, creating a difficult approach, especially from longer distances.

Strokes Gained Analysis

Off the Tee

As one of the longest courses on Tour, combined with a lack of hazards and bunkers off the tee and fairways averaging 34 yards wide, Memorial Park allows players to lean on driver without hesitation on nearly every par 4 and par 5. This leads to an average driving distance of around 294 yards. Longer hitters, in particular, benefit by being able to hit shorter irons and more lofted approaches into the firm greens.

Accuracy off the tee is far less critical, largely due to the forgiving nature of the rough, which sits at just 1.25 inches. Since the transition to overseeded conditions, both the missed fairway penalty and rough penalty have ranked among the lowest on Tour, further reinforcing the advantage for aggressive drivers.

Approach

The seasonal shift from fall to spring has also made it easier to gain strokes on approach. From 2020-2022, players lost an average of 0.0011 strokes on each approach shot. Since 2024, players are gaining 0.034 per shot. Thanks to extremely soft conditions last year, that average was 0.064. So far this year, the weather has been warm and dry, which has helped the underlying bermuda, but has made it difficult to manage the moisture to keep the ryegrass healthy.

With firmer conditions expected this year, the biggest challenge is getting your second shot to settle on the correct quadrant of these large surfaces. The firm undulations that slope off near the edges make it very difficult to get makeable birdie putts if you hit the wrong sector of the green. In some cases, missing the green on the correct side might be better than hitting the green but having to putt from 40 feet across multiple breaks and slopes.

2021’s winner, Jason Kokrak emphasized this by saying, “There are some pins out here that are pretty nasty if you do miss, so I’ve been playing away from the pin on occasion.” Regarding this same challenge, 2020 winner Carlos Ortiz said, “Once you push it with these greens, they’re pretty undulated and they all fall off, so if you start pushing it, it’s easy to hit it to the side and you’re going to have a hard time putting it again on the green.”

Over the last two years, 69% of approaches came from 150+ yards (32% from 200+), which is well above the Tour average. Joel Dahmen spoke to this difficult combination of hitting tough greens from distance, “With the way the greens are, you have to be so precise on the greens, and it’s tough to be precise from 200 yards.”

Around the Green and Putting

Around 27% of total strokes gained at Memorial Park come from around the green, one of the highest rates on Tour and a clear indicator of how critical a strong short game is to contend here. When conditions played firm in 2024, each of the top 13 players on the leaderboard gained strokes around the green, with those inside the top five averaging +0.92 per round.

Much of this stems from the green complexes themselves. Many of the greens fall off into short grass runoff areas, placing a premium on creativity and touch when players miss the putting surface. Rather than relying on deep rough, Tom Doak designed these areas to feature tight, often uphill lies that challenge a player’s ability to control spin and trajectory around the greens. With greens missed at a high rate, a weak short game is very difficult to hide.

As course superintendent Parker Henry noted regarding the agronomy changes, “We are tighter around the greens. Hopefully, it will create some different shots around the greens in areas we’ve struggled in the past. The players may not have had a great lie even if they may have been in the short grass.”

The challenge continues on the putting surfaces. In typical Doak fashion, the greens feature significant undulation and tend to roll firm and fast. While overall putting performance tends to hover around the Tour average, the increased speed places added emphasis on lag putting, avoiding three putts, and consistently converting par saves.