Magnolia Creek - England Golf Course

Magnolia Creek – England Golf Course

Magnolia Creek in League City is home to three 9 hole courses that were designed by Thomas E Clark and are about as similar and authentic as you can get to St. Andrews, North Berwick, and Royal County Down.  Each of the three nines – England, Scotland, and Ireland – are truly unique to Texas and they capture the best of the British Isles.  Even the flag poles are wooden like you'll find across the pond.  The Magnolia Creek Courses are characterized by dramatic mounding, deep entrenched bunkers, spacious rolling contoured fairways, native grasses, challenging green complexes, and at times, strong winds. 

Magnolia Creek's England Course is outstanding and a real joy to play – if you like links style courses this is as good as it gets!  Excellent conditions, unique and fun holes each of which is different, dramatic mounding, roller coaster fairways, lots of bunkers, and very challenging green complexes. 

Some of our favorite holes on the England Nine included:

• #2 is a 417 yard dog leg right that offers your first risk reward shot to try and fly some tall mounds and three bunkers to shorten the hole
• pull out the big dog and see if you can stuff it on the green on the shortest par 4 on this nine at 331 yards – but watch out for 6 bunkers and the two tier skinny green that horseshoes around a big bunker
• #5 is a minefield of tall mounds and bunkers – one of which splits the roller coaster fairway and 4 more nasty bunkers that guard the two tier heart shaped sloping green
• #8 looks easy from the tee box – but it's a 192 yards from the tips and the green has 3 bunkers in front and three more in back of the green which you can't see but will find if you're long

When we played Magnolia Creek's England Course it was just starting to go dormant but the fairways were in very good condition.  They are firm and range from ample to tight and somewhat flat to mini roller coasters.  All have lots of strategically placed bunkers and tall tough mounds that you want to avoid.  The rough is ample and ranges from playable to pretty thick. 

The greens were also in excellent shape and ranged from small to about average and all have some slope which ranges from manageable to a steep roll back down to the fairway or rough.  The fringe is wide and puttable.  The England Course Greens were running at a great speed of around 11, were very true, and some of the tiers and breaks can cause three putts.  All the greens are well guarded, most are raised, and bump and runs work well if you can run around or through the bunkers.

The bunkers seem to be everywhere, but most of them are easy to avoid if you play smart and can hit the ball fairly straight.  Most are oval pot type bunkers with some steep faces.  The sand is excellent – soft, thick, and fluffy. 

Bottom line – one of the best, if not the best, links courses in Texas and a must play if you're in the Houston area.

Slope and rating are based on playing the England and Scotland nines.