Eagle Pointe Golf Club

Review of Eagle Pointe Golf Club – Highlands, Texas

Described as a “Pure Golf Experience” Eagle Pointe Golf Club is equal parts peaceful, eye-catching, playable, and fun with excellent conditions and reasonable rates.  Some of the course’s distinguishable characteristics are gently rolling and contoured fairways, stunning tall pines, elevation changes of up to 40’, ponds or a meandering creek on 10 holes, 30 white sand bunkers most of with guard the greens, and a good layout that can test your game.  

With 4 tee boxes and yardages ranging from 5213 to 7168, Rick Forester created a layout that is a demanding test for the low handicappers and a course that is fun and enjoyable for the rest of us. In fact, from the forward tees the layout is relatively benign – if you can avoid the water and bunkers and putt!!!

Eagle Pointe Golf Club is owned and operated by the City of Mount Belvieu but it’s a far cry from your typical muni course – it’s very well maintained, manicured and landscaped; the layout is fair but demanding; the conditions from tee to cup are excellent; and the land is leveraged to it’s full extent creating a magnificent golf experience.  It’s not surprising that Eagle Pointe Golf Club is consistently ranked in the top 10 of the medium to high priced courses in the Houston area and it made our list of the Best Golf Courses in Houston.   It’s well worth the drive to play this great course.

Some of the holes that we really enjoyed include:

• #1 is a beautiful 536 yard par 5 with an elevated tee shot down to a tight fairway with a hill along the right side (it will kick your ball back into the fairway) and a creek along the entire left side – survive that and you need to carry the creek that crosses the fairway and head uphill to a green with a large bunker guarding the right side
• #2 is your first sharp dog leg and it’s a 392 yard par 4 that offers a good risk reward shot off the tee if you think you can carry the trees and fairway bunker
• the signature #16 is a blast – a 469 yard par 4 with an elevated tee shot, followed by a shot that needs to carry a creek and pond with a cascading rock waterfall and then head uphill to the green
• #18 is a 419 yard par 4 that will make you want to come back again – a pond on the right side goes from the tee box to the back of the green and another one on the left side goes from 150 out to about 50 yards on the left front of the green – the water pinches the fairway that cures right around the pond and off the tee box you need to decide how much of the pond you want to risk trying to carry for a shorter second shot to the green

All of the fairways are tree lined but a lot of the underbrush has been cleared and if you do miss the fairway, in most cases you can find your ball in red bark or pine needles and surrounded by trees, but with a playable shot back to the fairway.  In some cases if you spray it you’ll be in a dense forest of pines and brush and lost beyond the red stakes.  The Eagle Pointe Golf Club fairways were in very good condition when we played and they range from tight and contoured to wide open let-er-rip and flat.  Forester likes dogs legs both left and right, but most are manageable for the average hitter and your drive will most likely give you a shot toward the green.  The rough is wide and was cut about 2” thick which made it hard to find the ball at times and a little challenging to hit from.  There a a few homes set way back and out of play on one hole, otherwise it’s just you and nature and lots of trees.

The greens at Eagle Pointe are about average size (from 25 to 40 yards long), a variety of shapes, and most have some minor slope and contour.   You'll also encounter some tiers.  When we played the greens were running at a great speed of around 10.5, were soft and held the ball well, and ran smooth and true.  Most are guarded with from one to three bunkers which puts a premium on your approach shots.  Some are raised with steep slope back toward the water or trees.  For easier putting, plan your shots to hit below the cup.  The majority of the greens were near perfect but a few were still recovering from some damage around the fringes.  The fringes are wide and most are puttable.

Speaking of bunkers, there are 30 of them that can cause you a problem.  The day before we played, a recent heavy rain had washed out a number of the bunkers, left big puddles of water in others, and the sand that remained was wet, compacted, and firm – pretty much unplayable that day.  It looked like the bunkers would normally be in excellent condition with soft fluffy sand.  The lips in most cases are 6” to 10” tall and manageable but don’t expect to hit in the bunker and roll out.

A new 8000 square foot pavilion is under construction and there is also an excellent practice facility and state of the art fitness center.