Alta said:

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AustinCountyAg said:

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https://m.chron.com/sports/astros/article/Astros-Jim-Crane-find-Houston-Open-sponsorship-12881138.php

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Well - that makes me feel a little better that tournament will be saved. It would be nice to have somebody other than the HGA run it as well.

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Interesting:

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The next Houston Open would be held in either mid-May, possibly as a lead-in to the PGA Championship that's moving to late spring from its traditional August dates, or June 6-9 prior to the U.S. Open.

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Good luck getting people to come to a tournament in Houston after April. But I guess they don't have much of a choice with the PGA reshuffling the schedule.

Sad for Houston golf fans that things had to change.

I went a few years ago when Mickelson won, and it was a fun experience. They really worked hard to improve the field after moving from The Woodlands. Lots of big names would come through. Now I think those days are over. Redstone/CGoH was a great course and the park/ride from the airport was easy.

Guess I'll be going to Austin if I want to see the big names at a PGA event now.

From the article posted this morning

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With the Houston Open having already lost the prized pre-Masters slot because of its sponsorship woes, that was the only high-profile spring-summer option, but the slot will now seemingly be claimed by the Quicken Loans tournament, based in recent years in Washington D.C., which announced this week it was moving to the Detroit area.

Crane, for his part, is happy to concede the date.

"You can't get anybody to come watch golf in (Houston in) June," he said. "The average (high) temperature is 95 degrees."

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I don't think it'll ever be June. Mid-May isn't too terribly bad as I don't think it starts to get unbearable until the end of May early June.

For now though it sounds like it'll be a fall date which is better for weather but not so much for attendance with NFL and college football being in full swing.

Ag_07 said:

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From the article posted this morning

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With the Houston Open having already lost the prized pre-Masters slot because of its sponsorship woes, that was the only high-profile spring-summer option, but the slot will now seemingly be claimed by the Quicken Loans tournament, based in recent years in Washington D.C., which announced this week it was moving to the Detroit area.

Crane, for his part, is happy to concede the date.

"You can't get anybody to come watch golf in (Houston in) June," he said. "The average (high) temperature is 95 degrees."

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I don't think it'll ever be June. Mid-May isn't too terribly bad as I don't think it starts to get unbearable until the end of May early June.

For now though it sounds like it'll be a fall date which is better for weather but not so much for attendance with NFL and college football being in full swing.

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Uhhh it was in the mid 90s here in mid May, just a few weeks ago.

Exactly where are they going to bus spectators in from? It's not like their is a lot of parking with in a few miles to hop on/off buses to get to Memorial.

And to fix the course it's going to take the COH a year just to get the engineers and contractors in place to do the work (if you've ever done business with a local city/state you'd understand).

I have trouble believing they can pull this off by 2019 and still have a quality tournament.

agracer said:

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Exactly where are they going to bus spectators in from? It's not like their is a lot of parking with in a few miles to hop on/off buses to get to Memorial.

And to fix the course it's going to take the COH a year just to get the engineers and contractors in place to do the work (if you've ever done business with a local city/state you'd understand).

I have trouble believing they can pull this off by 2019 and still have a quality tournament.

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He's shooting for 2021 and I'm assuming bused from reliant?

agracer said:

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Exactly where are they going to bus spectators in from? It's not like their is a lot of parking with in a few miles to hop on/off buses to get to Memorial.

And to fix the course it's going to take the COH a year just to get the engineers and contractors in place to do the work (if you've ever done business with a local city/state you'd understand).

I have trouble believing they can pull this off by 2019 and still have a quality tournament.

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...and they'll have to use HUB contractors for everything possible.

I could see the Delmar/Northwest option. That being said, I was spoiled by the parking at GCOH. When I volunteered I'd park in the field by the utility area, not far from the 1st tee building.

Posted this on the Houston thread...HGA laid off basically everyone associated with the tournament yesterday. The only people left are First Tee and junior golf people. Sounds like they've given up.

30 year round employees? That sounds like a lot.

Their full time staff. Close to 10 people were let go.

Isn't HGA running Gus when it reopens? Is that still a thing?

terradactylexpress said:

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Isn't HGA running Gus when it reopens? Is that still a thing?

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Yes, that should work out well

It will reopen in September I am told

Losing the pre masters spot killed us. Fall is where golf tournaments go to die. But at least we still have it for now I guess. I'm guessing a barbasol open type field. And no chance June was a realistic option. Way too hot

I just looked it up. We would be the 2nd tournament of the season Just hope we aren't an alternate event to a WGC event

Very happy we still officially have a tournament, but sucks we lost our spot before the masters. It will be interesting to see how the turnouts in attendance will be. High school/college football season will be in full swing..... I'll be there though because I love golf

Pursue date in the spring

I'm happy that we still have a tournament here, although like others I do wonder how big of a field it will be or if it will be a glorified Web.com event.

Still not excited about the ambition to bring it to Memorial Park, but I guess we'll just have to see how it turns out.

I wonder how involved some components of the HGA will be going forward. I volunteered a few years for the tournament and while there are some things they do good, other things to me seemed a bit over the top.

Now that fall events get full Fed Ex points, it won't be an awful field, just not what we're used to. It will still be a full field event at a golf course the players enjoy.

Crane running this thing is good news. The October date is a stop gap if he continues to back this thing. Look for a spring date within 5 years I bet.

Check out the fields for the first few events of the 2017-2018 season. It will be a weaker field. But at least you have a tournament at a respected course.

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"We could get something going like (the) Phoenix (Open, sponsored by Waste Management), where you have a big turnout and raise a ton of money. You'd be able to draw crowds there."

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Sounds like a viable marketing plan. Create a party atmosphere. HOUSTON should be willing to buy into such a scheme, no?

And I like the decision to move it to Memorial. It's an opportunity to improve that track, but I agree with others who've suggested the green fees should be elevated to attract a more "appreciative" demographic that will "take care" of the course once it's been upgraded.

Although it will probably happen anyway, I don't agree with raising the green fees for an "appreciative demographic." At the end of the day Memorial is a muni course. As far as I know its the only CoH course that is profitable, and thats probably because they continuously stack rounds up out there. I'm not sure if the demo that plays at Memorial is a mostly a bunch of wasted Brad & Chad hackers, or if the wear and tear is most likely the result of the number rounds crammed into the course.

In my mind, a Muni course shouldn't be as expensive as GCOH - especially here in the Houston area where golf (private & public) is typically priced lower than a number of other large cities around the country.