Looking at getting a membership somewhere and looking for recommendations. I play 5-7 rounds on average per month so thinking a membership somewhere would be beneficial. My two front runners are Pine Forest and Sugar Creek currently. Any other clubs I should be looking at?

Location, budget, and desired amenities will be helpful here.

I live in the memorial/spring branch area - so preferably within a 20-30 minute drive. Sub $400 monthly. No specific amenities in mind - just would like nice golf facilities and good restaurant/bar

Age range? We talking junior exec or resident levels?

If junior, Champions would be within your range. $355/mo. up until 30. $474/mo. until 34. Bumps to ~$700 after. Know it's not technically a 'country club', but another option nonetheless. The guys out there are definitely more golf-forward than your standard country club.

I'm a member at Sugar Creek. I love it. Can't beat the younger membership and amount of sub-5 handicap golfers that are playing all the time. Greens are always rolling fast and pure.
I do think you'll be hard pressed to find something decent for under $400/mo. unless you're under 30...but that would be short lived once you age out.

I'm 28, so young exec. I'm playing sugar creek tomorrow morning to tour the course. Have you played riverbend before? If so, what are your thoughts compared to SC?

I was at Riverbend for a bit 4 years ago. It's a great course and decent facilities. Older crowd though and seemed small membership. Was never busy.

I'm a champions member. If you're serious about golf there's not a better group of young guys in the city. Lots of ags too, majority of which live in town. PM me if your'e interested and I'll get you in a game with us. If you're playing 5-7 rounds per month its a steal.

I was going to suggest taking a look at Riverbend since you're considering Sugar Creek and theyre right next to each other. Plus you mentioned food, and the best wings I've had in Houston were in Riverbends locker room.

I can't speak on SC's locker room because when I visited it got flooded due to a pipe burst, but Riverbend's locker room is excellent.

The course itself has a classic feel to me, and I consider it a fun counter option to my home course. If I wasn't a member where I'm at I'd do RB. SC does have 27 holes versus the 18 at RB. I didn't actually get to play Sugar Creek when I visited, so I can't give a fair comparison between the two courses. But I do like RTJ courses - I need to get out there and check it out.

Also, as mentioned above, when I visited it did seem like the membership at RB is an older crowd. Nothing wrong with that for me, but just something to be aware of in case that is a factor for you.

Side question, for the younger Champions members, do many of them live near the club?

Much respect to that place - its all about the golf and is a golf club instead of a country club. Plus they renovated recently to hold the Women's US Open. Also, their locker room is excellent as well. It seemed like a spot that if you lived in area, you could easily swing by on a week night and have some drinks and a good time with fellow members.

id say 40% of the young members live within 20 min (tomball,cypress,creekside) and the rest live in the heights/memorial/downtown area. still on saturday mornings you can get there within 30-35 min no problem.

the MLR and dinning areas are currently under renovations from snowvid. Fire sprinklers burst and caused some pretty heavy damage. yes the focus is on golf but my wife and two young girls use the pool quite a bit during the summer.

Never actually played riverbend...had a buddy from college that grew up and now lives in SC convince us to do the same. So when we bought a house out here in 2020 only made sense to join.
Heard great things about RB, including their MLR is much better. I think the renovated bar/patio combined with big lawn area is an awesome atmosphere at SC, especially Friday afternoon/evenings...even better if you can join the wife (and kid) there for dinner and drinks after an afternoon 18.
I joined for the golf, the camaraderie is a nice plus which I've been able to quickly take advantage. And there's a TON of young families with kids under 5.

Thanks man, I appreciate that. I'll let you know

I played sugar creek yesterday. Liked the course - the facilities seem nice, and the back lawn looks like it will be pretty sweet when completed. The employees were all super nice. Jill was awesome and the guys in the pro shop were super cool. I'd like one more look at pine forest and riverbend before making a decision. Probably pulling the trigger somewhere within the week.

Just curious, what are initiation and dues like for SC?

ConvAg34 said:

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I played sugar creek yesterday. Liked the course - the facilities seem nice, and the back lawn looks like it will be pretty sweet when completed. The employees were all super nice. Jill was awesome and the guys in the pro shop were super cool. I'd like one more look at pine forest and riverbend before making a decision. Probably pulling the trigger somewhere within the week.

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I'm a member at Pine Forest. Just FYI, our regular dues are more than what you're looking to stay within. It's about $750/mo. before you step foot on the property. Junior members save a little bit (about $100 or so, I think), but I also know we were really close to being full on junior members. Assuming you're looking for a junior membership, you would need to call and see if any are still available.

Hope this helps.

Yeah, I've been working with Tami. She said PF is on a 2-3 month wait list for young exec memberships. Pretty reasonable pricing for the course and amenities that are included. I'm 28, so I would be sub $400 for the next couple of years at least. Im not hard set on $400/month for Budget, it would just be nice to stay around that number.

Question for you - how difficult is it to get on Sunday mornings? I play every Sunday before 9am so being able to get on would be important. I played riverbend with some buddies on Sunday and enjoyed the course, more of a true golf club rather than country club, but they only have 18 holes and young exec members only get 2 days in advance to book tee times.

ConvAg34 said:

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Question for you - how difficult is it to get on Sunday mornings? I play every Sunday before 9am so being able to get on would be important. I played riverbend with some buddies on Sunday and enjoyed the course, more of a true golf club rather than country club, but they only have 18 holes and young exec members only get 2 days in advance to book tee times.

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I play on Sunday mornings pretty regularly and it's generally not a problem if there is not an event, tournament, etc. It's definitely more crowded than it was a couple years ago after our membership drive, but you shouldn't have too much trouble.

We're only 2 days in advance for tee times as well (and that's for everyone).

Take a good look at Braeburn as well. The course is under renovation right now, but it WILL be one of the best in town after the work is done (October-ish). Pricing might be a little wide of your budget, but if you're joining for what could be "life", the extra few hundred a month for an awesome community would be well worth it. Great bunch of guys to golf with and, when you're ready, the family scene is truly outstanding. And the olds are cool too.

I never heard back from Braeburn when I submitted a request for membership info. I may follow up to see if I can get any. I keep circling back to pine forest. They have a 2-3 month waitlist, so I'll probably pull the trigger sometime this week so I can hopefully join by summer.