Here’s Why Houston’s East River 9 Is One Of Golf’s Most Unique New Courses

Houston’s newest golf course started as a “pie in the sky” idea. How could developers repurpose a portion of a 150-acre site on the East side of Houston in a way that would bring people in and create a sense of community?

The answer: the East River 9.

At a time in which very few new U.S. golf courses are opening, and fewer still are opening within major metropolitan areas, East River 9 is a unique outlier. A nine-hole, par 3 layout situated on a peninsula that extends into the Buffalo Bayou, the course is the jumping off point for a mixed-use development that will include multifamily apartments, offices, restaurants, fitness centers, and more.

The golf course, which opened in November and is open to the public, is intended to serve as an amenity for the surrounding neighborhood and beyond. It’s built on a 25-acre parcel that most recently was a rundown parking lot and back in the 1940s was the site of a manufacturing plant where Sherman tanks were built before being shipped off to Europe for the war effort.

Today, it’s not only greenspace with replanted oak trees and Crepe myrtle, but the newly-beautified area now provides a fun, shorter, accessible and affordable public golf option. A round at East River 9 is priced between $30 and $40 and the course, which has views of the Houston skyline, has lights for night-time play.

“Houston was lacking in that area and there was an underserved demand for it,” founder and developer Clayton Freels said of the short course project, which also includes pickleball courts, a driving range and a family-friendly restaurant set in a 6,000-square-foot repurposed maintenance building. “The Par 3 really bridges a gap because, for beginners, taking the next step from the driving range to the full 18 holes is intimidating.

“And with 18 holes, it can sometimes be an all-day thing,” added Freels, a vice president at Houston-based Midway, a real estate, investment and development firm. “Here you can come out here at 3 p.m. and be home by dinner. It’s offering something new to Houston and it’s gratifying to see people from different walks of life get out and experience it — husbands and wives, fathers and daughters, beginners, people picking up the clubs for the first time. It’s more approachable, and levels that playing field.”

East River 9 offers discounts for juniors and military veterans as well as locals in the city’s Second and Fifth Wards. The ethnic makeup of the Second Ward is primarily Hispanic, while the Fifth Ward, in which the course is officially located, is predominantly black. But many throughout the city are getting their first look at a setting, which boasts a mile of frontage on the Buffalo Bayou, that had been fenced off to the public for the past 75 years.

“That’s been one of the more rewarding things seeing Houstonians come out and not realize it was there,” said Freels, who played golf in high school and has always viewed the game as an important outdoor activity that connects people. “The sun sets west of the skyline, which makes for some beautiful views at sunset. It’s great for hosting events – especially corporate, social, fundraising — because the golf is always an attraction.”

A site that was once rundown has been revitalized as a gathering place not only for community, but wildlife as well. Migratory birds are back – ducks, white egrets, blue herons and bald eagles among them. Reclaimed water from the Bayou is used throughout the course’s sprinkler system.

While unique in an era of limited new golf course openings, East River 9 is quickly showing the positive social and environmental impact golf can have within the confines of a major city.

“It’s certainly rewarding,” says Freels. “Especially seeing how many different people it’s brought together already.”