By David R. Holland
Porter, Texas – True golfers can never pass through the Piney Woods north of Houston without thinking about golf.
The area is blessed with a bounty of forest treasures — Loblolly Pine, Shortleaf Pine, Longleaf Pine, Bluejack Oak and mixed hardwoods.
“Blessed” was certainly what developer/owner Dennis Wilkerson was thinking 25 years ago when he established Tour 18 Inc., and subsequently opened up Augusta Pines Golf Club and acquired Gleannloch Pines Golf Club.
Today, he has another addition to the portfolio with the grand opening of Highland Pines Golf Club, the first new public-access golf course in the greater Houston area in 15 years.
“Golfers love this part of Texas,” Wilkerson says. “It’s just a beautiful place to play golf. And with Highland Pines we came up with another first for the public golfer – a chance to play on premium Lazer Zoysia grass greens, fairways, tees and rough. That’s something that only top private courses have offered in the past.”
Located just southeast of The Woodlands, Highland Pines is also a master-planned community named The Highlands with countless amenities.
“What makes Highland Pines unique is that little more rural, extremely wooded with some elevation changes, things you’re not going to find in the majority of the Houston area,” said Jon Montag, director of golf, Tour 18 Inc. “We took what Mother Nature gave us and built a golf course around that – always the goal to make it natural.
“Zoysia grass has been generally found in higher end private golf courses – we haven’t see it on public or semi-private golf courses in this area.”
Kyle Williams, head golf pro, said: “Highland Pines has wide fairways, but once you get closer to the greens it has challenging approach shots and subtle greens. It’s a great golf course because it accommodates all talent levels.”
The course has a boundary of the San Jacinto River and the golf course skirts that river basin traveling through tall pines and hardwoods with lakes, meadows and valleys.
Dave Relford, Tour 18 Design Group architect, designed Highland Pines and Augusta Pines.
This beauty measures 7,307 yards, a par 72, and is meant to play fast and firm, and you will love the massive fairway corridors. Long hitters will bomb drives, but the approaches are meant to be tougher with green complexes that can be difficult.
How about a front-nine with a 470-yard par 4, a 249-yard par 3 and a 610-yard par 5? The drivable par-4 seventh is 346 yards and has a speed slot short to kick drives on to the putting surface. The eighth is a 183-yard par 3 over water with a massive lengthy teeing area.
Start the back nine with a scary tee shot. It’s 415 yards and you can see the water nudge in to the fairway from the right. Be safe left, but the second shot is to an elevated green that presents a peninsula of water. The 18th is a 555-yard par 5 over a lake with the green heavily guarded.
Living Close to Highland Pines Golf
The Highlands by Caldwell Communities has something very special for 55+ homebuyers. Tucked around the green fairways of the golf course, Fairway Pines is an active adult community.
Exclusive amenities and new single family and patio homes for sale are designed expertly. The community clubhouse includes a fitness room while a full-time lifestyle director keeps the active adult community gatherings and events on a busy calendar.
It’s like having your very own age-restricted retreat. Fairway Pines residents also have access to all the amenities and programming at The Highlands — perfect for when the grandkids visit. There are lots of sidewalks for walks, but also hiking trails like in a national park.
More amenities include more than 30 miles of maintained bike and hike trails, a resort-style pool, waterpark and lazy river, playgrounds, a lakeside patio and firepit, Mirror Lake Park, fitness center, tennis and pickleball courts, an event lawn and pavilion and a 200-acre nature preserve.
The Vision of Tour 18 Incorporated
There you have it. Wilkerson has always showed great ingenuity and vision when he introduced an extremely popular replica course concept to Texas in the 1990s.
I love Tour 18 Houston in Humble and Tour 18 Dallas in Flower Mound. Both courses have famous holes like Amen Corner, Pebble Beach’s 18th and Harbor Town’s lighthouse hole.
Tour 18 Inc. did sell those replica courses, but in 2000, the company built semi-private Augusta Pines Golf Course in nearby Spring, Texas, which was a stop on the PGA Champions Tour from 2003-2007.
Wilkerson then purchased Spring’s Gleannloch Pines Golf Club in 2007. Both courses are close enough for Highland Pines’ members to go play.
The latest course, Wilkerson believes, is the greatest. Don’t miss this course. You are going to love it.
