The 2008 Shell Houston Open will again serve as the lead-in tournament before The Masters. Houston's PGA TOUR stop will be played for the third-straight year on the Tournament course at Redstone Golf Club, which opened for play in the fall of 2005. I had a chance to speak directly with one of the local golf pros and instructors and listen to the Tournament Director and President and CEO of the Houston Golf Association discuss the course conditions and event. The course is in ‘phenomenal’ condition, and while the humidity is high and common, the overall weather forecast looks relatively favorable with mostly cloudy conditions and low 80s temperatures. Still, Houston is a Gulf of Mexico city, and springtime brings variable weather with winds and periodic precipitation a common occurrence.

The Course: Redstone Golf Club was rated one of the top five ‘conditioned’ courses on the PGA Tour last year. The tournament’s average score was 72.050, ranking 29th on Tour in 2007. The course features Mini Verdie greens and Tif Sport fairways and tees, and was designed by Rees Jones with PGA Tour Professional David Toms serving as course design consultant. The course has a variety of holes, but something that sticks out is the short par 4s. Four of them are under 400 yards, yet there are also four holes over 460 yards. Redstone has a killer finish with the par 3, 16th hole playing at 204 yards and the final two holes playing at 489 and 488 yards. The last hole presents a dramatic and dangerous finish and was the hardest hole on the course during the 2006 event (4.367) while in 2007 it again proved to be the biggest challenge with a stroke average of 4.322. The average green size at Redstone is 6,500 square feet, which is a little over the average on the PGA Tour. The Tournament Course has 50 bunkers and water comes into play on ten of the 18 holes.

Carved out of woodlands lush with oak, pine and cypress trees, the 7,457 yard par 72 course still offers an advantage to the longer hitter. The course continues to be set-up to emulate the conditions the players will see next week at Augusta National for the Masters. Redstone’s Director of Agronomy Roger Goettsch had a mandate to make the Tournament Course as 'Augusta-esque' as possible. And while he couldn’t duplicate the elevation changes at Augusta, Goettsch conferred with the Masters staff about how to best duplicate the course conditions. The SHO unveiled the new look last year and drew rave reviews. The grass is lush and the fairways are fast and mowed towards the tee boxes like Augusta. Firm and fast contoured greens with shaved run-off areas around the greens bring numerous hazards into play along with more chip/putt options. And while the greens are not nearly as sloped or undulating as Augusta (no greens are), the speed combined with the runoffs and severe pin locations will make for a relatively challenging test and good preparation for next weeks Masters.

Last year, the 36-hole leading score was 6-under par, and there was a combination of six players, both long and short hitters, within one stroke of the lead. Over an inch of rain fell Saturday, and the long hitters had their edge while the scores went South with softer greens and conditions. With fairly generous driving areas and light, minimal rough, the players will also enjoy the chance to ‘bomb away’ without being penalized as much for missing the fairway. Still, playing the ball from the fairway is always preferred in attacking flagsticks that may not always be as accessible.

Adam Scott was the 2007 winner by three strokes (-17) in softer conditions, while 2006 champion Stuart Appleby went wire-to-wire to win at 19-under par and also finished runner-up in 2007 after a double-bogey on the finishing hole Sunday. Vijay Singh is a 3-time winner of this event, including 2004 and 2005 at the adjacent Redstone Members course.

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