Houston approves $400,000 for nets at Gus Wortham Golf Course

Stray golf balls flying off Gus Wortham Golf Course have become a safety and liability problem along Wayside Drive, where residents and business owners say shots have struck cars and people. Houston officials approved $400,000 for new nets, while the Houston Golf Association pledged another $250,000 to help shield the southeast Houston corridor from errant balls.

The plan calls for netting along Wayside Drive, one of the busiest edges of the city-owned course at 7000 Capitol Street in Houston’s 77011 ZIP code. City officials said the system has to be built with steel poles that meet hurricane regulations, a requirement that adds both cost and complexity. No lawsuits had been filed, but officials said threats of legal action had been made, increasing pressure to move the project forward.

The course sits in a part of Houston that has changed dramatically since Gus Wortham first opened in 1908. What once was a more isolated golf facility now borders drivers, homes and storefronts in a heavily developed stretch of Southeast Houston. The Houston Golf Association runs the course under a public-private partnership with the City of Houston, a relationship Houston City Council unanimously approved in January 2015 through a long-term lease and operating agreement.

That partnership was designed to restore and operate the course as part of a broader East End redevelopment effort. The Houston Golf Association has said preserving Gus Wortham has been central to the transformation of the neighborhood. The city’s 2010 master plan described the course as a historical treasure and noted that Harry Vardon and Ted Ray played there in 1913, tying the modern safety fix to one of Houston golf’s oldest sites.

Houston Golf Association President and CEO Claire Bey said the organization has already put more than $2 million back into the course over the past year and a half, which means future improvements must be budgeted carefully. Bey also said the group would welcome donations of nets and steel poles if anyone wants to help speed up the safety work. Staff superintendent Jose Garcia has overseen turf and grounds operations since 2014, and the association says Claire Bey was brought in to lead fundraising, including a $12 million capital campaign to restore Gus Wortham Park Golf Course.

For Houston, the new netting is more than a golf-course upgrade. It is a public response to a problem that has spilled off the fairways and onto streets, cars and pedestrians in the heart of the East End.