I played yesterday at my home course, Memorial Park Golf Course. It is owned by the city of Houston (Texas) and is located in a 600 acre park with a jogging/walking trail, tennis courts, soccer and baseball fields. It also has a lighted, covered driving range that is almost always full. They also have 10 or 12 teaching professionals available at the Dave Marr Teaching Center. It is a beautiful place.
The park was originally an army base for the rehabilitation of soldiers injured during World War 1. The site was acquired by the city in 1925, and contained a 9 hole course with sand greens. In 1934 the present 18 hole course was opened and was designed by John Bredemus, a local architect who designed several other very good courses in Texas.
The golf course is the former home to the early Shell Houston Opens. After falling into disrepair because of heavy play and neglect, the course was renovated and re-opened in 1995.
It is a beautiful layout and is very challenging. It only plays to around 6,500 yards from the white tees but it seems like it plays much longer at times. Right now the course is in excellent condition as it gets ready to host the Cityand Senior City Amateurs next month. The only problem is the greens are very slow (bermuda) primarily because of the amount of play (over 70,000 rounds on average per year).
The fees are extremely reasonable, $37 with cart weekdays and $48 Fridays and weekends.
One of the best things is you can walk-on and play, although tee times can easily be made on a computerized city wide system. They provide a list for walk-ons and will pair you with another group. This was great for me when I first moved to Houston 18 months ago and didn't know anybody. In the 50 or so times I have played as a walk-on I have not had a bad pairing, and have found several new golf partners.
This is a "must play" if you are ever in Houston.