A couple of Houston architects have a proposal for the northern portion of the soon-to-be-shuttered Greenspoint Mall at the northeast intersection of Beltway 8 and I-45: Turning it into a driving range surrounded by 3 golf holes. Why such an abbreviated course? Well, there’s only so much land available. But Paul Kweton and Hidekazu Takahashi of Studio Paulbaut consider the paring down an attractive update to convention that could help to make the sport more accessible:
“It takes up to 5 hours to play a decent round of golf,” they write. Their Greenspoint green would offer a quicker golfing proposition: A round of golf in 60 minutes.Â
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Accordingly, they’ve named their project Golf60. “The Golf60 facility consists of the clubhouse (above) with adjacent surface parking, practice greens and sandtraps, driving range, and 3-hole golf course,” they write. The clubhouse is shown tucked into the landscape, allowing a 2-level driving range:
Inside would be a pro shop and a cafe. Flood lights on the course would allow night play.
Visitors would start at the clubhouse and warm up on the driving range, then head out to the 3 Par 4 holes, wrapped around the range:
- Golf60 [Studio Paulbaut]
Images: Studio Paulbaut
Where are these rumors that Greens point sold coming from? The deal did not go through.
Great idea but golf courses use way too many resources: WATER and require tons of toxic fertilizers. We need less H2O usage and way less fertilizers. I’d design with low maintenance & low water landscaping !!!In my previous, suburban home (corner lot) – ripped out the St. Augustine lawn years ago and put in a hybrid Zoysia like grass: stays bright green year round: in the winter looks awesome/ it is very hardy to 120/130 degrees / down to -20 below zero / repels turf eating/destroying critters: chinch bugs, grubs, June bugs,etc; no brown spots/no dog doo brown spots; needs minimal water / barely needs edging/mowing(about once a month). My neighbors were PISSED. I saved so much water/no fertilizer/ and LOTS of time !!!
Nothing like avoiding gunfire while your hitting golf balls.
The people in the renderings, dont really match the demographics of the area.
Happy: Why would your neighbors be pissed that you have grass that doesn’t use much water?
Zoysia is shade grass and cannot survive the summer here. You know nothing about grass, climate, or Texas.
St. Augustine grass, once established, does perfectly well here. In 15 years, I’ve fertilized exactly once, and watered no more than once or twice a year, and some years not at all. Zoysia cannot take our summer.
Why not a short golf course? I liked playing golf when I was in college, but even 9 holes was a bit long of a commitment. Not sure if the location works with the potential customer base, but if someone’s willing to put money up for it, why not?
Is Greenspoint Mall going to acquire “Astrodome Syndrome” – a thousand ideas that never come to fruition?
Good to see something like this in the neberhood .