Raveneaux Country Club Faces Its Demise

[H-Town Man]

Looks like the county may be buying out Raveneaux country club and turning it into a giant detention pond complex. I would think they could reuse the clubhouse somehow, it's a real landmark for the area. Still over 200 acres remaining that you can cover with detention ponds, and then the clubhouse probably won't flood anymore.

 

Lots of upset residents.

 

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/article/Raveneaux-Golf-Club-Country-Houston-Champ-Forest-14990502.php

[Reefmonkey]

Yeah, my parents have been members since the early 80s, I practically grew up there - swimming lessons, tennis lessons (my cousin was a pro there in the mid-late 80s), some of the first autonomy my brothers and I got as kids was being allowed to ride our bikes up there by ourselves, meet up with friends and swim in the pool, and charge lunch to our membership number at the snack bar. We'd do Sunday brunch there a lot. The fancy brunch in the Oak Room used to be great, and we even liked just going to the coffee shop for breakfast or lunch on weekends, too.They used to have a great social program there, too. My parents did several New Years Eves there, because their black tie ball was so good. They had great parties for the whole family, too, I remember a Miami Vice-themed one in particular. The parents would hang out and socialize while the kids would congregate with friends and classmates.

 

But it's been going downhill for decades. The food went downhill in the early 90s, and occasionally they'd bring in a new chef who'd improve things for a while, but they never seemed able to keep them. If you don't have good food you're not going to retain members, let alone attract new ones. The last time I went was 2 years ago for Mother's Day. The buffet was god-awful, scant selection, not very good quality, and what they had, they kept running out of. Drinks took forever to get refilled. And the Oak Room was only about half-full. Meanwhile the manager was just standing around gladhanding guests as they came in rather than going into the kitchen to figure out what the problem was. The owner himself (who isn't the original) has never cared about the club, and before the county flood control district came to him, a group of members had gotten together and offered to buy the club from him (and this is Champion Forest, so these were a bunch of pretty wealthy guys), but he didn't care, blew them off, then took this offer several months later. Between the bad food and service, and closing the new golf course several years ago, all the serious golfers moved on to Champions years ago, and most of everyone else to Northgate and elsewhere.

 

So, as much as it's sad to see it go, it was a shadow of its former self anyway. Lots of my parents' friends flooded in Harvey, and some had flooded before that too, so if the new flood control there protects people, that will be a good thing. If they do it right, I'm thinking like Terry Hershey along Buffalo Bayou where I live now, the new parkland along the bayou could also be a real asset to everyone in that area, not just a dying private club for a few lingering members.

[Reefmonkey]

I did stop by when I was up visiting my parents this weekend, and pick up a golf shirt with the club logo on it, for sentimental reasons. Not much selection left in the pro shop, so if if anyone wants a memento, better get there fast.