Fore! That was the sound heard all around the recently reopened 18-hole El Dorado course at the Quail Valley Golf Course the day after Thanksgiving. Excited golfers who had been anticipating the opening of the renovated course braved the chilly temperatures to tee off at 7 a.m. on Nov. 27. After extensive renovations, the golfers were ready to give their first impressions.

“I’m very excited, I live here in Quail Valley and we’ve been waiting forever for the course to reopen,” said Gin Knebel, who played on Friday. “I think it’s great.”

Echoing her sentiment was Don Jones of Missouri City, who said, “I was looking for something different and I got it. I think the greens were fast and it was a challenging course. The City spent the money wisely.”

Golfer Bill McLucas, added, “The course was magnificent. It was definitely more challenging than before. The City did a magnificent job.”

Even some players from the Houston area were impressed. “The course is great. It’s a great day for golf, and I came to play and found a real challenging course, just excellent,” echoed Adrian Haynes, who was taking in a round with his stepfather, Felix Johnson.

Two days before these players got to test the course, members of the media got a sneak peek of the fairways. The thumbs-up vote was unanimous, as they gave their blessing to the faster greens and more challenging layout of the course. Golf architect Jeff Blume was also on hand Wednesday, Nov. 25, along with City officials, Parks Board members and others who contributed to the successful redesign and redevelopment of El Dorado.

Overall, it was a great week and weekend for the Quail Valley Golf Course. From Friday to Sunday, “we had a total of 942 rounds of golf on both courses; an average of 314 a day,” said Golf Pro Tyson Stittleburg. “It’s almost double what we normally do with one course open and we’re very pleased so far.”