Bentwater Yacht & Country Club: Miller Course

The second of three 18-hole courses at the Bentwater lakefront community on Lake Conroe northwest of Houston, the Miller Course was designed by Scott Miller and opened in 1993. It rolls across pine-studded terrain on a peninsula of the lake, complementing the original 1989 Weiskopf-Morrish course and later Grand Pines layout that together give Bentwater 54 holes of private golf.

Bentwater Yacht & Country Club is a private, lakefront master-planned community on the north shore of Lake Conroe in Montgomery, Texas, roughly 50 miles northwest of Houston. The club's golf program began in 1989 when the first course, now known as the Weiskopf Course, opened to a design by Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish. The pairing of Weiskopf and Morrish was among the most productive design partnerships of the late 1980s, responsible for TPC Scottsdale's Stadium Course and Loch Lomond in Scotland, among others. The Miller Course, Bentwater's second 18, opened in 1993. It was designed by Scott Miller, a Phoenix-based architect who had previously worked in Jack Nicklaus's design firm before launching his own practice. Miller routed the course on sandy, gently rolling terrain along a peninsula of Lake Conroe, weaving fairways between stands of loblolly pines and using the lake edge and wetlands as occasional strategic features. The course plays to a par of 72 at roughly 6,809 yards. A third 18, Grand Pines, opened later on adjacent land and expanded the Bentwater facility to 54 holes. The three courses together serve a community of approximately 1,400 homes, along with a marina on Lake Conroe, racquet facilities, dining, and a fitness center. Bentwater's pairing of a Weiskopf-Morrish course with a Scott Miller course reflected a common late-1980s and early-1990s strategy among Texas golf communities, which often commissioned multiple big-name architects to broaden their appeal to buyers and members.