For many years, the golf course off Beaumont Avenue in Liberty was known as Magnolia Ridge Country Club. Some residents remember it as a familiar community landmark. Others remember when it struggled and eventually closed.
Today, it has a new identity and a new energy as Liberty Municipal Golf Course, a city-owned course that has arguably become a source of pride for Liberty and a destination for golfers from across Southeast Texas.
At the center of that transformation is Scott Neal, the course manager, who came to Liberty after a lifetime of loving the game of golf and a career path that included entrepreneurship, food service and customer service.
Neal grew up in East Texas, first in Vidor and later in Jasper, where he graduated high school. He describes himself as a country kid who spent his childhood outdoors, hunting, fishing, riding bicycles and playing sports.
Golf became part of his life at a young age because of his mother, Donna Neal.
“She was really what got me started playing golf,” Neal said.
As a young boy, Neal tagged along with his mother and her friends on ladies’ day at a Beaumont golf course, knocking a ball around with a single Sears and Roebuck 7-iron. Over time, he collected garage-sale clubs, played in high school and developed a lifelong love for the sport.
Neal said one of the things that drew him to golf was the personal responsibility it requires.
“You can’t really blame anybody else,” he said.
He said golf also teaches patience, attitude and perseverance.
“If I hit bad shots, I have to learn to control my attitude. If I don’t control it, then it makes the game worse,” Neal said. “Life gives us some hard knocks, and how you take it determines how things end up.”
Before becoming manager of Liberty Municipal Golf Course, Neal owned a successful shoe company and later operated food businesses in Liberty, including a restaurant operation at the golf course. When the city-owned course was preparing to reopen, then-Councilwoman Diane Huddleston Driggers encouraged him to consider the manager’s role.
Neal said his goal at the beginning was simple: keep the course going and get it into the black.
The course reopened in late April or early May 2023 after delays related in part to construction timing and grassing. Since then, Neal said the course has seen strong growth. As of the most recent figures he had seen, play for the fiscal year was up about 30 percent over the previous year, with some winter months up as much as 60 percent.
About 60 percent of play comes from the Liberty County area, while roughly 40 percent comes from outside the county. Neal said golfers regularly travel from the Golden Triangle, East Houston, Baytown, Mont Belvieu and other communities to play in Liberty.
The course also has earned statewide recognition. Neal said a Texas golf course rating publication recently ranked Liberty Municipal Golf Course as the No. 1 public nine-hole golf course in Texas and No. 3 overall among nine-hole courses in the state.
“I think we are the best conditioned golf course between East Houston and Lake Charles,” Neal said.
He credits the course’s condition to the maintenance staff, led by Superintendent Kevin Lyles, along with Chad, Mike, Randy and Arnie.
“Everybody wants to talk about Scott because I get to be the face,” Neal said. “But our maintenance staff, those guys are the ones that take care of the course and keep the greens beautiful.”
Liberty Municipal Golf Course also has become an important home for youth golf. Six school districts — Liberty, Dayton, Tarkington, Hardin, Hull-Daisetta and West Hardin — use the course. Student golfers on those teams practice and play at a much-reduced cost paid for by their school districts, aside from cart fees if they choose to ride.
During school golf season, Neal said 70 to 80 students may be on the practice range on a given day.
“If you’re going to have golfers into the future, then you need to develop the young golfers,” he said.
The course also has begun attracting larger school tournaments, including events from Houston-area districts. Neal said South Texas PGA junior golf events have also been held at the Liberty course, something he had worked toward for several years.
“That, I think, to me, is probably the biggest personal accomplishment,” he said.
The course is open seven days a week, from daylight to dark, with tee times currently beginning at 7 a.m. Golfers may rent clubs, purchase range balls, walk the course or ride in carts. The highest rate, Neal said, is around $45 for 18 holes with a cart on weekends, which he said is inexpensive compared to many other courses.
Neal said one of his hopes for the future is the addition of continuous cart paths. That would allow more play during wet weather and reduce lost rounds when rain prevents carts from being used on the grass.
The course has also become a place for tournaments and community events, including the Pretty Ricky Classic, which benefits scholarships through the foundation created in memory of the Hardin student, Hunter Creel, who died in a motor vehicle accident. Neal said that event has drawn around 200 golfers in previous years.
Neal believes the golf course is more than a recreational amenity. He said it brings people into Liberty who then eat at local restaurants, shop locally and sometimes stay in local hotels.
“It brings in tourists. It brings in people to come stay in our hotels and eat at our restaurants,” Neal said.
Neal is also excited about another recreational amenity coming to Liberty Municipal Park — an 18-hole disc golf course that is expected to be completed by the end of the summer. The professionally designed course will wind through wooded and open areas of the park without interfering with existing facilities and will be free for the public to use.
Similar to traditional golf, disc golf attracts players of all ages and hosts competitive tournaments that draw participants from outside the area.
Neal believes the new course will complement Liberty Municipal Golf Course and provide another reason for visitors to spend time in Liberty.
“The more we have, the better it is,” Neal said, noting that attractions such as golf and disc golf bring people into the city, where they often shop, dine and support local businesses.
For Neal, the work is about continuing to improve.
“Just okay is not good enough,” he said. “If you can make it better, and you have the ability to make it better, then make it better.”
When the course closed, many wondered what its future would be. Today, Liberty Municipal Golf Course is attracting golfers from across the region and earning statewide recognition, becoming a source of pride for the city and the people who helped bring it back to life.
And for Neal, who first fell in love with golf while following his mother around a Beaumont course with one club in his hand, the work feels like the fulfillment of a lifelong dream.
“How many people get to come to work every day in a beautiful place and get to do stuff they love?” he said.
To see an aerial video of the Liberty Municipal Golf Course, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjgitCfModY
To hear the full Headlines and Heartlines podcast interview with Neal, click the link below: