This paper proposes a new method for estimating the parameter of maneuvering targets based on sparse time-frequency transform in over-the-horizon radar (OTHR). In this method, the sparse time-frequency distribution of the radar echo is obtained by solving a sparse optimization problem based on the short-time Fourier transform. Then Hough transform is employed to estimate the parameter of the targets. The proposed algorithm has the following advantages: Compared with the Wigner-Hough transform method, the computational complexity of the sparse optimization is low due to the application of fast Fourier transform (FFT). And the computational cost of Hough transform is also greatly reduced because of the sparsity of the time-frequency distribution. Compared with the high order ambiguity function (HAF) method, the proposed method improves in terms of precision and robustness to noise. Simulation results show that compared with the HAF method, the required SNR and relative mean square error are 8 dB lower and 50 dB lower respectively in the proposed method. While processing the field experiment data, the execution time of Hough transform in the proposed method is only 4% of the Wigner-Hough transform method.