Far Oaks Golf Club
About
Far Oaks Golf Club in Caseyville has a unique layout with a front nine that is designed in a Scottish-links style and a back nine that plays through rolling woodlands. The links holes are framed with native prairie grasses and wildflowers while mature oak trees line the fairways on the back nine. There are plenty of elevation changes throughout the golf course, making it hard to find a flat lie. Mounding and strategically placed bunkers lurk treacherously along the greensides and there are also several holes with water. Far Oaks Golf Club is a challenging course that demands accuracy, which is most apparent on the 10th hole. Although it's not the longest par 4 on the course, it is still challenging thanks to a slew of bunkers that border both sides of the green.
Tee | Par | Length | Rating | Slope |
---|---|---|---|---|
Tournament | 72 | 6926 yards | 72.1 | 133 |
Championship | 72 | 6521 yards | 69.8 | 128 |
Club Regular | 72 | 5649 yards | 67.6 | 119 |
Forward (W) | 72 | 5137 yards | 70.0 | 113 |
Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tournament M: 72.6/131 | 507 | 175 | 590 | 437 | 422 | 142 | 386 | 169 | 545 | 3373 | 423 | 427 | 396 | 195 | 541 | 356 | 185 | 406 | 545 | 3474 | 6847 |
Championship M: 70.6/128 | 477 | 161 | 581 | 420 | 400 | 130 | 335 | 150 | 525 | 3179 | 392 | 407 | 360 | 185 | 521 | 340 | 175 | 382 | 530 | 3292 | 6471 |
Club Regular M: 68.4/121 | 467 | 145 | 526 | 380 | 380 | 117 | 320 | 134 | 500 | 2969 | 374 | 390 | 330 | 150 | 486 | 320 | 145 | 342 | 496 | 3033 | 6002 |
Yellow M: 66.4/109 W: 70.7/126 | 420 | 135 | 515 | 320 | 340 | 110 | 305 | 120 | 465 | 2730 | 325 | 255 | 325 | 135 | 470 | 280 | 132 | 325 | 425 | 2672 | 5402 |
Forward W: 68.7/119 | 400 | 124 | 479 | 300 | 303 | 103 | 267 | 112 | 448 | 2536 | 296 | 299 | 320 | 125 | 450 | 264 | 120 | 290 | 390 | 2554 | 5090 |
Handicap | 7 | 13 | 1 | 9 | 3 | 17 | 11 | 15 | 5 | 14 | 8 | 12 | 10 | 2 | 16 | 18 | 4 | 6 | |||
Par | 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 36 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 36 | 72 |
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Reviewer Photos
Always a great course
Overall, the course was in great shape. The only knocks were that is was cart-path only due to some drainage issues, which really slowed down play, and that the greens had recently been aerated, so putting was a challenge.
Greens Rough, Cart Path Only
The greens were very bumpy do to the aeration earlier. Also very slow paly due to Cart Path Only rules on the day of play.
Improvements Made But Overpriced For Aerated Greens & It's Almost November
I last played Far Oaks in August and I was happy to find numerous improvements have been made.
The right side of the #1 green is much improved with just high rough now. Greens 8, 11 & 17 have recovered from the summer heat and have been saved. The ditches in front of holes 6 & 14 were trimmed and looked great. Even the ditch in front of hole #12 looked better. The fairway bunker on hole #3 had the weeds removed and pace of play mproved dramatically.
However, this course still has plenty of work to do. The bunkers on hole #2 still have not been improved. Looks awful from the tee. Some of the fairways still have some bad spots. Holes 3, 4, 5 come to mind. Still no yardage marker on the par 3 #6 hole. Only slows down play. I'm not sure how they have the starter position set up is the best option. He is handing out cart keys by the clubhouse and then getting into his cart to grab people on the range or/and handling the duties on the first tee.
The biggest complaint is the course was charging $72 on a weekend morning, when the greens were just recently aerated and we are now near November. Way overpriced for dormant fairways and aerated greens. This is the main reason I cannot recommend playing Far Oaks.
Poor Management
Course had a tourney day me and two other buddies had an 1139 tee time. When we checked in and paid $60 for our round (not a $60 course in late Oct but so be it) we were told to wait until out tee time to tee off as there was a tourney going on, no biggie, makes sense. We tee off at 1141 as there is no starter on the first tee to instruct us to go, so we go. Fast forward to the 5th hole, we are on the green about to putt out and finish the hole when the biggest clown walks up to my group, tells us to pick up our stuff and leave. ??? No explanation first, homie was so excited to be the tough guy for a moment it was great. Apparently we teed off in front of a couple groups in the tourney that were still playing. Had there been a starter on 1 who asked us to wait, we would’ve done so. Little guy tried to tell us that we were asking to go off the 18th tee prior to our round which we didn’t, he got all flustered and grumpy gills walked away after realizing this was probably his fault and didn’t get to kick off some people from the course that day. Just don’t have tee times when you have a tourney going forward and you can probably avoid this happening again. Drove an hour to end up getting harassed by the staff in the middle of our round.
Would play here again
Pace was a little slow but the course is in good shape considering the lack of rain. Grew up in ST Louis and my first time here and would play again. I work at a course in Memphis and enjoy comparing other tracks. Think you'll enjoy it for the most part
Pace of play
They had just aerated the greens. Good golf courses should let you know that when you make the tee time. As for pace of play it took 2:35 to play the front 9. After the 14th hole I went home for a total playing time for 14 holes at 4 hours and 30 minutes. Had I continued to play it would have been a six hour round.
Very poor pace of play.
The course is in very good condition. I would highly recommend playing this course, if the pace of play improved. There was one group that seemed to hold up the rest of the players behind them. They did not let any groups play thru. In fact on the back nine my playing partner and I both skipped 2 holes to get in front of the slow group. I did inform the pro shop that there was one group of 4 golfers that was slowing everyone behind them.
Friday Afternoon
The greens were a little chewed up, a couple of putts ran off line . Fixing divots is apparently too difficult for some golfers !! Teed off at 3:45 (twosome) with little fear of running out of daylight. . We finished 18 around 7:40, not a whole lot of light left . Fairways were in good shape, ran fast , leaving shorter approach shots. Bunkers not maintained , seems to be a trend . Overall not bad for $35 a piece , but regular rates a little high .
A Bad Trio: Slow Play, Poor Conditions & Excessively Priced
This course is now tied for the 2nd most expensive weekend morning rate in the St. Louis Metro area. When I played this course on July 4th, the price was $69. On August 13, the price was $84. An increase of 22%. The bad news, the course conditions have slipped dramatically.
You have so many better upscale course options in the St. Louis metro area – at a better price. Spencer T. Olin ($58), Annbriar ($70) – the best course in the St. Lous metro area and Gateway National at the same price. Gateway National just went through extensive flooding and is in much, much better shape than Far Oaks.
I’m about to give you a rundown of the course conditions – which is not pretty. However, the course wants to charge you $84 for this.
Slow play. We had two groups on each tee for most of the round. We didn’t tee off until 15 minutes after our scheduled tee time. This should have given the course a clue there was a problem. I saw numerous course rangers but the ranger we met on hole 11 could care less about the problem. The group in front of us called the course about the issue – nothing was done about it.
Most of the tees are a brownish color and have large clumps of crabgrass all over them. The ones that stand out as the worst tees were holes 2, 3, 8, 10, 11, 12.
Almost every green had some stress around the fringes and the rough nearby. Holes 2, 3, 6, 11, 13 & 17 the worst.
The greens on 8, 11 & 17 were really stressed and starting to turn brown. The front left of hole 13 had a section that was nothing but dirt and sand.
The fairways were not the best either. Holes 3, 5 and 10 really had some bad sections.
Some greens looked like they had been recently aerated. Hole 10 with some very small aeration holes. Hole 17 you could easily see the recovered aeration holes on this green in August.
The fairway bunker on the left side of hole 3. Littered with weeds in the bunker. Totally unacceptable.
The bridge getting to hole 6 green, covered with overgrown weeds.
No yardage markers on the par 3, 6th hole.
Hole 12 – brush and weeds starting to block the view of the hole from the tee.
Hole 6 & 14 – the ditch in front of the greens have high brush and weeds blocking the view of the green.
About the only positive things to say about Far Oaks is they have great new carts and the individuals behind the counter and the snack bar were very pleasant.
Far Oaks was my #2 favorite course in the St. louis metro area. How things have really slipped for this course. You should avoid this course. So many better options than Far Oaks which I outlined in the beginning of my review.