lcbgolf

Always like playing at the Golf Club of Wentzville. A fun course to play that has a nice variety of holes. A $30 greens fee during the week, in the off-season is nice.

They are always trying to make the course look nice. A conscientious effort today to rid the course of leaves. Leaf blowers and mowers to eliminate most of the leaves. Placing new sod by several tee boxes.
Hole 9 is the most difficult hole on the course. They made it more playable by removing several trees on the right side now.

The only issues i saw were some bare, low spots in some of the fairways. Hole 1 green is revovering from an oil leak from a mower. Greens on holes 2 & 3, had some minor tire tracks on them.

Annbriar is no question the best course in the St. Louis metro area. Not only that, they just get it too. It's November 6th and you can play this beautiful course for $50 on the weekend. The course was in termendous shape for November, pace of play was outstanding and their restaurant is a great place to hang out during a frost delay or after the round.

To tell you how good Annbriar is, let's compare what I experienced last week. The Missouri Bluffs was $88, aerated greens, tees bad, bunkers not raked and they were only concerned that we keep all 4 wheels of our cart on the path.
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Annbriar was $50, greens perfect, tees great and bunkers raked. They are truly happy that you came out and played at their course.

The Missouri Bluffs is in my Top 5 courses in the St. Louis Metro area - as far as course design. However, when it is almost November, they are charging an $88 greens fee and it has aerated greens - this is unacceptable! Also, the tee boxes are not in the best shape and the bunkers needed to be raked.

It was cart path only because it was wet and they have no visable yardage markers from the cart path. No blue, white or red stakes.

Just give to give how overpriced the Missouri Bluffs is, you can play the best course in the area for $70 (Annbriar) in the summer. Annbrair is now charging $50 on the weekends now.

Pevely Farms is NOT one of my favorite public golf courses in metro St. Louis. I’ve only played it twice in the last 10 years because of this. I’ve always felt golf architect Arthur Hills had a great piece of land and he messed it up. It has two holes which are awful and need to be resigned (Holes 1 & 12). The fairways are too narrow for the amount of slope the course has. The course only has three par 3’s & three par 5’s – resulting in twelve par 4’s. The course ends with poor flow, with four straight par 4’s. All three par 3’s are flat or slightly uphill when he had a hilly terrain (why?). I’ve always felt the course was designed from the back tees as the white tees landing areas really get pinched (holes 6, 10, 11, 16, 18). Overall, the course is not fun to play.

Good
You will not find better, consistent rough on a public golf course
Overall, the course was in outstanding shape
Nice driving range
Overall, the bunkers were decent
Good yardage markers
Holes I like: 2, 5, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 18 (only half of the holes)

Bad
Greens fee is too high at $79. You can play the best golf course in the area (Annbriar) for $70.
The course has too narrow of fairways for the slope on the course.
All the par 3’s are flat or slightly uphill.
Course finishes with four straight par 4’s
Bunker on hole 5 did not have enough sand in it.
Hole 3 – a drivable par 4. Only slows down play.
Hole 4 – fairway too narrow for severe slope from R-L
Hole 6 – not too bad of a hole, but need yardage to end of fairway (lake)
Hole 7 – fairway too narrow with water on left and severe drop off on right and woods
Hole 10 – I call this hole the “Guitar Hole”, shaped like a guitar with the landing area from the white tees becoming extremely narrow and an extreme slope in the primary landing area from L-R
Hole 14 – a boring, flat par 3
Hole 16 – landing area is very small with a severe slope from L-R

Awful
Hole 1. From the white tees, you cannot see your landing area. You hit over a hill to a fairway that slopes from R-L. Difficult to see if the group in front you has left the fairway. One of the worst opening holes you can have.

Hole 12. This hole needs to be redesigned. It has so much slope from left to right on the tee shot on the tee shot. When this course first opened in 1998, there was a course assistant on this hole to help players find their balls. The second shot requires you to hit a long, accurate shot, just to get around the corner to see the green on your 3rd shot. The landing area on your 2nd shot gets very narrow. One of the worst par 5’s I’ve ever played. This hole is only designed to slow down play.

Overall, this is one of my favorire courses in St. Louis metro area. A good mixture of easy, moderate and hard holes. Fun to play and usually in decent shape.

The greens were recently aerated and they do have some fairway drainage issues on a few holes (3, 4, 5). The top half of the 1st green has damage to it from oil leaking from a mower.

I thought the price of $62.50 was too high, considering it is late October and the greens were recently aerated. You can play the best course in the St. Louis metro area (Annbriar) for $70 - to show a comparision.

This is the course the LPGA plays in late September, call the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship. I have a friend who is a member there and I got to play 3 rounds there, the week after the tournament. Before you even play there, the first thing you notice is the high slope rating. Blue tees at 6,231 yards (137 slope) and white tees at 5,632 (131 slope). We usually play around 6,000 yards, but with the high slope rating, we played the shorter white tees. Once you arrive, a cart attendant brings carts to your car and the pro shop personnel could not have been nicer.

This course is one of the best conditioned courses I have ever played. I have never seen better tee boxes and grass around the greens. Just perfect! The fairways and greens were terrific too. The tees and fairways are Zorro zoysia, a thinner blade of zoysia than I see back in the St. Louis area. It gives you the impression the tees and fairways are bent grass. The bunkers are white sand and drain extremely well because after a 2-hour rain delay, there was no standing water in any of the bunkers.

The greens were on the fast side (11-12 on stimpmeter). With most of the greens being large and they have gentle slopes and some tiers, you will have several 3-putts. Several of us putted the ball off the green, several of my playing partners putted their balls off the green into the water. The reason this course has a high slope rating is because of the greens and the slopes around the green. There is no rough around the greens, just tightly mowed areas.

To play this course well, you need to play it several times. You need to play this course defensively because if you hit your ball in the wrong area, you are taking a double or higher. You should stand at the back of each green after you play it to see where you can’t hit your ball. You will need a range finder because the greens are big and there are 6 pin locations on each green.

I would describe the fairways as fairly generous. A creek meanders throughout the entire golf course and you need to take notice of this. Several holes need a good tee shot with some overhanging tees, fairways pinching in the further you hit them (hole 7, 8, 12, 13 & 16).

If I had to list anything negative about the course, the list would be very small. I was not a big fan of hole 7 with the fairway bunker in the right center of the fairway. When you stand on the tee, you’re just not sure where your aiming point is with additional bunkers on the left side. The rough is a little spotty with mostly Bermuda grass. The range is between holes 1 & 10 – a lot of range balls in these fairways.

In closing, I loved the 19th hole area called “Reds”. Neat outdoor patio area, with a bar and music playing. It is located near the driving range.

Far Oaks is one of my favorite golf coursea. But with a steep $75 grrens fee, I expect a lot from a golf course. However, Far Oaks fails to do this.

Overall, the fairways, tees and greens are fine. The greens were super fast. However, this is where Far Oaks falls short when charging a $75 greens fee,

The bunkers are awful. They need to be raked daily. The fairway bunkers on hole 12 were a disgrace. They didn't even have a rake. Crabgrass on numerous fringes. Hole 3 fairway bunker is dirt and weeds. All the yardage poles are gone. No yardage markers on the par 3, hole 6,

Far Oaks is a great course and I would recommend it, howver, not at a $75 price tag.

Spencer T. Olin is one of my favorite 3 courses in the St. Louis metro area. Great price for an upscale golf course. Overall, the tees, fairways and greens were in good shape. However, there were a few areas that need attention, which I will list below:

Green #5 - oil leakage from a mower has created lines of dead grass. It really didn't affect your putts, just unsightly.

A couple of rough areas in fairways of holes 1, 6 & 10. Crabgrass in fairway 7.

Hole 11 - fringe is brown due to heat stress

Hole 12 - grass is brown in front of the green from heat stress

Holes 12, 13, 14. A weed is creeping onto the greens. I don't see the course doing anything to counteract this issue. Not affecting a significant part of the greens but could be an issue if unattended to.

Hole 14 – from the yellow tees, they have planted a small tree right in the sightline of the tee to the fairway. When the tree grows and gets larger, it will block the view of the hole. Why plant it there?

Pace of place was slow.

With the day being very hot, a beverage cart was needed on the course. They did have a few water coolers on the course.

Even with these comments, well worth the drive to Alton to play an upscale course, which has a great design and an incrediable great price.

For a municipal golf course, Forest Park is well run and is in surprisingly good shape considering the number of rounds they have there. We played the Redbud/Dogwood courses.

The Redbud course has the most character, next is the Dogwood course. First 3 holes are interesting, and the rest are flat. Hawthorn is all flat.

The fairways are some of the best zoysia fairways you will find on a public golf course. The greens are in decent shape and at a good speed. The downfall of the greens is there are so many ball marks because of the amount of play and the well-watered greens.

The par 3, 6th hole on Redbud is an interesting hole. The green is 3 tiered. With the middle part of the green being the “gully” of the green. They had the pin on a slope which was not fair. The 8th hole on Redbud, has severe erosion issues on the left side of the hole, near the cart path.

Pace of play on Wednesday morning was outstanding. Did not have to wait at all.

Gateway National is one of the top upscale courses in the St. Louis metro area. Only public course in the area with bent grass fairways & tees.

GOOD...
Fairways are always in good shape.
The sand in the bunkers was excellent.
The greens are in good shape.
A brand new snack barn at the 10th tee. Looks nice. Painted red and sponsered by Budweiser.
Had water and on the course and we saw the beverage cart numerous times during our round.
They have expanded their menu selections in the clubhouse. They have brought back the Gateway Chicken. One of my favorites.
The Friday morning senior rate was $55. Great value for the quality of course you are getting. When I got my tee time online, it said it was going to be $59.99, so a nice surprise when the final price was $55.

GENERAL COMMENTS...
When I last played here in April, the greens were spectacular. Now the greens are still very good but are a little rougher from the numerous repaired ball marks and they are slower.

The rough around the tee boxes on hole 6 were turning brown and stressed, More of a visual eye sore than anything. Around the green, some of the rough was stressing too.

Pace of play was outstanding until the 6th hole. We did see a ranger on the back nine trying to improve the situation. Good to see this because pace of play has been a problem at this course.

There has been rumors that with the course being purchased by the race track and probably NASCAR coming next year, the race track may want to expand. The individuals at the golf course my friend talked to said the course is staying. Great news!

NEEDS IMPROVEMENT...
Several of the tees need some attention. The 4th tee is mounded and in rough shape and several tees had crabgrass on them. Holes 9, 14 & 17.

Hole 13 has several small trees in front of the tee, blocking the view of the hole.

Overall, an outstanding course and a great senior rate on a Friday.

Far Oaks is my 2nd favorite course in the St. Louis metro area behind Annbriar. Earlier in the year, they were making some improvements to the course (mainly drainage issues). With all this work, they are still having drainage issues in the fairways on several holes. However, the first improvement you will notice when you drive into the course - they have paved the parking lot. Much needed and it looks great. The course has many good attributes but it still needs some work.

GOOD:
The greens are in great shape. Only hole 8 had a few belimishes.
Overall the fairways are in good shape.
Great design.
The price. $59.99 for the holiday.
The starter was was very friendly.

NOT SO GOOD:
Many of the tees have bare spots and crabgrass. Starting with hole 1. Hole 10 is another bad one.
Many of the fringes are covered in crabgrass, Especially hole 2.
The fairway bunker on hole 3 is still in need of repair. Nothing has been done to it for years.
They spent a lot of time and money on drainage issues. But they still have problems with this on several holes still. Holes 3, 5 and 10 stand out still.

IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED:
The bunkers were not raked. They were hard packed sand.
All the 150 yard white poles have been removed. Why? Only slows down play.
Speaking of slowing down play. The pace of play was awful. No ranger on the course.
The par 3, 6th hole has no yardage markers.
I would install a cart path from the 5th green, over in front of the 6th tee. Currently, you have to drive back into the line of fire of those hitting into the 5th green,

The Golf Club of Wentzville is one of my favorite courses in the area, which is priced correctly. A fun, great design that makes your round enjoyable. Overall, the course was in great shape considering the wetness and the tough stretch of hot weather the week before. The greens had zero blemishes on them.

The course has some fairway drainage issues on the flat section on the front nine. The 5th tee was in rough shape. You can tell some of the edges on the course are a little brown from the heat the previous week. To their credit, they have already started planting grass in these areas.

Overall, this course was in good condition. The price of $70 is outstanding for the layout and condition of the course The greens had no issues except they were on the slow side. If you want quicker and better greens, play the newly opened Crystal Highlands in Festus, MO,

The bunkers were outstanding. Overall the tees were in good shape,, except for the crabgrass on tee #1 and the back edges of the 13th tee which were burned out. I saw no issues with the fairways.

Pace of play was really good until the 15th hole. All staff at Annbriar are always friendly.

On hole 13, my playing partner hit the fairway and had no shot to the pin because of this large tree on the left side of the green. He tried to go over it but there was no way to accomplish this.

Annbrair uses the the small flag on the flagstick to indicate the pin positions. These are very hard to see and the one on hole 14 said it was a back pin but it was a front pin.

I used to play Crystal Highlands quite a bit in the 1990’s and the early 2000’s. Then the course was sold to the Union Pacific Railroad in 2003. Then I learned that Gary Surdyke (a local resident and owner of Surdyke Motorsports) purchased the course in July and opened the course back to the public in early August. I was very excited to hear this news and went down to play it on August 21.

The first thing you notice when you stand on the hill by the clubhouse and overlook the golf course – it looks beautiful. The starter could not have been any nicer. When you play the course, you will notice a few changes have been made.

CHANGES MADE TO COURSE:
The 1st green has been elevated a bit and the trees removed. It looks great. The 2nd green has been moved to the right and elevated quite a bit. The 3rd green looks even more severe than I remember it. Before 2003, 12 of the 18 greens were 2-tiered or more. Now, there is only 7 tiered greens. The 18th green used to be a 4-tiered green, which now has no tiers.

COURSE CONDITIONS:
You will not find better greens than what Crystal Highlands has. These greens are just as good as any top-notch country club. They are scary fast when putting downhill. Many of the greens are large and you will have several 3-putts. All the tees are zoysia and are in great shape. However, the fairways are just ok. The front nine seems to be more of the wiry Bermuda grass and the back nine a mixture of zoysia/Bermuda. You will occasionally find sections which are thin/bare and contain crabgrass. The rough can be difficult because it is a mixture of fescue/Bermuda. Your ball will sink to the bottom and the wiry Bermuda makes it hard to get your club through it. The bunkers are in great shape.

BLIND SHOTS:
Because the course is hilly, there are plenty of blind shots where you need to be cognizant of this, as to not hit into the group in front of you. These are holes 1, 6, 8, 10, 15. There are several shorter par 4’s you need to wait until the green is clear before going for the green. These are holes 2, 12, 14. The tee box of hole 11, is just to the right of the 10th green, which is reachable in two. The course has a consistent presence of rangers but these course characteristics slows down play some.

IMPROVEMENTS:
All the sprinkler heads have yardage on them and some of the cart paths have white and red painted squares (some need to be repainted). It would be nice to have some type of blue, white and red poles just to the side of the fairways. In front of the beautiful par 3, 9th hole, is a large ornamental plant. It blocks the view of the hole and ruins the look of the hole. The trees on the left side of the par 3, 11th hole are starting to block the view of the hole. May need to make the tee box a little larger on the right side.

Everyone needs to travel the 30 miles south of the 270 loop in St. Louis, to play this gem. Haven't been able to play this course for 18 years and you won't be disappointed.

I think the South course is more difficult than the North.
it starts off difficult on both sides, with 2 uphill par 4's, that have 3 tier greens. The 6th hole is the best hole on the course.

The entire course was in great shape. Greens rolled smooth with decent speed.

Overall, I was pleased with my expereince at the Falls.

The greens were in good shape and at a decent speed. The fairways were fine also with only hole 18 having a few bare spots. The rough was firm and you could experience some big bounces

The only issues I experienced were the tees were a little beat up. They need to cut down a bush on the par 3, hole 12. It is blocking the view of this beautiful par 3. Pace of play was not the greatest though. Waited on every shot. On hole 8, it really slowed down with 3 groups on that hole.

I have not played the Orchards in nearly 18 years. I played it a lot in the 1990’s and have always loved the design of the course. I stopped playing it because numerous better golf courses were popping up in the St. Louis area. I’ve always wanted to go back and play it, however, I had friends who played it on a regular basis and they always told me it was not in good shape. Finally, this year I heard from numerous people it is getting in better shape and it is worth playing it now. So, I decided to give it a try after 18 years. I knew it has been a long time because there are 4 memorial benches on the front nine.

The GOOD…
The price of $54
Carts have rain covers on the back for your golf bags (no public golf course in the area has these)
Visually, several holes looked much better than I last played them because they removed some trees. Holes 8, 16 & 17.
Other holes which looked great off the tee were 9 & 12.

The BAD…
The greens were in great shape; however, they were so SLOW.
They have a drainage issue in the fairways. Numerous bare spots in low spots in most fairways.
No improvements to the cart paths - in rough shape.
Back tee on hole 2 was awful. Tee box on hole 13 – full of crabgrass and bare spots.
Pace of play was slow.
All flagsticks were yellow. No red (front), white (middle) and blue (back).
TOUGH HOLES…
Hole 7 is one of the tightest holes you will ever play. With 18 years of additional tree growth the hole is claustrophobic. I would consider hole 18 unfair. The hole is tight with OB on both sides. It is a par 5, 565 yards from the white tees, with a late 90-degree dogleg right. I hit a driver and 3-wood. I still had 180 yards left and required a fade to still get it to the green. They really need to shorten hole 18.

I think this course should have a 3-star rating, however, the extremely slow greens really hurts them. Therefore, I give this course a 2-star rating and I would not recommend this course because of this.

I haven’t played the Links of Dardenne since 2017 and I will not be back. This course has absolutely no regard to the pace of play and is outrageously overpriced.

The group in front of us was so slow, there was 2 groups on the tee box behind them all day. When they were teeing off on hole 16, there were 2 holes open in front of them. The ranger came by on hole 12 and we told him about the group in front of us was extremely slow. He didn’t acknowledge us or did anything about it. Totally unacceptable!

The cost to play was $60.82 (tax included). So overpriced for the condition of the course and the lack of concern for the pace of play. You can play the best course in the St. Louis area for $70 (tax included). Why would anyone bother playing the Links of Dardenne when you can play the best (Annbriar) for $8 more?

This course has a huge problem with drainage, and nothing has been done about it since I last played there. There are bare spots in the fairways from where water sits or flows. Some of the holes, they have placed a large amount of sand in these bare spots! The 8th fairway is the worst fairway you will ever play. Bumps, humps and more bare spots than you can count. It is a par 5 and we played it as a par 4 because they were laying new sod down on the front part of the fairway. If they didn’t improve their drainage system, they are just wasting their time and money putting in the new sod. The 14th fairway is another eye sore also.

The tee boxes were not the best either. Brown in areas, the 4th tee was covered with crabgrass and extremely difficult to put a tee in the ground throughout the day.

There is no dress code for this course either. People playing with t-shirts.

The only positives for this course - the greens were in good shape (on the slow side) and for a links course, the design is decent.

The course is very green with all the rain now. It is a wonderful design, in great shape and always a fair price. I did notice they made the right fairway bunker smaller and flatter on hole 9, to prevent balls from getting caught under the lip and having no way to advance the ball. Great change! However, they need to make a couple more.

As I have said in my other reviews, Annbriar still needs to make some common sense changes but have yet to implement them. I’m a big believer you should not be penalized for hitting the ball in the fairway. When I played on Saturday, they had the pin on the left side of the green of hole 13 again. You cannot hit your shot at the pin because of a large, overhanging sycamore tree branch blocking the left side of the green. Annbriar needs to do one of two things: cut down the branch or put all pin placements on that hole in the middle or the right side of the green. I’ve included a picture of the branch and the green. Please do not penalize a player for hitting the ball in the fairway and having no shot at the pin.

Annbriar is the only course I play that still uses the small flag on the flagstick, to indicate if the pin is front, middle or back. All their flag colors are red. Let’s move to what all other courses have done for years. Red flag front, white middle and blue back. Very simple and helps speeds up play.

Annbriar is a great course in great shape. However, they need to make these common sense changes.

If playing Pole Creek, you should try to play the Ranch/Ridge nines. Ridge is the best, followed by the Ranch.

Since we were familiar with the course, holes 1 & 3 were much easier to play. The Ranch is a nice course, flat except for holes 1 & 8.

I do not like the small GPS screen on the left pole of the cart. Hard to see with the glare and the small screen. Not sure the yardages were correct either.

If in the Fraser/Granby area - this is the place to play your golf.