Missouri Golf History

The 9-hole Kenwood Golf Links opened in the Hyde Park area and has quite a history. It was reportedly the 17th golf course in the United States at the time and one of the first west of the Mississippi. The clubhouse burned down about a year after it opened, so the members reorganized as the Kansas City Country Club and moved locations to build a larger club near present day Loose Park.¹

The St. Louis Country Club is one of the oldest clubs in America, but didn’t start as a golf club. The club was founded in 1892 in what is Berkeley today. It was originally a polo club, thus the two horseshoes and mallet on the logo. The club moved to Clayton in 1895 and opened a golf course in 1896. It moved again in 1913 and opened a course in Ladue the following year (see 1914 below).

The Kansas City Country Club dates back to 1896 and claims to be the third oldest country club west of the Mississippi River. It was an 18-hole course built on land owned by Hugh Ward until the lease ran out in 1926. That area later became the Country Club District when developer J.C. Nichols snapped up much of the land. That was when the club moved to Kansas.²

Bellerive Country Club is one of the most prestigious courses in the country. The club dates to 1896, but made a name for itself when they opened a 9-hole course in 1897 in north St. Louis known as The Field Club on the Bissel property on Bellefontaine Road. The named changed to Bellerive and moved to a new location in Normandy in 1910. (See more of Bellerive in 1959)

Two golf clubs began in 1898 in the area of Tower Grove Park in south St. Louis. Interestingly, the 6 hole course at the park was primarily for women. The club was known as the Carondelet Park Links Club and the Tower Grove Park Golf Club, although its not determined why there were two names. But what is known is that the female members were also members of St. Louis Country Club who apparently had a hard time getting tee times where their husbands played, so their formed their own club. The clubhouse was built near the northwest corner of the park, but closed by 1903.³

The Log Cabin Club is arguably the most exclusive club in the state with only a handful of members. The 9-hole club in Ladue dates back to 1899 where it was a standalone course until 1911. It was around that time that it formed an agreement with the adjacent Bogey Club for a complete 18, although they are two distinct courses. This is where U.S. Presidents would go to get away from the public eye and meet with local leaders.⁴ It is also the oldest course in Missouri still in its original location.

One of the oldest private golf clubs in Missouri, Algonquin got its start in a place that few realize. The first course was in Webster Groves and operated from 1901 to 1903 when homes in the Webster Park neighborhood started being built. In 1903, opened a 9-hole course on the border of Webster Groves and Glendale.⁵ It expanded to 18 holes in 1914.

The St. Louis Amateur Athletic Association course got its start in Forest Park in 1898 near the Forsyth Avenue and Skinker Boulevard. It became the area’s first 18 hole course when it expanded in 1901 at the location of the current Forest Park Golf Course. It remained at that location for a short time, but was moved to the other end of the park in 1902 to accommodate the 1904 World’s Fair. In 2010, the course was refurbished and renamed as The Highlands Golf and Tennis Center.

Glen Echo Country Club opened in Normandy in 1901 as a club for affluent St. Louisans to escape the pressures of city living.⁶ At one point in its history, Glen Echo even had its own train stop so members could easily get there. The course was the site of the 1904 Olympic Golf Tournament and also hosted several LPGA Tour events.

Normandie Golf Club is one of the oldest public courses in Missouri on its original property. It opened in 1901, but was a private course until 1984. It fell on rough times through the years, but got a new life in 2021 when Jack Nicklaus announced that his design group would refurbish the historic course.⁷ In 1908 it hosted the Western Open, which was the first professional event held in the area.

Another piece of Missouri golf history is how the Sedalia Country Club came into existence. It started in 1903 when the Missouri State Fair Board allowed a course to be built on the State Fairgrounds. The club was officially founded in 1905⁸ and the course opened a few years later.⁸

The Missouri Golf Association was founded in 1905 with four founding member clubs including Algonquin, Glen Echo, Normandie and St. Louis Country Club. Four years after it was founded, they held the Missouri Amateur Golf Tournament at Evanston Golf Club in Kansas City.

The National Golf Club of Kansas City is a private country club in Parkville founded in 1905. The course has been redesigned over the years, most recently by Tom Watson, and is often ranked as one of the best courses in the Midwest. Golf Digest even named it one of the “Top 10 Golf Courses in Missouri.” The club now offers two courses including The National and The Deuce.

The Evanston Golf Club was located where Swope Park currently sits and was Kansas City’s first public golf course. The club was organized several years earlier in 1897 in Fairmount Park and moved to Evanston in 1901 where it took its name. It was relocated again to a rural area southeast of Kansas City in 1905.¹⁰ The area is now the location of Southeast High School.

The Springfield Country Club opened in 1907 a few blocks west of what is now Phelps Grove Park. The club operated for three decades until the clubhouse burned. John Q. Hammons bought the land and developed it with street names reflecting the history including Fairway Avenue and Country Club Terraces.¹¹

Westwood Country Club is known as one of the Big 4 elite clubs in St. Louis along with Old Warson, St. Louis Country Club, and Bellerive. The club was originally started in 1907 for Jewish families because they were excluded form other clubs in the area. The club started in Glendale where Westborough Country Club now sits, but moved to its current location in 1928 after the members purchased a large plot of farmland further west for a new course.

A country club worthy of local VIPs and visiting dignitaries was finally opened Jefferson City in 1911. The Jefferson City Country Club was first designed to have 150 members, including 100 from the immediate area and 50 from outside the area. This was a time when there were groups still trying to move the capital out of the city. So the 50 spaces for “outsiders” were to be filled by people who were in favor of keeping Jefferson City as the state capital.

The Bogey Club is another exclusive club in St. Louis where it is incredibly tough to become a member. Even their web site spells it out. “Membership is limited and offered by invitation only to the city’s top corporate and civic leaders.” The course in Ladue was designed by golf course architect Robert Foulis and became a place where regional leaders gather to play golf.

The origins of Oakwood Country Club date back to 1893, just not as a golf club. It was the “summer home” of the Progress Club, which was a group of Kansas City Jewish leaders in the Progress Hill neighborhood. It became a golf club in 1912 when these families formed Oakwood Country Club as a place where they could play becaues they were being excluded rom other country clubs in town.

St. Joseph Country Club was formed in 1898, but moved to its current setting in 1912. It may seem like a surprise that St. Joseph would have such an upscale clubhouse so early in Missouri’s history, but the city has a history to back it up. In the late 1800s, there were more millionaires per capita in St. Joseph than any city in America, so the area had the wealth to support such a club.¹³

The Forest Park Golf Course has become one of the finest urban golf courses in the Midwest. The course sits on the same ground where the Triple A golf course was prior to the World’s Fair. The first nine opened in 1912, the second nine in 1913, and the third nine in 1915. Following a lawsuit in 1922, it became one of the few courses in the state that allowed black golfers to play (see 1923). The course that meanders through the park was redone in 2004 and became known at the Norman Probstein Golf Course.

The legendary St. Louis Country Club dates back to 1892 when it was a polo club. They built their first course in Clayton, but it was getting too congested, so they moved again to Ladue on land owned by the St. Louis Archdiocese. The bought the land and opened their new course in 1914. Since then, St. Louis Country Club has remained one of the most exclusive private clubs in St. Louis and the course is often ranked as one of the best private courses in America.

The Mission Hills Country Club opened in 1914, but this story has a bit of a twist. The course was built mostly in Kansas, with a smaller portion in Missouri. Liquor laws are the blame for this oddity. Kansas had strict liquor laws in place at the time, but Kansas City was much more lenient. So the clubhouse in Missouri so members could drink freely.

The city of Excelsior Springs was an affluent and popular tourist destination in the early 1900s thanks to the nearby springs. They capitalized on that notoriety in 1915 when they built an 18-hole course, then built another 18 before the Great Depression knocked out tourism – and money for green’s fees. Today, the Excelsior Springs Golf Course remains 18 holes.

Hillcrest Golf and Country Club dates to 1916, but has deeper roots in Kansas City. James Dalgleish was managing the Evanston Golf Club nearby in 1912 when he began working with golf course architect Donald Ross to create a new private course just south of Swope Park.

First of all, no, Adolphus Busch did not establish Sunset Hills Country Club because he was not admitted to join other private clubs in the area.

The actual story is he realized St. Louis needed a club in South St. Louis County. So he built the Sunset Inn as a supper club. Then his son, August Busch Sr., began acquiring land for the golf club in 1910. The plan to build was developed in 1915 and completed in 1917.¹⁴

A judge named Arthur Hough set aside land for the Jefferson City to use as a public park in 1917. One year after that, a course started to take shape. It became the first public golf course in the city is is still to only municipal course in the city limits. The land also had the attention of Jefferson City Country Club who had looked at buying the land before it became a public golf course.¹⁵

The Oaks Country Club, formerly known as Mexico Country Club, opened in 1920 and has been a staple in the historic mid-Missouri community for more than 100 years.

The “Original Country Club”, as some locals call it, is one of the most historic courses in mid-Missouri. Columbia Country Club was the first private club in Columbia and dates back to 1921. Legendary PGA players Ben Hogan and Sam Snead played the course in 1942 bringing much deserved attention to the private course.

Kirksville Country Club was founded in the 1920s as the golf course boom across the midwest got into full swing. It started as a 9 hole course, but has expanded to 18.

Cape Girardeau Country Club opened in 1921. The club itself was built on the highest point on the land, but was destroyed in 1963. A luxurious new club was built to replace it.

North Hills Country Club opened in 1922 near where other private country clubs were located at the time in north St. Louis County. It started as North Hills Country Club and has hosted some of the top Tour events in the country.

Ben Hogan won the PGA Championship at Norwood Hills in 1948. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.

The Schifferdecker Golf Course opened in 1922. It had 73 charter members who paid annual dues of $2.50. The course also sits alongside Route 66 for some added history.

Black golfers begin making efforts to play golf on public courses in St. Louis. Most notably, four men began booking tee times in Forest Park after applying for “golf permits” in 1922. A judge granted the black golfers access to the course on Monday mornings, but had to be off the course later in the day when the bell at the clubhouse rang.¹⁶ This got the ball rolling and the love of golf spread through the black community as more courses across the state began to integrate.

The first public golf course in St. Louis County opened in 1924 in Creve Coeur. The 9-hole Creve Coeur Golf Course remains open to the public today.

One of the first courses in Northwest Missouri opened in St. Joseph in 1925. The Fairview Golf Course in St. Joseph remains a municipal course that is still in operation nearly 100 years after it opened.

The West Plains Country Club was founded in 1926 and is one of the oldest clubs in southeast Missouri.

The Lake of the Ozarks has so many historic courses that it may be a surprise that Eldon Golf Club was the first. This was an era when tourists began flocking to the lake after Bagnell Dam was completed. Local businessmen built the 9-hole golf course to attract tourists, along with locals, who were benefiting from the newfound popularity of the area.

Missouri-native Horton Smith claimed the honors at the inaugural Augusta National Invitational, which later became known as The Masters. The 25-year-old Springfield native pulled through with a one stroke victory. He won the event again two years later, also making him the first two-time winner of The Masters.

Swope Park has been at the center of golf in Kansas City for decades, so it’s no surprise that Swope Memorial Golf Course is in the history books as well. The public course was designed in 1934 and became the only public course in the Kansas City area to host a PGA Tour event with the inaugural Kansas City Open in 1949.

Another Springfield native, Herman Keiser, won The Masters in 1946. That means in the first 12 years of the historic golf tournament, someone from Missouri won 3 of them. Keiser went on to win several more tournaments, but 1946 was his only “golf major” victory.

History was made at the St. Louis Country Club in Ladue 1947. It was the first time in history that a professional golf event was broadcast on television. Lew Worsham defeated Sam Snead in a playoff to win the U.S Open. The event was only broadcast by KSD-TV in the St. Louis area, but set the stage for national broadcasts which began in 1953.

The Kansas City Open was a PGA Tour golf tournament began in 1949 at Swope Park Golf Course and continued for nearly a decade at courses across the area.

The last of the Big 4 Elite courses opened up in 1954 as Old Warson was added in Ladue. The goal was to design a course that would get national recognition, which is how Robert Trent Jones ended up back in St. Louis. Since then, the course has become one of the premier private courses in Missouri and has hosted numerous high profile tournaments including the Ryder Cup in 1971. The 1971 Ryder Cup team that played at Old Warson included Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and Lee Trevino.

Bellerive Country Club moved from Normandy to its present location in 1959. The Robert Trent Jones course opened the following year and wasted no time in letting the world see how magnificent the course was. In 1965, it hosted the U.S. Open and became the youngest course ever to host a major golf championship. It also went down in history as the first golf tournament with a Sunday finish as previous events typically finished on Saturday.¹⁸

1962 is when the golf boom may have begun at the Lake of the Ozarks. Dogwood Hills Golf Club was located not far from Tan-Tar-A and featured a driving range and grass greens. This was a big attraction for tourists at the time. When a hotel was built in 1984, it became one of the first courses to offer a “stay and play” vacation option.¹⁹ The course closed after 52 years in 2014 as developers gobbled up the land.

Hord Hardin was a golfer, golf ambassador and lawyer who left an enduring legacy on the sport. He grew up in St. Louis and graduated from Washington University. He went on to be President of the USGA and Chairman of the Masters Tournament through which he was one of the most powerful men in the sport for several decades..

Tom Watson was a star in high school at Pembroke-Country Day School, winning the Missouri State Amateur Championship four times. On the PGA Tour, he won eight major championships but was especially dominant in the British Open. He won the first of five British Opens in 1975 and kept on winning. Another Missouri twist happened during his final British Open victory in 1983 when he defeated fellow Missourian Hale Irwin by one stroke.

The Robert Trent Jones “Cove Course” opened at the Lodge of Four Seasons in 1979. The course was a stunning addition to courses at the Lake of the Ozarks and helped drive golf tourism in mid-Missouri through the 1980s.

Nobody knew it at the time, but the young man with the great golf swing would be famous in just a matter of years – and not for golf. Jack Wagner of Melrose Place fame was a great athlete before he became a Hollywood heartthrob. He attended St. Francis Borgia High School in Washington before attending East Central College in Union, then Mizzou. He is a two-time winner of the American Century Championship and even started a TV show on ESPN called “Off Course.”

Innsbrook Resort and Country Club became a game-changer when the course opened an hour west of St. Louis near Wright City in 1981.

The 1989 PGA Championship was the 71st PGA Championship held Kemper Lakes Golf Club near. Payne Stewart of Springfield burst onto the scene with the the first of his three major championships.

There is perhaps no better golf story in history than that of John Daly in 1991. He wasn’t supposed to play as he was the 9th Alternate. The 25-year old Helias High grad took advantage of his opportunity and shocked the world when he won the PGA Championship at Crooked Stick Golf Club  near Indianapolis. Daly was named PGA Tour Rookie of the Year in 1991 as well.

Big Cedar Lodge made golf history when the Jack Nicklaus-designed course opened in 1996. Top of the Rock has been called one of the most beautiful Par 3 courses in the country, all thanks to Johnny Morris. They even brought in Arnold Palmer’s barn from Latrobe, Pennsylvania to be a part of the experience.

The Springfield-Greene County Park Board opened the public course called Rivercut in 1997. In 2009, it was selected as the number 1 municipal golf course in Missouri by Golf Digest.

The 1999 U.S. Open was one of the most thrilling major tournaments of all time. It also had some of the biggest names in golf in contention until the very end. Payne Stewart pulled out the one-shot victory by holing out a 15-foot putt to beat Phil Mickelson by one stroke. Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh were also two shots behind Stewart.

It was the story that captivated and shocked the nation. On October 25, 1999, a phantom plane was streaking across the country as people watched it play out on TV. It was discovered that everyone on board the plane was dead due to hypoxia as the cabin of the plane lost pressure. Once it crashed in South Dakota, it was announced that Payne Stewart was on board. He died just four months after he won the U.S. Open. At the time of his death, he was in the Top 10 World Golf Ranking and third on the all-time money winning list.

Shoal Creek Golf Course opened in 2001 to rave reviews. It is a public course owned by the Kansas City Parks and Recreation agency, but looks more like an elite private course. It has been rated as a 4-Star Course by Golf Digest and a Top 10 Public Course in Missouri by Golfweek.

Dalhousie Country Club in Cape Girardeau may be a relatively new club, but it has shot to the top of many rankings. It opened in 2002 and was named by Golf Digest on the list of Best New Golf Clubs in 2003. Here are other honors:

• Best New Private Clubs – Golf Digest 2003
• 4-Time Golf Digest #1 Course in Missouri
• Rolex Award- Ranked as “Top 1000 Golf Courses in the World”
• Golfweek 2014 “Top 200 Modern Courses in US”
• ​Golf Inc. 2009 “Top Clubhouse of the Year”
• ​Two-time Golfweek Course of Distinction

Tom Watson added another significant victory when he defeated Carl Mason to win the Senior British Open in 2003. This was Watson’s first of three Senior British Open victories including 2003, 2005, and 2007. 2003 was a banner year for the Kansas City golfer as he also won the Champions Tour Player of the Year.

Murder Rock Golf Club opened in October of 2007 with national attention thanks to the famous name behind the project. John Daly’s 18-hole golf course was set among the picturesque Ozark hills, but only lasted a few years. It did garner some awards from golf publications including “Best Courses You Can Play” in 2010 and 2011 from Golfweek Magazine. But the most memorable moment may have been when Daly showed off his new course to a local TV station, KOLR 10, and played shoeless and shirtless.

PGA Tour Stan Utley grew up in Thayer and played golf at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He was named All-American twice led Mizzou to the Big 8 Conference championship in 1984. He had some success on the PGA Tour, but saw even more success as a teaching pro. Golf Digest named him as one of America’s 50 Greatest Teachers as voted on by golf pros from around the country.²²

Stone Canyon Golf Club opened in 2009 and quickly became a destination course in the Midwest. The public course in Independence was named by Golf Magazine as one of the “Best New Courses You Can Play”. The Greg Norman designed course was later named “One of the Top 3 Best Public Courses in Missouri” three years after it opened.²³

This was the purchase that changed the course of Branson golf. Branson Creek was a Tom Fazio course that opened in 2000. So when Johnny Morris bought the property to expand his footprint in the golf industry, everyone knew big things were on the way. He also purchased nearby Murder Rock just weeks before. The courses were redesigned, but kept the same amazing views when it opened as Buffalo Ridge in 2014.²⁴

Big Cedar’s Top of the Rock is one of the most spectacular par 3 courses on the planet. Of course, when Johnny Morris picked Jack Nicklaus to design the course, you knew it would be amazing. The course made history in 2014 when it became the first par 3 course in PGA history to host a Champions Tour event.

Tiger Woods came to the Ozarks with fellow PGA Tour players Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy, and Justin Rose to debut the most anticipated golf course opening in Missouri history. Payne’s Valley was a joint project between Woods and Bass Pro founder Johnny Morris. It was named in honor of Missouri golf legend Payne Stewart. As soon as the course opened, it was immediately on many lists as one of the top courses in the country.²⁵

Peter Malnati captured the heart of the golf world after winning the Valspar Championship. The Mizzou alum’s tearful interview following the victory went viral on social media. It had been 9 years since his previous victory and his perseverance resonated with the fans.