Off topic but I just had an iron fitting from Mike Dickerson, the owner of Golf MD. I’ve been fitted twice in my life. Once for irons 5 years ago when I was a beginner and two years ago at Club Champion for a driver. This experience was night and day. He set me up with some Srixon ZX7’s with KBC C Taper shafts. The ball jumped off the club. Anyways, highly recommend Mike if you are ever looking to get fit in KC.
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Mike is really good and knowledgeable. +1 for GolfMD
If you are like me and prefer outdoor fittings, I believe he schedules days on local ranges from time-to-time.
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Nice. Yes, he does them at Canyon Farms for outdoor fittings.
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Wife and I are headed to KC this weekend, what course(s) is recommended to check out?
Wherever you can get a tee time haha!
In terms of public courses around the city, I think the consensus of this group goes something like this:
In town: Swope Memorial. Absolute best bang for your buck. Originally designed by Tillinghast. Interesting and fun layout, easy to walk, great value. If you need convincing, read this: Swope — Lying Four.
North: Shoal Creek. Big track (this will be a trend). Walkable, but some green-to-tee treks are looooong. In my opinion, there are only a few truly forgettable holes out there, but #9 makes up for that. One of my favorite par 5s in the area. It’s expensive, though, especially on the weekend. Alternatively, Tiffany Greens has a good reputation. I’ve only played it once, and it was a few years back, so I can’t really comment.
South: Sycamore Ridge. Also a huge piece of property. Not walker-friendly, although I’ve never tried/asked. There were rumors of it being in pretty tough shape last year due to weather/ware, but I’d imagine that’s been dealt with. Some really good holes, but it’s pretty far south. Alternatively, Ironhorse is another big course with some very good golf holes. Not as far south, but can be very expensive on the weekends.
East: Stone Canyon. There’s no walking option. It’s a Greg Norman design, but don’t let that scare you away. Huge course, some great green complexes/runoffs, and all-in-all a fun place to play. Alternatively, WinterStone is a fun course, pretty walkable, and a little less expensive. I’m a fan of both.
West: Falcon Lakes. Again, a big course that would be hard – but not impossible – to walk. Some good holes. Some not so good holes. Generally good conditions. Alternatively, Dub’s Dread is basically across the street and, in my opinion, it’s more fun to play (and very walkable!).
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File this away to post every other month or so, I think you summed up KC public golf perfectly here, wouldn’t change a single thing. Excellent work!
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agreed.
the only thing is it needs a forward;
“Kansas City might have the worst collection of golf courses for any major metro area, which perfectly matches its abysmal airport. But here’s the best golf we got…”
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You’ve clearly never lived in Philadelphia and tried to play good public golf!
Listen, I like Swope. A lot. But I have to be honest, I’ll take Hillcrest (as a whole --course, clubhouse, range) in good shape over Swope any day and it’s not close for me. Perhaps I just like the quirky couple of holes. I know those par 4s with the blind fairway shots on back are a bear. But it least it has water and some historic Ross characteristics. Perhaps I am the problem here…
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I like Hillcrest, too. Rather, I liked Hillcrest when it was appropriately priced. Charging $69 (weekend before 2pm) to play Hillcrest, however, is villainous. Also – water? You mean the one fountained pond on the par 3?
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This is a WILD take. No yucking of yums here, I’m not here to say someone’s opinion is wrong. However, if I went hole by hole I personally think Swope wins 8&7 and it might not be that close for me (not sure if I could even recall all 18 at Hillcrest and I’ve played it ~10+ times)
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Gotta concur with the Swopists on here. When it is in its best shape it’s the best public course in a 200 mile radius. Hillcrest is fun and all, but even in its best shape, really doesn’t play as well as Swope. Hillcrest’s par 4 2nd is a great example of how overgrown and insipid that course NOW is. Gimme some tree removal and an unlimited maintenance budget and we MIGHT start talking tit for tat.
Coming to town to visit family and would love to get out with some locals for a few rounds. Dates should be 6/16-24ish so let me know if any of you want to show me your favorite course. Thanks for the nice detail above, I’ll surely check those out.
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Unless things have drastically changed since I played them in fall 2019, Hillcrest is in a sad state of disrepair and neglect compared to Swope.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to buy Hillcrest as my retirement job because I think there’s some good stuff there. But to me it’s a long ways away from Swope.
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Wow, I really touched on some nervers here! 
Suppose my issues with swope are too many blind tee shots (2, 11, 12), banked fairways (1, 18, 10) and weird in between shots for my game (Tee shot on 3, 5, 9, etc) HC has that too somewhat but lesser IMO.
Obviously left up to interpretation and opinion, but I enjoy the more detailed nature of Hillcrest. Have to really be hitting it more precise to score well there IMO. Love both courses though, just think HC is more to my liking especially with superior range and short game area and renovated bunkers last year. Will gladly meet anyone at either to play though!
In between tee shot? Do you only carry 5 clubs?
1, 9, and 18 are holes that stick out to me as needing work at Hillcrest. There’s trees overhanging greenside bunkers on 10 maybe? And some big drainage issues for failed subsurface systems in addition to the obvious overgrowth.
Oh, and it costs like twice as much.
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HAHAHA, sometimes it feels that way based on usage and effectiveness. If im not hitting my driver well that day, 9 is tough for me since I then have to hit a 5 iron off of a par 5, seems counterintuitive. 3 i can drive, but rarely so its always a 3W then an awkward chip, 5 is a weird short par 5 that I almost always birdie but prob shouldn’t after a 230 yard drive. 
I agree that 1 and 18 needs work at HC for sure. They have had drainage issues on some of the longer par 5s but I feel like those have improved over the last year. And my guess is that it costs more due to the better (present) range and short game area.
Actually, my fav part of Swope is the GM. Good buddy of mine that went to grade school with. Hell of a dude. Still love the course, especially the front. I always play better at Swope but somehow enjoy the shotmaking challenge at HC better. As I said, maybe Im the problem. 
And it has improved quite a bit since new ownership took over. Couldn’t have gotten much worse. They put a LOT of money into the bunkering and drainage. As I said, could just be personal preference.
All that being said, i am playing Swope on Friday afternoon with my son.
When I last played there a few months ago it was in the best shape I’ve ever seen it, Hillcrest.
But if yer problem is blind tee shots, why I ask aren’t blind second shots? 12, 14, 17, come to mind…
I gravitate to the masters, and Ross had a nice piece of land to work with at Hillcrest. But he was there all of five minutes and been dead since the club has seen it’s worst care.
Here’s hoping it gets back up to snuff. It’d be a grande dame if they/he/she ever put SIGNIFICANT time/money/resources into it.
Cheers and crack on.
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For sure, but I see the same issues at Swope on 5, 14 (sometimes) and 17 without the blind tee shots.
Look, I get no course is perfect and I REALLY like them both. As i said, will be happy to meet/play with anyone at either and enjoy every moment.