Public: Eagle Bend is really your only in-town option. I think it is an above-average public track. It is a fun layout, challenging depending on tees, reasonably priced, and usually in good condition. They’ve hosted the Kansas Mid-Am and countless Kansas Am Qualifiers.
Private: LCC is a great, old school, tree-lined track. I personally hate bentgrass fairways, particularly in Kansas summers, but the greens are always awesome, fast with a lot of character. I haven’t been to the Jayhawk Club since the massive changes; I’ve heard mixed reviews, mostly negative.
@QMany ’s summary is basically exactly right on. Eagle Bend has two greens that they cant keep alive because they either can’t or won’t do tree removal around them. But it’s generally in decent shape (they basically get their water free so it should be).
I used to be a member at Alvamar (now Jayhawk Club) and they kept several of the worst holes and blew up what I considered some of the better holes. I haven’t played the new course to have a fully fleshed opinion.
If you want to check out LCC sometime shoot me a DM and I’ll show you around. Even if you don’t love Bentgrass fairways, playing on it definitely helps the game travel better than it used to playing on Zoysia all the time.
The Orchard’s used to be owned by Alvamar, but those holes were never part of Alvamar proper. It’s not well maintained, and they just raised their walking rate and 9 holes is only $1 less than Eagle Bend. It would be a good place to play with a 3 club set on a time crunch.
This does limit some availability for sure, but they had a SLAT event at Leawood CC last week before the greens were healed and it was fine.
Agreed that late Oct, when they always sched the mid-am for some reason, can get a bit risky. Although I don’t think it’s any worse than when they start events up in the spring.
If the KGA is busy running girls events in the fall, I didn’t know that and can accept it. I know the kids are back in school, but the shoulder seasons should be when they have the Sr. Series/Mid-Am events that the kids don’t participate in anyway. Run the SLAT and the big tournaments like the Am, Railer, High Plains, etc during the summer like they already do. Seems like nothing has really changed with the merging of KCGA/KGA other than the stupid name.
Unfortunately it’s like $17 to walk now. When it was $8 it was definitely fine. But like I said you can walk a twilight nine at EB for like $18 so there is no value anymore.
Course is closed Thursday, I have the day off and am looking for a game. Anyone else looking to play that day? (Preferably AM, I know it may not be the most convenient)
Helluva couple days at The Fresno Scraper. It was my first time playing in any of these type of “internet events,” and met a ton of great people. Didn’t get to chat with @ericrbens for long, but our paths had crossed a few times before and never caught each other. Had a really great time playing with @KC_Badger and @HaveOuimet, even though I stunk and they completely emasculated me with their driving ability.
I was absolutely beat when I got home after 11pm last night, and didn’t even bother to unpack the car until this morning. It’s a lot of golf in one day, but I have to say the event ran better than I expected (s/o PD staff), and was a ton of fun. I did get to spend a fair bit of time with the larger Fried Egg crew, and I cannot more strongly endorse their authenticity and just the good people behind the scenes.
sidebar; after unpacking the car it appears that I may have to admit that is I, and not my wife, that has a bag problem (there are 10 in this picture).
thank you for posting this. Next time my wife complains I have too much golf equipment I am dialing this photo up!
Glad to hear the TFE events are good. I couldn’t swing taking the drive to Hutch this weekend, as it is both my Wife’s (Friday) and Daughter’s (Sunday) birthdays. Would have ended up on a major list.
Had a blast. Thank you for reading some putts for me even though I never hit them properly to take advantage of the reads.
By the looks of that Shapland, I assume you won the shootout? I bailed after everyone hit their tee shots.
I’m not sure how many started, maybe 8. It was down to 3 teams on 18, two of us made par, and we won in a chip off from the back of 18 green to that front pin.
Played out at Dub’s Dread today. As will happen to a single I got paired up. Older gui, claimed to be very familiar with the course, which having never played out there I thought would be helpful.
He proceeded to give some really bad advice and misread putts on two of the first 3 holes. So I finally started just ignoring everything he said.
That’s a golf course that is a few trees removed away from being super cool. It’s quirky in spots and there are a couple of bad holes but overall I enjoyed it. And a pretty decent walk minus some elevation changes. Significantly more walkable than it’s neighbor across the highway which probably has at least three tee boxes that are 500+ yards from the previous green. If you lived near enough their annual pass seems like a good deal at $2200.
I really enjoy Dub’s but it is so far away from me (Waldo) that I rarely get up there. I agree it has some dumbass holes but overall, I love it. I also really enjoy the people and the vibe. We should set up some fall outings around town. Maybe start our own league…
Late to the party here with a review of Shadow Glen:
Played Monday in PGA Midwest Foundation Charity event. Cool format, foursomes paired with local teaching Pro (we had Ryan from Ironhorse). Shamble after everyone hit tee shots, pro had to hit his shot the entire time. We even got free stamped SM8 Wedges out of the deal.
Cool course, meticulously manicured, and sweet clubhouse – locker room was pretty sweet with all the amenities. I def enjoyed 18 and some of the holes on the front side more than the back. Some fun par 3s, and a couple of holes that made you think about tee shot placement. Overall, I thought it was really nice, but less imaginative than other courses. Very cool practice area also. VERY well kept, but man was it a hike for me to get there, would be hard to justify membership.
always been a fan of dubs as a total package. no idea what kind of shape it’s in, but $2200 for an annual pass I’d be down for if I lived out that way.
Walkable, decent, affordable golf is hard to come by in KC.
Seems like it has some drainage issues, but overall it was in pretty good shape. Some weird grassing IMO, in that the zoysia transitions to Bent in the green surrounds. If you land on the zoysia you get a massive bounce, if you land on the bent you get no bounce at all. Greens were a but patchy in spots but overall decent to good. Very subtle and tricky for how little major undulation there is in them.
My playing companion must play a lot of muni golf because he seemed to think the greens were like putting on glass
11 is maybe one of the worst par 3s I’ve ever played. Just so penal to anything left and a really small target for 180+ uphill. I personally hate holes like 3 that force driver out of you hand make you lay short of a hazard then play nearly as long a shot on the second. But those are the only 2 holes I really had a major problem with. There’s some crazy fairway camber in some places but if you played there a lot then you would figure out how to keep it in the fairway. Will definitely keep it in mind when LCC is closed for events.
Had I not gone to Hutch for the TFE event, I’d have played in that Shadow event. I really like the course compared to some of the other modern courses in the area. Only bummer is how far 1 tee is from the clubhouse and that you’re playing through a neighborhood for a bunch of the front nine.
thank you for posting this. Next time my wife complains I have too much golf equipment I am dialing this photo up!
list.