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May 5, 2008                                                Phone: 573-636-8282 « Email: info@tbwgroup.net

'Designer' Courses Attract Golfers
to Central Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks

 Lake of the Ozarks, Mo. –There’s something special about playing golf on a course designed by a world-famous golfer or golf-course architect.  And there’s something extra special about a golf destination that features eight world-class courses designed by famous golf names like Null, Nicklaus, Palmer, Weiskopf, Farley, Kavanaugh, Trent Jones Sr., and Von Hagge and Devlin.  That golfer’s paradise is Central Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks.

This popular and scenic resort area is well known for golf and much more.  It offers great water activities such as boating, fishing, swimming and jet skiing; diverse lodging choices; and outstanding dining.

Visitors also enjoy the Lake area’s shopping, spas, live music, and fun family attractions including indoor and outdoor waterparks, mini-golf and go-carts, arcades and show caves, horseback riding, excursion cruises and more.

Whether you visit Central Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks with your significant other, your golfing buddies or your family, you can count on a memorable golf getaway.  Here’s a brief review of the Lake area’s “designer” golf courses and what makes each a unique golfing experience.

The newest golf course at the Lake, the 6,381-yard, par 71 Deer Chase opened in 2004.  It offers a challenging round with nine holes through the picturesque Auglaize River Valley and nine more among the surrounding hills.  The course features bermuda fairways overseeded for early spring green-up, multiple zoysia tees and the largest bentgrass green settings in the area.

Deer Chase was designed by Roger Null, a former superintendent at Norwood Hills Country Club in St. Louis.  He also designed or redesigned several St. Louis-area courses and was known as a great mentor to the next generation of course superintendents.

Null once said, “We have to remember golf course architecture is an art form; it cannot be bound by rules and restrictions.  Fortunately, natural selection applies to golf course design.  Good ideas perpetuate themselves.”  Null had a lot of good ideas for Deer Chase, says owner Stan Erb.  Among them are elevated tees, topographic changes, and double greens nearly one-acre in size on holes1 and 10.  “He created three terraces on number 13,” Erb says.  “That’s unusual but it was an uphill fairway.”

Floyd Farley of Oklahoma City knew golf both as a designer and a player.  He designed and built his first course in Oklahoma City in 1932, and won the Oklahoma PGA Championship in 1936 and 1942, as well as the Oklahoma Match Play Open in 1937.  He served as president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects.  Farley designed more than 100 courses in Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico and Missouri, where he was commissioned to design Lake Valley’s 18-hole, par 72, 6,431-yard golf course in 1967.

“Floyd Farley was fairly well known in the Midwest in the 1960s,” says Lake Valley General Manager and Head Pro Dan Robertson, PGA.  “He was receptive to coming up here to Lake Valley and he did a really good job with it.”  Golf Digest agrees, rating Lake Valley 3½ stars in “Places To Play.”

One unusual feature Farley designed for the Lake Valley course is its balance of six par threes, six par fours and six par fives, set among rolling hills, woods, creeks and ponds.  “This makes the course a little bit more playable for the average golfer,” Robertson says.  “You’ve got a lot of par 3 shots.  And the par 5s all are fairly short, which gives everyone a chance, with a couple of good shots, for a birdie.”  He adds, for more accomplished players, “if you get off to a poor start, you’re not done.  You’ve got a lot of holes here and a good chance to make it up.”

Renowned golfer Tom Weiskopf has designed more than 40 golf courses all over the world.  His Signature Golf Course at the Club at Old Kinderhook is the only 4½-star golf course at the Lake of the Ozarks according to Golf Digest; Golf Week ranks the course as one of the top two semi-private courses in Missouri.  Opened in 1999, the 6,855-yard, par 71 course has zoysia tees and fairways with large bentgrass greens, but it’s renowned for its dramatic natural features, including hills and valleys, waterfalls and water hazards.

“Weiskopf courses, from what I understand, have a lot of character regarding targets, meaning specially placed bunkers on the fairways create a visual target from the tees,” says Head Golf Professional Chris Buescher.  “Weiskopf also is very well known for putting a couple of drivable par 4s on the courses.”  But it’s the greens that truly stand out, Buescher says.  “Our greens tend to be faster than most.  They have a lot of subtleties.  A lot of people struggle on our greens the first time they play here, but the next time they get the hang of it.”

Notes Buescher, “If we had a signature hole at Old Kinderhook it would be number 18.  It’s a picturesque, perfect risk-reward par-5 tee-off from an elevated position.  But water comes into play off the tee as well as on the second shot.”

Osage National Golf Resort, Lake Ozark – Designed by Arnold Palmer

Popular golfer and course designer Arnold Palmer designed the original 18 holes of Osage National’s 27-hole, par-72 golf course in 1992.  Surrounded by the imposing bluffs of the Osage River, the course’s 7,150-yards of zoysia fairways and well-manicured bentgrass greens appeal to players of all levels; so do the five sets of tees.

The only Arnold Palmer Signature Course in Missouri, Osage National has earned a four-star rating from Golf Digest.  General Manager Steve Belton, PGA, says Palmer did multiple walk-throughs as Osage National was being constructed.  “He moved bunkers, changed greens shapes and basically stayed with it until it was just the way he wanted it,” Belton says.

Palmer’s design features the “Mountain 9” and the “River 9.”  Combined with the newer “Links 9,” the course offers three 18-hole rotations.  “Palmer basically had to carve nine holes out of the hills and another nine out of the Osage River bottom,” Belton says.  The course has four signature holes.  “On the mountain course, numbers 3 and 8 are beautiful because of elevation changes.  On the river course we have numbers 2 and 9 which is par-5 and 626 yards with water down the left side,“ Belton says.  “They’re great golf holes, well-designed, challenging and scenic.  They’re set up really well, not just for aesthetics but also for playability.”

Ken Kavanaugh of Ken Kavanaugh Golf Course Design, Inc., Tucson, designed this 18-hole golf course at The Lodge of Four Seasons in 1991.  At 6,416 yards, the par 72 course features dramatic elevation changes of more than 180 feet and generous landing areas amid rolling hills, natural rock walls, a spring-fed lake, native wildflowers and stunning views of the Lake of the Ozarks.  Golfweek/Golf Digest gives Seasons Ridge a 4-star rating and recommends it as the sixth best public course in Missouri.

Kavanaugh founded his design company in 1984 and has designed or redesigned nearly 40 courses in 10 states.  He believes the natural land, its surroundings and the site’s overall ambience should dictate the ultimate character of the course.  Director of Golf Jason Crowell, PGA, says that’s obvious at Seasons Ridge. “It has a couple of high-point vistas that offer scenic views and elevated hills that hit downhill, which everyone enjoys because they can hit farther,” he says.  “The course also offers good-sized greens with two or three tiers.”  Signature number 6 hole, Crowell says, is “long, straight and skinny off the tee, with a big creek across the fairway in front of the green and a humongous three-tier green.”

The Oaks Course, Osage Beach – Designed by Robert Von Hagge and Bruce Devlin

The Oaks Course at Tan-Tar-A Resort features 18 holes of demanding approaches, challenging greens and well-placed hazards amid lakeside beauty.  The design by world renowned architects Bruce Devlin and Robert Von Hagge carved the course out of the natural Ozark hills.  At 6,432 yards from the back tees, the design makes up for lack of length with 97 bunkers and narrow, curved fairways.

“Von Hagge and Devlin typically use existing terrain.  As a result our course is very challenging. You’re always hitting off a hill or slope,” says The Oaks Director of Golf Paul Leahy, PGA.  He adds Von Hagge and Devlin are known for smaller greens and tighter fairways of 300 to 400 yards.  “It’s a target-oriented golf course, so we don’t have big, fast greens like the newer courses,” he says.

Leahy says number 9 is the course’s signature hole, featuring a waterfall in front.  “But number 11 also is a difficult hole because you have to hit over water.  And numbers 13 and 14 are right on the Lake itself.  They’re picturesque but you have to know what you’re doing.”

Von Hagge has designed or redesigned more than 250 golf courses around the world and Devlin, a former PGA and Senior PGA tour winner, has designed more than 140.

Witch’s Cove, Lake Ozark – Designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr.

Before he died at age 94 in 2000, the legendary Robert Trent Jones Sr. designed or redesigned more than 500 golf courses, including Witch’s Cove at The Lodge of Four Seasons.  The 18-hole, 6,557-yard, par 71 Robert Trent Jones Sr. Signature Course is “a typical Trent Jones course, with a lot of layup par 4s off the tee,” says Director of Golf Josh Crowell, PGA.  With its traditional design, large greens and 65 bunkers, “it’s a placement golf course versus a distance golf course, with a lot more credit given to accuracy than to distance,” he says.  “The fast sloping and tricky greens make it a very tried and true Robert Trent Jones course.”

Jones courses are noted for a broad-shouldered, heavily sculpted “power-golf” look that defined the post World War II years.  Jones said, “You look at a piece of ground and you know instinctively what makes a great hole.  There is a flow and rhythm that you can feel.”

Witch’s Cove’s signature hole, number 13, is a reflection of this attitude.  It’s a par 3 that goes over a picturesque Lake cove – Witch’s Cove.  “It’s more than 200 yards from tee to green and requires a carry of 180 yards over the cove,” Crowell says.  “It’s a big-boy hole, with layered bunkers on the front side of the green.”

Porto Cima, Lake Ozark – Designed by Jack Nicklaus

“On a scale of one to ten, this is as close to a ten, if there ever was a ten.”  So said golf great Jack Nicklaus about his design for the private golf course at the luxury waterfront community Porto Cima (Italian for “hillside harbor”).  Opened in 2000, Porto Cima is the only Jack Nicklaus Signature Course in Missouri and one of only five in the state recognized by Golf Digest as among the best new private courses in the U.S.  It features plentiful bunkering with holes routed through woods and four scenic and challenging closing holes.

Porto Cima is one of more than 260 designs or redesigns that Nicklaus personally had a hand in.  At Porto Cima, he supervised design and construction on all 18 holes of the par 72, 7,118-yard course.  “He really was given free rein of the property,” says Director of Golf Jon Crane, PGA.  “He used as much shorefront as he wanted, so we have seven holes that play right along the Lake.”

Crane says other Nicklaus characteristics found at Porto Cima are five sets of tees, from more than 7,000 yards to 5,800 yards.  “Another Nicklaus trait is that all of the landing areas from the tees are visible.  There are no blind shots.  We had to move some dirt and blast some rock to make this happen,” Crane says.  He adds, when Nicklaus was asked what he considers his signature hole at Porto Cima, he replied, “They’re all signature holes!”  But Crane believes it would be number 15.  “It comes down into a peninsula and it’s very visible when you’re coming down the main channel of the Lake,” he says.

Other Notable Lake of the Ozarks Golf Courses

In addition to “designer” golf courses, other popular courses at the Lake of the Ozarks have distinctive features that add to the golfing experience.  For example, the 18-hole, 6,355-yard, par-72 Indian Rock golf course in Laurie is named for the stunning limestone rock formations at the back of the course’s number 17 signature hole; in front is a deep, clear-water lake.  In addition, the Osage Indian tribes who lived in the area created directional markers known as “thong trees” by bending and tying saplings.  Several can be seen throughout the golf course.

Another unique course is Sycamore Creek Golf Club in Osage Beach.  This 18-hole, 6,255-yard, par 72 course has zoysia tee blocks, bermuda fairways surrounded by native trees, bentgrass greens, and several water features – plus a working aquaculture habitat.  Osage Catfisheries, Inc., is owned and operated by the Kahrs family, which also owns the golf club.  Founded in 1953, it’s the Midwest’s oldest and largest multi-species hatchery, and a recognized leader in international aquaculture.  OCI raises and provides fish for stocking lakes, as well as zoo and show fish – 29 aquatic species in all.

Other favorite golf courses at the Lake of the Ozarks are Bay View Golf Course in Linn (public, 9 holes); Bear Creek Valley Golf Club in Lake Ozark (public, 18-holes); Dogwood Hills Resort & Golf Club in Osage Beach (public, 18 holes); Eldon Country Club in Eldon (semi-private, 18 holes); and Rolling Hills Country Club in Versailles (semi-private, 18 holes).

For more information, contact the Lake of the Ozarks Golf Council at 800-490-8474 or visit www.golfingmissouri.com.  Be sure to ask about the Golf Council’s convenient and money-saving Golf-A-Round packages.  For more information on area attractions, lodging, dining, shopping and more, call the Lake of the Ozarks Convention & Visitor Bureau at 800-FUN-LAKE (386-5253) or visit www.funlake.com.

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