If you are looking to play the best golf while in Missouri, then you have come to the right place.
We have created a list of the best golf courses in the state to make it simpler for you to hit the links at a Missouri course.
Despite being less popular golfwise, Missouri boasts a number of top-quality golf courses, with a high concentration in the southwest region.
One interesting feature of the Show Me Strate is that it has a huge number of prairies and lakes, providing astounding views of the course.
For instance, the Lake of the Ozarks has several surrounding golf courses. So, if you are heading to Missouri, be sure to find the best combination of nature and golf at its finest.
Your nicest golf course in Missouri could be just a few miles away from the spectacular views of surrounding nature.
Read on to find out which is the best for you.
List of the Best Golf Courses in Missouri
- St. Louis Country Club
- Bellerive Country Club
- Big Cedar Lodge: Ozarks National
- Boone Valley Golf Club
- Old Warson Country Club
- Dalhousie Golf Club
- Payne’s Valley at Cedar Lodge
- Big Cedar Lodge: Buffalo Ridge Golf Club
- Norwood Hills (West)
- Branson Hills Golf Club
- The Country Club of St. Albans: Tavern Creek
- The Club at Porto Cima
- Old Kinderhook Golf Course
- Ledgestone Golf Course
- Swope Memorial Golf Course
- Creekmoor Golf Club
- Stone Canyon Golf Club
- The Missouri Bluffs Golf Club
- Shoal Creek Golf Course
- Rivercut
The Best Golf Courses in Missouri
1. St. Louis Country Club
- Location: St. Louis
- Length: 6,569 yards
- Par: 71
- Designer(s): Charles Blair Macdonald
- Year established: 1914
- Championship: the U.S. Open in 1965; the PGA Championship in 1992 and 2018; the Mid-Amateur Championship in 1981; the U.S. Women’s Amateur and U.S. Amateur
You will marvel at the fact that C.B. Macdonald was able to route a course on such a tightly packed property in St. Louis, given his design history, which involved spacious golf courses.
Out of the tight piece of property, he installed back-to-back par 3s on both hole 2 and hole 3.
Another thing that makes St. Louis Country Club the nicest golf course in Missouri is the fact that it has many unique landforms, adding challenges for players.
Some golfers have claimed that playing here is like playing golf through a dinosaur graveyard.
2. Bellerive Country Club
- Location: St. Louis
- Length: 7,547 yards
- Par: 71
- Designer(s): Robert Trent Jones
- Year established: 1897
- Championship: the 1981 U.S. Mid-Amateur; PGA Championships (1992, 2018); the 2001 World Golf Championships-American Express Championship; the 2004 U.S. Senior Open; the 2008 BMW Championship; and the 2013 Senior PGA Championship.
This Robert Trent Jones masterpiece was once the darling of the USGA.
It received this prestige after hosting the 1965 US Open.
Actually, it was the second-youngest golf course to host such an event in the 20th century.
Bellerive hasn’t lost its glory yet, having undergone some renovation to make it a polished course.
It seems it is the darling of the PGA now, given that it successfully hosted the 2018 PGA Championship.
3. Big Cedar Lodge: Ozarks National
- Location: Branson
- Length: 7,036 yards
- Par: 71
- Designer(s): Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw
- Year established: 1970
- Championship: Ozarks National Invitational in Hollister in 2024; the 2024 DII Men’s Golf Championships
Ozarks National is a household name in the golfing circles of Missouri.
The club took advantage of the heightened elevation to deliver a perfect course at Big Cedar Lodge.
What makes it the nicest golf course in Missouri is the fact that it has holes that run out along the ridge-and-valley topography.
It is also impressive because Coore and Crawshaw found ways to expand the same spaces and incorporated new holes in some unused parts of the property.
4. Boone Valley Golf Club
- Location: Augusta
- Length: 6,944 yards
- Par: 71
- Designer(s): Pete, Alice, and PB Dye
- Year established: 1988
- Championship: U.S. Girls’ Junior Golf Championship (2017) U.S. Junior Amateur Golf Championship (2007) Enterprise Rent-A-Car Match Play Championship (2001) Boone Valley Classic (1996–2000)
Boone Valley Golf Course is one of P.B. Dye’s signature courses in Missouri.
The course now sits on a property half a mile from a state historical monument.
This is the place where Daniel Boone resided in his adult life.
Also Read: How You (Yes, You!) Can Play Augusta National Golf Club and Augusta National Golf Club
5. Old Warson Country Club
- Location: St. Louis
- Length: 6,946 yards.
- Par: 71
- Designer(s): Robert Trent Jones, Sr.
- Year established: 1954
- Championship: the 1971 Ryder Cup and the 2009 U.S. Women’s Amateur Golf Championship
This undulating, tree-lined layout is definitely one of Robert Trent Jones Sr.’s projects.
The golf course has hosted some key tournaments, including the 1971 Ryder Cup matches between Great Britain and the USA.
The event thrust the golf club onto the world stage.
Other than these, the golf course is famed for having one of the most lauded holes in golf.
Specifically, the short par-4 14th is more than 200 yards across a big lake.
6. Dalhousie Golf Club
- Location: Cape Girardeau
- Length: 7,389 yards
- Par: 72
- Designer(s): Gary Nicklaus (2002) and Gus Grantham (2000)
- Year established: 2002
- Championship: The OVC Men’s Golf Championship (2022, 2023, 2024, 2025); the 2015 USGA Women’s Team Championship; and the 2012 Missouri State Amateur Championship
This is a true masterpiece that has stood the test of time as one of the best golf courses in the Midwest.
We believe it is the nicest golf course in Missouri because of the Zoysia fairways, G-2 bentgrass greens, fescue and bluegrass rough, and Prineville bentgrass tees and collars.
7. Payne’s Valley at Cedar Lodge
- Location: Ridgedale
- Length: 6,876 yards
- Par: 72
- Designer(s): TGR Design (Tiger Woods)
- Year established: 2020
- Championship: The Payne’s Valley Cup in 2020
Payne’s Valley at Cedar Lodge is probably Tiger Woods’ first public golf course, and it truly brings out his vision of delivering a fun and playable golf course for players of all abilities.
We also believe that Payne’s Valley is the nicest golf course in Missouri, not because it is the newest resort course at Big Cedar Lodge but because it plays atop a broad, starburst arrangement of low bluffs.
8. Big Cedar Lodge: Buffalo Ridge Golf Club
- Location: Hollister
- Length: 6,727 yards
- Par: 72
- Designer(s): Tom Fazio
- Year established: 1999
- Championship: the AJGA Golf Tournament in 2023
Buffalo Ridge Golf Club at Big Cedar Lodge is a beautifully designed championship course that truly displays the charm of the Ozarks with its natural rock formations, creeks, caves, waterfalls, lakes, and rich native grasses on a 69-acre property.
We also ranked Buffalo Ridge Golf Club as the nicest golf course in Missouri because of its elevated tees and strategically positioned bunkers that lie around the fairways and greensides.
9. Norwood Hills Country Club (West)
- Location: Saint Louis
- Length: 6,882 yards
- Par: 71
- Designer(s): Wayne Stiles
- Year established: 1922
- Championship: the National Left-Handed Golfer’s Championship in 1936 and 1940; the PGA Championship in 1948; the LPGA Tour’s St. Louis Women’s Invitational from 1965 to 1969
This is one of the most enjoyable and challenging courses that attracts golfers of all levels. Some golfers have claimed that Norwood Hills has the best greens in all of St. Louis.
Truly, the condition of the course is nearly perfect, but it rarely gets attention because it’s a purely private course.
Some players only know about the Norwood Hills because of its outstanding junior golf program and the highly competitive men’s and women’s club championships.
10. Branson Hills Golf Club
- Location: Branson
- Length: 7,324
- Par: 71
- Designer(s): Chuck Smith
- Year established: 2009
- Championship: the 2019 PGA Championship
If you are looking for a must-play golf course in Branson, then this golf course is friendly and accommodating.
Apart from the fact that it is open to the public, it boasts beautifully landscaped fairways and greens on a 1200-acre wooded property.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Missouri is blessed with several quality golf courses.
In total, the state has close to 400 golf courses.
So, you will have a huge selection of choices apart from the ones ranked on this list.
The good thing is that most of the courses here have public access.
A little-known fact is that over half of the PGA Tour’s tournaments are hosted on public golf courses.
So, an amateur golfer may get a chance., but they have to wait for a certain amount of time.
Actually, out of 29 million golfers in the US, only 150 players qualify to play on the PGA Tour every year.
St. Louis is not only the home of many golf courses in Missouri but also hosts about 30 PGA courses, including some of the best on this list like Norwood Hills Country Club, Old Warson Country Club, and St. Louis Country Club.
Closing Remarks
Missouri is one of the most golf-rich states in the Midwest. Here, you will find some of the best golf courses that host major golf events.
One notable thing about some of the top golf courses in the state is that they have existed for more than a century.
If you want to play in such places, then choose either St. Louis Country Club or Norwood Hills (West).
The Bellerive Country Club is also the nicest golf course in Missouri, with the same stature.
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