Moving to Overland Park, KS

why are you ripping on Tulsa? It's not a bad town. C'mon Man!

I have a couple of friends from law school that live in the K.C. area now and I can ask them for recommendations.

Didn't mean to come off as ripping Tulsa. I love Tulsa. It's just that the same management that runs Shawnee CC runs a couple courses in the Tulsa area that are not too great. But I love Tulsa. Just chasing that $$ to KC. BTW, got a house for sale in BA if anybody needs one!!

Judge Smales you must work for Sprint, huh?

It looks like that Shawnee Country Club is a Lindsey course. What Lindsey course did you plat at in Tulsa? What was the experience like? My in-laws used to live in Lenexa and I don't remember the name of the club, but my father-in-law joined a place that was like 30 minutes away, apparently there weren't many options near by. This was 15 years ago, though.

I don't know if its private or not, but I've heard great things about the "Golf Club of Kansas" in Lenexa.

I don't work for Sprint. Just get screwed by them on a monthly basis. I'm in the restaurant biz. My golf time is definitely limited.

From my friend in Overland Park

I would avoid everything down by the plaza (e.g., Indian Hills, Kansas City Country Club, Mission Hills Country Club). One, it is extremely hard to get in. Two, they still remain too pricey.

Milburn Country Club is a nice course and club. It is located at about 65th and Metcalf. You can take I-70 west out of downtown and then I-635 south, which turns into Metcalf. This avoids the traffic, and you could be at Milburn in 15 to 20 minutes from downtown after work.

Meadowbrook Country Club isn't bad. It is extremely cheap right now if you are under 35. They are hurting for members and have tossed around the idea of joining up with another club (Brookridge). I would probably avoid it because of this.

Speaking of Brookridge, I would avoid it. It is extremely crowded and not that nice of course.

If you don't mind a little drive, Shadow Glen Country Club is extremely nice. It is out from the city on K-10. Last year, they lost a lot of members and had dirt cheap prices if you were under 35.

Leawood South is a nice club and reasonably priced. The course is very nice but not that difficult.

Blue Hills Country Club, which is across the street from Leawood South, is nice but a little more pricey than the others. The course is very playable. You can make it very challenging or very reasonable.

Hallbrook Country Club is a great club. Probably my favorite course in the city. It is expensive. The tennis area is nice. The club is very old school (e.g., no golf shoes on the main floors).

All that said. If you don't mind a 15 to 20 minute drive (depending on where in Overland Park they live), Sycamore Ridge Golf Course in Spring Hill, Kansas is a great public course. It was designed by Jim Colbert and has a Colbert Hills (Kansas State's course) kind of feel. The annual memberships are very reasonable, and no one is out there during the week and most weekends from 11:00-3:00. If you pay $695 upfront, you only have to pay $15 (green fee and cart) each time you play.

Brettasaurus gave a great brief description of all the great clubs in Kansas City. If your going to live in OP I would recommend Meadowbrook - Brett stated that they were joining with another club but that has since fallen through. If your looking for a place that is very reasonable right now and is close to OP I would recommend Meadowbrook. They have some good deals going on right now so if you want more information let me know and I can get it for you.

If you want a good deal check out Hillcrest CC, it is in KC Mo and in a part of town that is a little run down, but it is a Donald Ross Course and is inexpenisve right now.

Deer Creek is a semi private course and reasonable, but they are redoing the greens this fall.

Lions Gate is a great Nicklaus course but fees are pretty high.

Check out The Golf Club of Kansas, it is in Shawnee built in an old rock Quarry, they dont have tennis or a clubhouse for that matter, but it is a sweet course that opened right when the economy crashed, you can get in for a lot less than they origianally intended.

Meadow brook is a great club at a good price, course is so so.

Milburn is the best deal at a great club and good course if you are a jr. member.

I hear Brookridge is going public

Shadow Glen is awesome but not cheap

Hallbrook= better have some big cash

Check out Falcon Ridge, I think they offer some sort of membeships

Alvamar in Lawrence, a 40 min. drive but a nice course at a good price.

There are tons of good upscale public offerings, you might want to check some of them out before makinga decision.

I live in OP myself, and am in the restaurant business, PM me if you have any questions.

Thanks to everybody for their input. It looks like we will be applying for a membership at Shadow Glen. Does anybody know why they have had a significant number of members drop in the last few months? Just curious. The course looks awesome and the clubhouse will be undergoing a renovation. Plus it is conveniently located in Olathe close to my future home. Not to mention half the initiation fee and half the monthly dues... Is there any reason we should NOT join??

I don't know anything about Shadow Glen in particular, but I can tell you that outside of the more exclusive (i.e. expensive) clubs like Hallbrook and such, it seems like pretty much every private club around here has been losing members in the past few years at a pretty good clip.

Played Shadow in the state AM in 2005. Great track, and plays tough!

i know this is way beyond when the OP was asking for help, but i just went through this process this year and things are changing rapidly in this space so i think it's worth an update.

i was so sick of the 8min tee times, fivesomes, and 5hr rounds at OP & St Andrews that i decided it was time i went somewhere private. i live right around 95th and Antioch, work at the Sprint Campus, and proximity is a major factor for me.

i looked at Leawood South, Meadowbrook, Shadow Glen, Milburn, GCOK, and Brookridge. my inlaws are in Hutchinson, are members at Prairie Dunes, and i've spent a good bit of time there, so i do feel like i have a decent perspective on what a good club is. Leawood South seems to nickel and dime you on every little thing (even an add'l fee to recover their cartpath reconstruction), and has a limit of 35 for jr membership. Milburn still has an $8k initiation, i think Shadow Glen was $3500 or so for me (i'm 30 so a jr member anywhere), and $7k for full member. one person i talked to on the phone at LS was a little "too proud" of their club, which turned me off a little. i was ready to go to shadow glen, but the guy i was going to join with is 37, and his initiation at Shadow was twice as much and dues are ~$700/mo. too much for him so we crossed that off the list.

i visited Brookridge last year before they began construction, and was almost sold but decided to wait until they finished the remodel. i went back this year and the place really is nice now. construction is still ongoing, but the fitness and the main lounge are now complete. it's pretty nice - no doubt a different "feel" than the old school clubs with the gym intertwined, but a good atmosphere when i've been there. i went and played a round there in april to make a final decision. i'm not going to pretend the course is as good as GCOK, or Shadow Glen...but there are some really neat holes (5, 8, 9, 14, 18) and it does command control of your golf ball. greens roll fast and true (what a change that is from OP!). i signed up for social/fitness membership and got on the waiting list for golf. i've been there a few times to use the range, practice green, etc since then, and the staff and members have been very friendly. people i've never met waiving, saying hi, etc. Tommy Gross who i think runs the jr golf program over on the west 9, gave me a quick lesson one day and was very helpful.

no, it's not the biggest or nicest clubhouse or course in the area. but for the deal they're offering - no initiation, $300/mo jr membership under 40, no minimums, carts & range incluced, i think it's a GREAT deal. membership right now is limited at 400, so it may be busier than other clubs but i'd guess that's because they have to be just about the only club in the area that is full of members and actually has a waiting list. i've been there twice, once on a beautiful friday morning where two of us finished 9 in an hour and a half, and once on a wed afternoon when two of us finished 18 in 2.5hrs.

You might check out Lions Gate, Nicklaus course, I hear the initiation is pretty high but a nice course. Loch Lloyd is a great club as well on the MO side.

[quote name='dlygrisse' timestamp='1306784413' post='3272926']
You might check out Lions Gate, Nicklaus course, I hear the initiation is pretty high but a nice course. Loch Lloyd is a great club as well on the MO side.
[/quote]

i've been on lions gate about 6 times, it is a really nice course and the clubhouse is impressive. course is kinda sorta walkable, never tried it though. i think initiation is still $35k last i heard.

loch lloyd did open a new 9 holes designed by *Watson* and they are running some deals. never played it though.

Just interested in what you decided to do...

if anyone is searching in the future, finds this thread, and wants to come take a look at brookridge let me know and i'll be happy to show you around. still a waiting list for golf membership in 2013, so come check it out soon if you want to get in at the start of the season.

Do not waste your time at Brookridge. Now that it's been bought out, the memberships are so inexpensive that the place is packed and is a glorified public course. They don't have enough parking and are actually having to shuttle people from the church lot at 103rd & Antioch. The same company just purchased Leawood South (now called Country Club of Leawood) and I'm afraid the same thing is going to happen. The parking at Leawood is already a nightmare so with a larger membership and a reciprocal between the clubs, I don't know how they'll even be able to handle it.

Parking at Brookridge can be a problem (yes, I'm still a member there) on occasion.

The only times they have to shuttle people is when we have big swim meets. For people with kids, the swim team can be a big draw, I think we have something like 200 signed up this year. Leawood South, i think Milburn, Meadowbrook, and the other clubs in the area have a swim team league where events rotate through. I would expect anyone to have parking problems if an extra 500 people showed up for a meet.

With that said, they do have the guys from the bag room with a cart running people back and forth from the parking lot to the course. And really, is walking an extra 100yds going to hurt anyone? Is it that hard?

Parking at Brookridge can be a problem (yes, I'm still a member there) on occasion.

 

The only times they have to shuttle people is when we have big swim meets. For people with kids, the swim team can be a big draw, I think we have something like 200 signed up this year. Leawood South, i think Milburn, Meadowbrook, and the other clubs in the area have a swim team league where events rotate through. I would expect anyone to have parking problems if an extra 500 people showed up for a meet.

 

With that said, they do have the guys from the bag room with a cart running people back and forth from the parking lot to the course. And really, is walking an extra 100yds going to hurt anyone? Is it that hard?

i moved away from KC four years ago, if you search around in the other KC threads there are people who have joined Brookridge recently who have input.