Swope Memorial Golf Course

Site is quite hilly and Tilly used it quite well creating wonderful golf holes as best he could on such a hilly site. The greens are elevated and undulating and many of the tee shots are quite up hill or downhill.

I had wanted to play the course for many years and was glad I was finally able.

Things I liked:

- Great old golf course!

- Conditions were fantastic.

- Wonderful variety of challenging holes. This course uses the hilly property to keep you off balance and demands you make solid contact. There are no “gimme” holes out there… Swope requires 18 holes of focus.

- The staff was very personable and helpful.

Things I did not like:

- No GPS in the carts, and the fairways yardages were inconsistently marked.

Things important to me:

- Their website listed their greens fees.

- Given a storm in the forecast, I rode in a cart for this round. For all future rounds at Swope, I would walk.

- Don't recall any water coolers out on the course.

- Their branded ball marker is really cool.

When I set up my buddies trip to KC, I made sure to book my Sunday flight for late enough in the day that’d I’d be able to fit in Swope. I just love big city parks with historic courses in them. In that regard, there are natural similarities at Swope to Brackenridge Park in San Antonio. Both are Tilly designs that hosted pro golf events in its hayday. What sets Swope apart is its very dramatic and hilly terrain. The architect AW Tillinghast had a severe piece of land and the result is a 6200-yard layout that plays much longer than that thanks to some unapologetically uphill holes and elevated greens. Some fairways are canted as well, putting a premium on accuracy. The poa annua greens rolled nicely. A local senior I played with bemoaned the tall thick grass around many of the bunkers calling it unfair and a pace-killer (it has been a wet spring and the rough is also thick.) Swope has a lovely park setting and exceptional hole variety. It’s a top-notch muni in this country. It’s also a demanding walk, so be ready.

Ladies—This is a 4500+ experience. The course was clean even with trees everywhere shedding leaves. Bunkers were clean but because of time of year hard and untended. Undulating fairways (old school) makes this a fun diffèrent play. Par 3s are doable but don’t underestimate your club selection. Fairways are still in great shape. Elevated tees, blind shots, and side slopes make this a first play an ‘oh, man’ experience (my suggestion is online search of course layout). Tillinghast design makes this unique compared to modern course layout.

Walkable but using cart keeps play moving.

This isn't your everyday muni. And don't let the yardage (6,224) from the back tees fool you. This is a really good test. Originally designed by A.W. Tillinghast, the holes go up and down, with elevated tees, elevated greens and some terrific views (you can even see downtown Kansas City at one point). It's also in really good shape. And while there are some very short par 4s, you have to be pretty accurate if you're going to try to hit driver on them. The course also has an excellent finishing stretch. The par-5 17th at 566 yards is no joke, and the 404-yard par-18th plus longer than its yardage.

This is a really great course that needs to be played when you're in the area. Its really a classic Tillinghast course. What it lacks in length is more than made it for with its challenges. Fairways are narrow and tree lined. Fairways are rolling and often creates uneven lies. Greens are undulating and often multi-tiered. Loved that like most Tillinghast courses, the greens are elevated from the fairways and are always a little offline from the fairways. Do not look at the 6300 yard back tees and think it'll be easy. With the elevated greens, it probably plays closer to 6500-6600.

You need to be accurate off the tee to set up your second shots which usually aren't long if you managed to stay in the fairway.

The fairways and greens were in great shape. Didn't love a few of the tee boxes that I thought weren't totally flat.

Staff was friendly.

All in all, a great golf experience.

As a new KC resident, I took advantage of what seemed like the first nice day of the year to try out Swope Memorial. Considering that we were coming off of a few weeks of consistently sub-freezing weather, this course was in better shape than expected. The one real negative that can be said about the course conditions was that many of the bunkers seemed to have been seriously neglected and many were in unplayable condition.

It is easy to tell that this is an older style course as many of its holes meander through hills and present the golfer with anything but flat lies. This is not a long course, playing just under 6300 yards from the tips, but with its tricky lies and elevation changes it is still a good test.

The beauty of the golf course itself will not blow you away, but the scenic downtown KC skyline views that are presented for a few holes make up for this fact.

Overall, this course is a good value, and its ease of access for anyone in Metro KC makes it a worthwhile round.