Gateway National Golf Links

Overall this is a great course to play. Recent floods have the course in repair and while not bad there are defiantly some areas that are being worked on. Pace of play is hit or miss this time I played, we must have had a group clogging up the course. Took 4.5 hours for our group to finish. Waiting on one or two groups on every tee was agonizing.

The week was filled with unprecedented amount of rain in the St. Louis area. From Monday night to Thursday afternoon – 14 to 18 inches of rain. The grounds crew was working hard to pump the water off the course to make it playable by Sunday. I would guess, most of the course was under water at some time. Considering all the rain, the course conditions were still very good.

Here were the changes that were made on Sunday:

Hole 5, par 4 – changed to a par 3

Hole 8, par 4 – changed to a par 3

Hole 11, par 4 – tees moved up

Hole 12, par 3 – green was only half mowed because half the green was still wet from being flooded.

Hole 13, par 5 – changed to a par 3

Hole 15, par 4 – tees moved up

Hole 18, par 5 – green very damp from being flooded.

Due to these changes and course conditions, Gateway National gave every golfer a $10 off coupon on their next round at Gateway in 2022.

All my playing partners and other people I talked to this week, felt this was not enough. We played with all these alterations at the full rate of $83. How can you charge the same amount of a normal day with all these alterations? A head scratcher. The $10 off for a future round was a nice gesture but most people will lose the coupon or forget about it the next time they play Gateway. They really needed to reduce the green fees on that day by $20. I don’t want to come down too hard on Gateway because they were dealing with record rainfall and doing a fine job just to make the course playable. Kudos to the greens keeping staff there. But, maybe if something like this happens in the future – they should think about reducing the greens fees on the day people play the round.

The greens and fairways were in their usual outstanding shape, in the areas not flooded. However, I cannot give them a 5 star review because the compensation offered by the course was not enough.

I had heard nothing but great things about Gateway from multiple people so i was excited to play there and brought a few friends with me.

The course layout was fun, but challenging at times.

We had some pretty bad flooding leading up to our round, so i completely understand the course being in rough shape. My issue is that we received no communication that multiple par 4's and par 5's had been converted into par 3's and one hole was actually going to be shut down all together and we still paid full price for the round without essentially being able to play a full round.

In addition to that, something that the flooding had nothing to do with, the bathrooms are disgusting and certainly not what i would expect from a course that costs almost $100 to play at. Both on course and in the clubhouse were in terrible shape.

More than likely won't be returning as the facilities are not worth the price in my opinion.

I always look forward to playing rounds at Gateway National. The greens and fairways are ALWAYS some of the best around the STL area.

Course is well maintained and greens are not slow (unlike most STL metro courses of equal quality). Keep those greens rolling true!

First few holes was in a steady drizzle, but cleared up and it was a great round.

Top public course in the metro area. Greens are immaculate and layout fair and challenging.

Gateway National offers views of downtown St. Louis and the Arch. It is the only all bent grass public course in the St. Louis area. It is a links style course with berms between the holes where you feel like you’re the only one on the course.

Gateway National is always in good shape, but this time, it may have been in the best shape I have ever seen it. There really was nothing to complain about with the conditions. The greens had a little firmness to them and rolled at a great pace. Now, they have even added GPS screens in the carts. The yardages are all to the center of the green, not the specific pin locations of the day. The rough was manageable and pace of play was outstanding. They had plenty of water coolers on the course, water machine and ice chest in the restaurant and the beverage cart was out before 9:00am. The snack bar on hole 10 was already open by 9:00am.

The only small issues I saw were the 3rd green had some splotchy areas on the slope in the middle of the green. The 4th white tee is small and gets beat up some. There are a lot of ball marks on the greens but this is not the course’s fault. It is the players not fixing their ball marks. Overall, you will not find a better conditioned golf course in the St. Louis metro area.

I did notice they let the high fescue grow to the left of the fairway bunker on hole 8. Eliminating you trying to cut the corner over the left side of that bunker.

Of my top 4 Illinois courses, Gateway National is the most expensive. We paid nearly $79. You can play Spencer T. Olin in the low $50’s as a senior and Far Oaks & Annbriar for around $70 on the weekends. However, I would pay a little extra to play this course that is in impeccable shape.

Was in town & wanted to get out quick. Really solid course, well maintained. Well kept tee boxes & greens, good fairways - really nice course. I’d play again if back In STL area.

From new range balls to great course conditions the Gateway team nailed it. From the front desk to the greens keeper everyone was on point! Snow Wolf should have their entire staff come take notes!

Highly recommend.

Course is worth giving a go. Conditions of greens/fairways always very good. Bunkers are not any better than a standard muny though. Either hard and dry or just like hitting out Mississippi mud. Several filled with water. Some in good shape. Just random with the bunkers always. The smell of the landfill across the street can be very potent, and on about 6 or 7 of the holes you have to try your best to time your swings around the train horns from the rail yard that basically runs along the front 9. And they love honking those horns. Then on the other side, you can hear the raceway next door - there is some serious horse power rumbling through the golf course at times or the noise from crowds/announcers. For a course not near any neighborhoods, it sure sounds like there’s a lot going on around it constantly.

Tip: If the wind forecast is 10 mph, it will be 25mph and at least two clubs there. The courses only defense mainly is the wind - but it’s abundant nearly every time I play here. Wind at gateway is 2.5x the forecasted wind speed.

The course can get monotonous after a while, as is the case with many attempts at a links course. Out of 18, I would say there are 2 or 3 holes per 9 that I would call “interesting” the rest is just long links style holes - wide with little trees, pretty straight, and big greens. Trouble is usually very obvious and easy to miss assuming you even get it remotely on your line. The greens are quick and will keep you on your toes if you are on the wrong “shelf” so short game needs to be a little better than average to score well relative to your handicap.

Practice green and range are good - real grass but little as far targets and range finding goes. Just set up and hit kinda range. At club house, No one there to help unload bags, load carts, and clean clubs etc., if you care about that. Not a big deal, but at the price point for the area that is usually coming with the price.

Pace is usually average to a little below average. Weekday round can be done in about 4 hours, however weekends will be minimum of 4.5 if not pushing 5.

Overall, at the price point I give it a B. B+ if they ever get their bunkers figured out. You will have a good time and enjoy a good golf course. Not as interesting as Tapawingo, or as nice as Ann Briar, but definitely ranks among the top 5 (public) courses in the Metro area. If prices comparatively to others in the area instead of being the priciest, then it could climb the ranks a bit. I play this course about once a month for past couple of years, so this review reflects my overall impressions across that time, not just a single round.

I strongly recommend this course. The Gateway golf is the best golf course among public golf courses. I guarantee your satisfaction.