Orchards Golf Course
Rating Snapshot
About
The Orchards Golf Club in Belleville offers an 18-hole championship course designed by Belleville native and former Masters winner Bob Goalby. With four sets of tees, the course appeals to a wide range of skill levels. The layout starts out with a gentler front nine where you won’t find any doglegs on the first six holes but as you move towards the back nine, the course gets more challenging. The golf course has an interesting and diverse mix of holes, with the seventh through the 14th being a particularly notable stretch. You’ll have to contend with abundant out-of-bounds and both water and sand come into play often. In addition to the golf course, the Orchards G.C. boasts a multi-level driving range as well as a large practice putting green with a sand bunker.
| Tee | Par | Length | Rating | Slope |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Championship | 71 | 6787 yards | 72.2 | 126 |
| Blue | 71 | 6407 yards | 70.3 | 124 |
| White | 71 | 5821 yards | 67.3 | 114 |
| Gold | 71 | 5420 yards | 65.5 | 110 |
| Red (W) | 71 | 5001 yards | 70.1 | 120 |
| Orange | 71 | 3572 yards |
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Championship M: 71.8/128 | 458 | 208 | 369 | 553 | 440 | 186 | 503 | 224 | 451 | 3392 | 410 | 530 | 414 | 434 | 178 | 349 | 326 | 142 | 612 | 3395 | 6787 |
| Blue M: 70.1/124 | 428 | 173 | 357 | 532 | 404 | 170 | 493 | 210 | 440 | 3207 | 400 | 516 | 375 | 398 | 156 | 330 | 314 | 116 | 595 | 3200 | 6407 |
| White M: 68.0/118 W: 74.5/132 | 386 | 136 | 300 | 495 | 384 | 151 | 454 | 170 | 400 | 2876 | 375 | 470 | 340 | 359 | 132 | 304 | 290 | 110 | 565 | 2945 | 5821 |
| Gold M: 67.1/116 | 373 | 106 | 265 | 457 | 359 | 114 | 409 | 144 | 383 | 2610 | 342 | 465 | 338 | 344 | 114 | 290 | 272 | 93 | 552 | 2810 | 5420 |
| Red W: 67.7/115 | 337 | 97 | 252 | 411 | 296 | 119 | 403 | 144 | 370 | 2429 | 346 | 410 | 335 | 316 | 88 | 284 | 257 | 90 | 446 | 2572 | 5001 |
| Orange W: 50.0/90 | 247 | 94 | 212 | 339 | 267 | 67 | 342 | 92 | 220 | 1880 | 244 | 309 | 238 | 177 | 67 | 146 | 130 | 66 | 315 | 1692 | 3572 |
| Handicap | 3 | 11 | 7 | 9 | 15 | 17 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 4 | 12 | 16 | 10 | 18 | 2 | |||
| Par | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 35 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 36 | 71 |
Course Details
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Clubhouse, Banquet FacilitiesReviews
Reviewer Photos
Challenging Layout
5 sets of tees provides any challenge you may want. Finishing hole is a killer par 5. Great shape and the Hot Deal on GolfNow made it a steal to play. Hadn't played the course in quite a while but will definitely be back again.
Nice course….except singles playing are a bit annoying
We’ve played this course a few times as a twosome. . Each time we’ve had singles coming up behind us and trying to hurry us. The course in in nice condition and it’s a bit challenging.
Really Slow Greens, Fairways Have Bare Spots From Drainage Issues
I have not played the Orchards in nearly 18 years. I played it a lot in the 1990’s and have always loved the design of the course. I stopped playing it because numerous better golf courses were popping up in the St. Louis area. I’ve always wanted to go back and play it, however, I had friends who played it on a regular basis and they always told me it was not in good shape. Finally, this year I heard from numerous people it is getting in better shape and it is worth playing it now. So, I decided to give it a try after 18 years. I knew it has been a long time because there are 4 memorial benches on the front nine.
The GOOD…
The price of $54
Carts have rain covers on the back for your golf bags (no public golf course in the area has these)
Visually, several holes looked much better than I last played them because they removed some trees. Holes 8, 16 & 17.
Other holes which looked great off the tee were 9 & 12.
The BAD…
The greens were in great shape; however, they were so SLOW.
They have a drainage issue in the fairways. Numerous bare spots in low spots in most fairways.
No improvements to the cart paths - in rough shape.
Back tee on hole 2 was awful. Tee box on hole 13 – full of crabgrass and bare spots.
Pace of play was slow.
All flagsticks were yellow. No red (front), white (middle) and blue (back).
TOUGH HOLES…
Hole 7 is one of the tightest holes you will ever play. With 18 years of additional tree growth the hole is claustrophobic. I would consider hole 18 unfair. The hole is tight with OB on both sides. It is a par 5, 565 yards from the white tees, with a late 90-degree dogleg right. I hit a driver and 3-wood. I still had 180 yards left and required a fade to still get it to the green. They really need to shorten hole 18.
I think this course should have a 3-star rating, however, the extremely slow greens really hurts them. Therefore, I give this course a 2-star rating and I would not recommend this course because of this.
Great variety of memorable holes
Really nice layout. Not just playing the same hole over and over like some courses. Some elevation changes, doglegs right and left, etc. Greens are in great shape right now, bunkers not so much. Good prices at the bar. Worth the drive from StL, for sure.
Orchards
I hadn’t played the Orchards in 3 years and I have to say the course was in very good shape. The greens were in very good shape but could have been a little faster for my liking but I do understand it’s been in the 90’s everyday for a week with no rain . Course has a good layout of of different shaped holes. There are 5 tee boxes so you can make it play for anyone. It’s a 45 minute drive for me which is why it took me so long in between rounds, but we enjoyed it so much our group is going to play it much more regularly. A big plus also was that our foursome played in 3 1/2 hours. Highly recommend !
Thanks for the great review! We are happy you enjoyed your round. Thanks for coming to see us, and we hope to see you again soon.
Course was in great shape. Staff member placed us a few holes behind a tourney that was ending and our 2-some had no holdups.
Thank you so much for the positive feedback! We appreciate you coming out and playing at our course. We are working on our bunkers and making them better. Most have been updated this season, and you may have just been in one that is currently being worked on. Again, we thank you for coming out, and we truly hope we get to see you again real soon.