Delightful shots amid thick woods

Editor’s note: This is the second part of a two-part “Short Course Stories” series about the process of adding a par-3 course at Oakwood Country Club in Kansas City, Missouri. The first part appeared in the July issue.

Up, down and through the dense woods, atop boulders and ridges, less than 15 miles from downtown Kansas City, a golf course architect and studious writer found nine par 3s inspired by fun, testy shots played elsewhere.

The process of routing, building and now maintaining the par-3 course at Oakwood Country Club represents a melding of a celebrated design era with the playing practicality of the modern short-course movement. Architect Todd Clark and golf architecture writer emeritus/design dabbler Ron Whitten were both around the industry when golf financiers frequently commissioned architects and contractors to construct courses on wooded sites.

So, when developer Ken Block, the mastermind behind Oakwood Country Club’s transformation, asked Clark and Whitten to create a unique, compact golf journey inside a dense 28.8-acre parcel, neither flinched. Clark was trained by Chicago-based architect Dick Nugent, an overlooked modern designer known for bringing golf to varied Midwest sites.

Oftentimes architects aren’t gifted dozens of potential holes on dreamy land; they must trudge through deep woods and identify tactics to create enjoyable playing experiences. Clark and Whitten muddied their boots throughout parts of three years — and battled insects and stifling Transition Zone weather — to produce a course that debuted over this past Memorial Day weekend. Oakwood Country Club is one of a handful of Midwest private clubs boasting a par-3 course. And it’s likely the only Midwest club with nine consecutive par-3 holes tucked among thick stands of trees.

“It’s an amazing journey over that piece of property,” Block says. “Looking at the holes now, you can’t possibly understand how they were sitting in that piece of property. But here they were, waiting to be uncovered.”

Shortly after the club purchased the land for the course, Clark walked the site for the first time “just to see if we could get nine holes in there.” He then developed a routing concept using a draw and ridge on the property as a prominent design feature. “Once we got that initial routing, it didn’t really change,” Clark says. “And then the fun started with Ron.”

Whitten, the longtime Golf Digest architecture writer, scoured his extensive files and worked in collaboration with Clark and the well-traveled Block to identify holes inspired by heralded courses and architects that would fit onto the site.

The holes are more tribute than template. The second hole, for example, honors the tantalizing and terrifying 12th hole at Augusta National. Pine Valley, Royal Wimbledon Golf Club, Whistling Straits and The Olympic Club are among the other courses with par 3s that guided Oakwood’s finished product.

“Ron and I tried to take a lot of the elements that we have seen and put them into this one golf course and make something that has some continuity,” Clark says. “But each hole also has its own individual character. It fits with the overall theme of Oakwood. That was the bottom line — we wanted it to feel like it was part of Oakwood and that it wasn’t something separate.”

The seventh provides the most dramatic shot on the course. The 152-yard hole dips more than 60 feet and plays over a pond doubling as a storm retention necessity. The hole honors one of the West Coast’s most famous par 3s: the seventh at Robert Trent Jones Sr.-designed Spyglass Hill Golf Course.

“It’s a demanding shot all over water,” Clark says. “When you’re clearing it, you go, ‘This looks like it’s going to be a 220-yard par 3 just because of the terrain. That’s when you started to see the course come together.”

The course has two sets of tees, with the back markers playing 1,100 yards. The longest hole from the tips is 157 yards; the shortest is 92. But most golfers will experience as many stressful swings as soothing swipes. “No doubt it will be a challenging par-3 course,” Clark says.

Through all the staking, surveying, discovering and adapting, Clark and Whitten needed to leave something behind that wouldn’t overly perplex Oakwood Country Club director of agronomy Brent Racer’s team. Oakwood’s rapid expansion since Block organized a group of members to purchase the course in 2020 has involved renovating the championship course, constructing a massive practice facility and giving the grounds a private golf resort vibe. The more amenities the club adds, the more responsibility Racer’s team shoulders.

Technology will mitigate agronomic and labor demands encountered on the par-3 course.

Instead of trying to maintain vibrant bentgrass or zoysiagrass beneath tree chutes while fretting over divot recovery, the club opted to install synthetic tees. Each hole has a pair of synthetic tees built atop 4 inches of concrete with 1 percent slope for drainage purposes. Fescue rough borders the surfaces. In addition to easing the maintenance burden, synthetic tees should make the course more playable for developing golfers, because “when you hit a fat shot, you’ll slide through” the ball, Clark says.

As he learns the proper staffing levels required to present an elite par-3 course, Racer has resorted to using three robotic mowers to mow five acres of fescue rough and zoysiagrass approaches. Clark designed a continuous cart path around the site to ensure vehicles can navigate the steep terrain. Greens are covered with 007 Creeping Bentgrass and mechanical fans help protect the surfaces from minimal natural air movement.

Grassing didn’t commence until late fall 2023, so the remainder of 2024 will help Racer fully understand how to balance the needs and staffing of the par-3 course with the rest of his operation. Earlier this year, he hired Andrew Putnam to oversee the course’s daily maintenance.

“I know there are places where sometimes their par-3 courses are secondary thoughts throughout the whole process,” Racer says. “This is going to be a focal point for people to play. A guest is going to want to play this and see it. We want to have the best product we can for them.”

Racer’s role offered him a ridgeline spot to observe holes in various pre-, during- and post-construction phases. From a tribute to Augusta National’s 12th hole in the Kansas City woods to the serene view from the seventh tee, unveiling the par-3 course might be Oakwood’s boldest move yet.

“It’s not a normal par-3 course,” Racer says. “They’ll be some shot-making required to enjoy the course. That’s what’s going to make it special. It’s not just a bunch of greens in the middle of a field. It’s a golf course, and it’s going to feel like a golf course.”

Guy Cipriano is Golf Course Industry's publisher + editor-in-chief.