Golf Course Review: River Oaks

At first glance, the River Oaks golf course doesn’t look like much. In fact, while looking for a job a couple years ago, I had been going round to many courses in the area, trying to score jobs in pro shops and thus win free golf. I waltzed into the pro shop, a shabby, cigarette-fumed basement, and my first thought was, What a dump. I had been rejected by every other course I went to without a hint of opportunity. Half of me urged retreat, but I’d driven this far, and thought I might as well leave a resume. Imagine my surprise when the proprietor turned out to be a pleasant fellow who chatted amiably and seemed genuinely disappointed that he couldn’t hire me. It would turn out to be the nearest I came to landing a job at a golf course that summer, and taught me a valuable lesson in humility and not judging things too harshly.
In a queer twist of fate, my uncle bought a membership in that course, since it’s just down the road from his school, and thus he golfs there several times a week, even if it’s only a couple of holes. Me being the only unencumbered golf nut in the area made it inevitable that I would end up golfing there with him a handful of times per month, to the point that both my uncle and the new pro shop manager, an old friend of his, constantly hound me to buy a membership and thus save money. It has become my “home course” of sorts, and I have an intimate knowledge of its twists and turns.
Set in the heart of a lower income suburb, it remains an unusual city course. Most courses in cities are relatively straight forward, featuring holes running parallel to each other, moderate hills and subtle dingles providing opportunities for working on the short game and approaches, with only orderly rows of trees offering hazards for drives and long shots. River Oaks, however, reminds me of the country courses I cut my teeth on in northeast Missouri. The rough isn’t just higher grass; sometimes there’s no grass, and sometimes the weeds are thigh-high. Elevation changes are many, and the course features at least five blind approaches to the green. The fairways, redone two years ago, are slowly filling in with fresh zoysia, yet still fail to guarantee a clean shot every time. The greens, though vastly improved from their sorry state during the worst times, are patchy and inconsistent in any time other than the height of the season, July through mid-August. The trees are gnarled and thick; thickets abound and deer are not uncommon. The sparse bunkers are improving, but still are a mix between sand and dirt, making any sand shot an iffy proposition.
Layout-wise, it’s a long and complicated course that doesn’t make sense right away. Nestled uneasily amid houses, the back nine especially exacerbates matters with houses lining each side of the hole, sometimes a mere twenty yards from the fairway. I’ve scrambled more than a few times to avoid hitting houses with errant shots, not always successfully. Between holes 11 and 12 is a good quarter-mile stretch, up a hill and across two neighborhood roads, a long arduous walk if you’re toting your clubs on a muggy summer’s day.
The course changed owners a few years ago, and the improvements are many. The club house, so smoky and noxious five years ago, is clean and cozy, with a snack bar and a few items in the pro shop. Perhaps one of the greatest advantages to River Oaks is the upstairs of the building, a small workout center with treadmills, nautilus equipment, stairmasters, and the like. Membership in the course includes acess to the fitness center, so one gets value for their money year-round. On the course, there are drinking stations regularly available for the sweltering humidity that suctions moisture out of you during the summer. The fairways and greens are steadily improving in quality, and I have no doubt that in a few years it will be a fine course. A new feature this last year was GPS devices on the carts, adding more precision to yardage calculations. Greens fees are cheap, around $15-$25 to walk, with an additional $15 for a cart (non-member prices). And at $30 per month, membership is very reasonable.
Still, one might say, the litany of deficiencies mentioned earlier might be enough to persuade the discerning golfer to avoid River Oaks. And there are a few areas for improvement. The back nine is more spotty as far as drinking jugs go with only one. The yardage markers are sometimes difficult to see; the cart paths are painted, but without stakes or trees to mark 150, walkers on the other side of the fairways are at a disadvantage. As a fairly low-budget course in a low-income area of town, at times there can be a lack of proper etiquette. I recall one time when two teenage girls walked across one hole, even crossing the green while we were putting! My uncle is a jovial and pious man, but even he berated them strongly for a lack of manners. Sometimes golfers will jump in ahead of others midway through the nine, starting on the twelfth hole. All the pitfalls and disadvantages of public courses butt up against urban areas are potentials.
Overall, however, from a pure golfer’s perspective, the course is very serviceable. Rapid changes in elevation challenge the golfer’s distance and accuracy, as do holes lined with splayed trees on either side, with a chaser of a fifty-foot drop just past the trees on one side. The holes bend left and right, offering no great advantage to the left-handed or right-handed player over the other. Even a seemingly easy hole, like #5, which is a short par four at around 280 yards, can prove problematic as the straight-ahead fairway is lined with overhanging trees protecting a river to the right. Or #13, a short par-three over a creek, with a domed green, sand and OB to the right, and a couple of tall trees to the left. There are a few breathers thrown in, and a confident and able player can score low with good control and discipline, but compared to some other courses in the Kansas City area, River Oaks is deceptively difficult, and a shabby exterior protects a hidden gem.