Boone Valley Golf Club

First opened for play in 1992, the course became a fixture on the PGA Champions Tour four years later when it hosted the Boone Valley Classic. Hale Irwin and Larry Nelson certainly enjoyed playing here at that time as they each won two editions of the competition during its six-year stint on the senior circuit.

Hale Irwin – three-time US Open champion and native Missourian – then modified the course when he carried out substantial alterations to the 15th and 18th holes prior to the course being used for the 2007 US Junior Amateur Championship.

Just before that national event, the following was written in a USGA report about the course:

“Its beauty lies in its rustic appeal and natural turf setting that consists of rye, fescue, bent grass and native grasses. It resembles something you might play in the northern regions of the country, or in this case, a desolate locale.

However, the tranquil setting is worthy of a mirage. With the exception of generous fairways, the course is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Many of the bent grass greens look as flat as a pancake but there are dips and contours that don’t initially register until it’s too late.”