Flint Hills National is situated fifteen miles east of Witchita in a hilly location covering around 240 acres. This private course was designed by Tom Fazio at a reputed cost of $18m and opened in 1997. Within four years Flint Hills had hosted the US Women’s Amateur Championship. The club also hosted the 2007 US Senior Men’s Amateur and the 2017 US Junior Amateur championships.
Golfers do not only have hilly terrain and uneven stances to contend with at Flint Hills National, they also have to navigate around 24 acres of water hazards at eight holes on the course. Tees and fairways are constructed of Zoysia grass. The average size of greens at Flint Hills National is 7,000 square feet with bentgrass putting surfaces. More than five and a half thousand trees of some thirty-two varieties were planted, some over fifty feet tall. Unsurprisingly, an arborist is on the golf club payroll.
Tom Devlin, the man behind Flint Hills National and the founder of the Rent-A-Center chain of stores, decided to build Flint Hills National within a 640-acre tract of land and then separated the golf course from the “gated community” residents by constructing an earth dyke so neither disturbs the other. Now that’s what we call attention to detail.
