Hallbrook

Located in the southern suburbs of Kansas City and with many of the fairways routed around housing, the course at Hallbrook Country Club is a very tough test of golf where tight fairways and heavily contoured greens contribute to the level of difficulty.

Opened in 1988, the course lies within a large estate that was once the family farm of the late Joyce Hall, founder of Hallmark Cards. The Hall family chose Tom Fazio to design the layout, taking full advantage of spectacular elevation changes and a meandering creek that wanders through the property.

There’s a fair smattering of strategy to be found here, principally at holes such as the 511-yard 4th (with the creek fronting the green), the 448-yard 7th (with the creek running along the left of the hole), and the 495-yard 18th, where – you’ve guessed it – the creek encroaches along both sides of the fairway and the left flank of the home green.