A Microcosm of Golf Development in America's Heartland

If you need another sign that the golf course industry is booming, take a look at the flurry of projects underway in the middle of America. Never considered a golf hotbed, Kansas and the greater Kansas City metro are currently the site of new construction, restoration work, a stalled high-end project, and grassroots efforts that offer a glimpse of the current state of golf course development. Let’s explore.

Swope Memorial Primed for a Big Return‍

Kansas City’s Swope Memorial Golf Course was designed by A.W. Tillinghast and opened to the public in 1935. It has served as a bright spot in an area lacking golf architecture chops despite years of neglect and lack of investment. As a new Kansas City resident in the early 2010s, I made Swope my golf home for many years. Sitting on a dramatic (for Kansas) piece of land, the routing moves you up and down scenic Swope Park with views of the KC skyline from multiple vantage points. Misguided efforts over the decades – especially a 1990 reconstruction that was uninspiring, to say the least – left Swope nowhere near its full potential as one of the only remaining publicly accessible Tillinghast originals. Shrunken greens, bizarre cart path routes, and an overall lack of resources left the bad parts far overshadowing the good.

Enter KC Parks and Recreation Director of Golf Services, Doug Schroeder. Armed with a rare department surplus from the COVID-19 golf boom, Schroeder secured a thumbs-up from the Board of Commissioners to begin the first major project at Swope in 35 years. CE Golf Design’s Todd Clark and Brent Hugo, along with Ron Whitten, co-designer of Erin Hills, were hired to take on the project based on their plan for a “sympathetic restoration.”

Back in November, I joined this group at Swope for a tour of the progress. Since the start of the project in January 2025, the course has removed more than 120 trees, built brand new greens,  constructed bunkers with the Better Billy Bunker method, and installed a new irrigation system and pond. The eyesore of cart paths cutting across fairways and in front of greens has been resolved, as well.

The biggest change at Swope is to Tillinghast’s original routing. This is where the sympathy for his design gets trumped for a variety of reasons. Two short par 4s, the second and third, were a chokepoint right out of the gate and slowed weekend rounds to a crawl before they even really got started. The third now takes you southwest instead of north, allowing some breathing room for the crowded course. The downstream effects of that change are felt for the remainder of the front nine, leaving little that resembles the 1935 version of Swope. The new routing improves the flow of the round and reduces safety issues. Combined with the tree removal, Swope’s greatest asset, its land movement, can flex its muscles as evidenced by the gathering point near the par-3 seventh green. From this viewpoint, golfers can spot Swope’s three additional par 3s, as well as the teeing areas for Nos. 3, 5, and 8.

Even if the pace of rounds is improved with the routing changes, an important piece of the Tillinghast original has been lost. To counteract that loss and keep in line with the “sympathetic restoration,” Clark, Hugo, and Whitten added a new architectural element that Tillinghast used throughout his career. On the aforementioned second, “dolomites” now pepper the right side of the fairway. This mounding, most notably implemented at New Jersey’s Somerset Hills, wasn’t part of the original 1935 design at Swope but adds a unique element to the hole, creating a blind approach for shorter hitters who push their tee shot too far right.

Concerns about the routing changes and the oxymoronic “sympathetic restoration” are valid, but it’s clear to me that this is the best Swope has been in decades. Even though its good bones have been twisted and rearranged, the land and setting have never shone brighter. All in all, the project cost will clock in around $8 million. That’s an accomplishment to be proud of and a testament to Schroeder’s keen navigation of the local government’s many hoops to jump through. If this coming spring is a gentle one, the plan is to open in the summer. Greens fees have recently been approved, and a weekend round will run you a reasonable $84. For the first time in a long time, Kansas City will have a publicly accessible and affordable golf course to be proud of.

The Curious Case of Hillcrest Country Club

Just down the road from Swope sits Hillcrest Country Club. A 1915 Donald Ross design, the course last operated as a public option in 2023. Local businessman Robb Heineman bought the course in 2024 and brought on architect Tripp Davis to transform the property into a high-end private club. I spoke with Heineman in October about the history and current status of the project. He originally intended to recruit members locally until the crypto-backed digital golf club, LinksDAO, offered another option. The group — which boasts thousands of members — believed it could sell a significant number of Hillcrest national memberships and bring the club an influx of money.

That’s not exactly how things have panned out. Admitting that there was some naivety in how quickly members would come on board, Heineman revealed that they had approximately 40 national and 50 local members at the time of our talk. That’s far short of the goal for 350 total members. He also cleared up some confusion about Hillcrest’s ownership. According to Heineman, LinksDAO does not have any ownership stake, but is highly incentivized to bring in members and has brought in a few investors to this point.

Construction at Hillcrest stalled this past summer and into the fall. Public records show a mechanic’s lien and another lien for water service filed in August. Heineman stated that the water issue would be resolved shortly and the mechanic’s lien was with regard to the contractor the club hired to build the new clubhouse. Despite those setbacks, earthmoving was planned to pick back up in the fall. I have driven past Hillcrest a few times since we spoke, and there has been no sign of work resuming. New irrigation installation was supposed to start this winter and has now been pushed back to early March.

The original planned open date of spring 2026 will not be met, and an adjusted timeline for preview play beginning in fall 2026 is very much at risk. LinksDAO did not respond to requests for comment.

Another KC Tillinghast Project Nears Completion

Head west from Swope and Hillcrest, cross over Stateline Road, and you’ll find an extensive Andrew Green renovation at Kansas City Country Club finishing up. Similar to Swope, KCCC’s last major project was over 30 years ago. Green has removed trees, installed new irrigation, and flipped the 10th and 18th holes to match Tillinghast’s original design. Members have been informed the course plans to open on June 1 (if the rest of winter and spring cooperate).

Prairie Dunes Gets a New Neighbor

In addition to the work at Swope, Todd Clark has also gotten the call to oversee a new development in Hutchinson, Kansas. Over 600 acres of land sitting just six miles east of Perry and Press Maxwell’s Prairie Dunes Country Club will be transformed into Salt Lick Golf and Hunting Club, a 45-hole facility featuring two 18-hole courses, a nine-hole par 3 course, and on-site lodging with over 200 rooms.

The site was once home to Cottonwood Hills Golf Club, a Nick Faldo design that closed years ago. I spoke with Clark last week about the exciting new publicly accessible project, which has plans to be fully completed in 2029 in time for the U.S. Senior Open at Prairie Dunes. The CE Golf Design team will begin building holes on the Dunes Course in February with a goal of opening in summer 2028. Clark was able to start shaping holes quickly due to a massive fire in 2022 that burned almost every tree on the property. The dunes that make Prairie Dunes a bucket list course for golfers are present at Salt Lick, as well, which gave Clark the added benefit of not having to move much dirt while constructing the course. The par 3 course, named C.C.’s Loop after Hutchinson’s founder C.C. Hutchinson, will follow, and the Prairie course will complete the job.

A unique wrinkle at Salt Lick will be the transition into a hunting lodge during the winter months. The group is working to secure access to approximately 3,000 acres of land nearby to accommodate avid hunters who already travel to the area for its excellent variety of hunting options. Guests visiting while the golf courses are closed will also allow staff to stay employed during the offseason.

Garden City’s Gem

On the opposite side of the state, the transformation at Buffalo Dunes is nearing completion. Superintendent Clay Payne, along with assistance from Zach Varty and Todd Clark, has taken a slow and steady approach to revitalizing the course for a total cost of $100,000. It’s an incredible feat to end up with a final product of this caliber with such limited resources, and a breath of fresh air in a landscape full of multi-million dollar private ventures. Aspiring superintendents would do well to take a page out of the Buffalo Dunes playbook.