Bellerive Country Club

Overview: Bellerive Country Club in Town and Country is a major-championship parkland course built on large, rolling ground west of St. Louis. Robert Trent Jones Sr. created the current 18-hole layout with broad fairways, substantial water hazards and large, contoured greens that can offer several demanding pin positions. Rees Jones later modernized the course while retaining the original championship character. The scale is grand, but the strategy is not merely about length: approach angles, green contours and the placement of hazards determine how aggressively each hole can be played.

History: Bellerive began in 1897 as a nine-hole club in north St. Louis and incorporated under its present name in 1910. Robert Foulis designed the club’s Normandy course, but the club moved west in 1955 and asked Robert Trent Jones Sr. to select a new farm site. The present course opened on Memorial Day in 1960. Rees Jones led a year-long renovation that reopened in October 2006, updating the layout for modern competition while preserving its Jones heritage. Bellerive has since hosted the U.S. Open, PGA Championship, U.S. Senior Open, Senior PGA Championship and U.S. Mid-Amateur.

Did You Know? Bellerive became the youngest course ever to host the U.S. Open when Gary Player won there in 1965, completing his career Grand Slam after a playoff with Kel Nagle. The club later became only the third venue to host all four men’s traveling major championships. In 2018, the course hosted the 100th PGA Championship, adding another landmark event to its already unusual tournament record.