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Tapawingo National Golf Club
- Good for Kids:
- No
4 reviews for Tapawingo National Golf Club
4 reviews in English
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Review from Amanda Z.
Saint Louis, MO
9/9/2008
Not a cheap golf course. In fact, this might be the most expensive non-country club course in the city (I haven't really shopped around to verify this, but I know it's the most expensive course I have played). Regardless, it might just be worth the extra dough if you really into golfing, and you are looking for a nice course to play 9 holes on.
The course is gorgeous, fabulously maintained, and just challenging enough for a novice like me and a more experienced golfer like my dad to enjoy a day together. As I said, the course is gorgeous and massive. There are lakes and other hazards sporadically throughout the course, but not so many that someone like me ends up frazzled and in the water the entire time.
Also, this place doesn't have that same snooty golf course air that so many courses do. Everyone that works here and everyone I have met while playing here has been very friendly. I very much enjoy playing here, and honestly, I am not really an avid golfer. If you are looking to get in a nice 9 holes on a beautiful day and you don't mind dropping a little extra cash, I highly suggest checking this place out. -
Review from Constantine R.
Valley Park, MO
7/17/2011
Tapawingo National, and its 3 nines designed by Gary Player, receives a mixed review from me.
Layout: Of the 3 nines, I find the Prairie to be the best layout, the Meramec second, and the Woodlands third. All are fairly interesting and varied, with a nice variety of holes. Like many suburban courses, a big weakness of Tapawingo is that it has some houses on a few holes, but you don't exactly feel like you are winding through a subdivision. Some highlights are Prairie 1 (slightly goofy par 4, with fun downhill second that can be blind), Woodlands 3 (par 3 over water, with rockwall in back), Woodlands 6 (giant drop downhill par 3), Meramec 9 (great par 5 with water up right and green surrounded on three sides by water). One significant weakness is that all 3 9's start with relatively short and somewhat awkward tee shots, they are not great starting holes. This is probably part of the price you pay for routing through housing.
Conditioning: For a public track, its above average. The greens get marked up, but that's expected with so much non-member play. Fairways are always in reasonably good shape and tee boxes are well maintained. Bunker quality is above average.
Difficulty: With many sets of tees, Tapawingo can play from relatively tame to very demanding. There are no holes I would rate as unfair, but several are a bit quirky, including Woodlands 1 with the short tee shot and potentially blind second shot. Tapawingo is probably too demanding for beginners, but intermediate and advanced skill golfers will find it to be a nice challenge. If you are a beginner and head to this course, I would recommend playing Meramec-Prairie.
Value: Its overpriced, particularly on weekdays and Fridays, where it is really overpriced. While a negative from a cost standpoint, the relatively high rate keeps play down, and you can often get around Tapawingo pretty quickly, particularly in the evenings.
Service: I am the type of person who cares little about the service at a Public Golf Course or Country Club. I'm there to golf and as long as the people running the show don't really make a negative impression on me, they won't be there while I am playing so they won't affect my experience. Unfortunately for Tapawingo, they cannot meet these simple expectations. In fact, the service just flat out sucks, particularly for a public course. For one, starting with several (not all) of the older fellows who take the bags from your car, there is a general air of snootiness from the staff. There is one starter/bag guy who is particularly unpleasant. He once told me that when teeing off at 4:15 on a Saturday when it would be light out til 9 that we had to be off the course by 8 pm. He is always super condescending which is unacceptable and frankly laughable given that Tapawingo is a public course that is already charging a lofty rate given the other golf in the area. He is certainly a strange choice to be the first face that you see at a course that needs more business. The second complaint is the inconsistent activity of the beverage cart and the lack of filled water jugs on the course. During a recent tournament at Tapawingo with temps nearing 100 and heat indices in the low 110s, all jugs after the FIFTH hole were empty, and we were the first group teeing off in the tournament at noon. In fact, since I had not had a drink since the turn, I briefly passed out on the 15th green, was perked up when we ran to the range and got water, and then staggered to the finishing line, suffering from chills (classic for heat stroke) on 18. Obviously, this ruined my back 9, as I went from -1 through 5 holes to +4 at the end of 9, highlighted by two missed 3 footers (hard to putt when dizzy), and a 3 putt par on the par 5 9th in which I could barely stand up. I told the staff at the counter in the clubhouse and they did not seem particularly
concerned. Laughably bad.
Scenery: It runs through homes, but they are only minimally intrusive. I would rate it as slightly above average.
Walkability: It could be walked, but not particularly walking friendly and no one walks it.
Practice Facility: Above average for a practice facility at a public course in St. Louis. The range is well kept, but short. There is a small short game area. Unfortunately, they charge you for even a small bucket in addition to their already steep greens fee.
Tapawingo National is a pretty decent course with three 9's each with a different character and a generally good pace of play, probably in part because it is generally overpriced. If it weren't for the funny bad service, I would give it a 7, but the service is so bad I give it a 5.5 out of 10. -
Review from Tiffany H.
Chicago, IL
12/22/2011
The country club is beautiful but that's it. The service is awful. As long as Dave and Missy are managing food and beverage DO NOT HAVE YOUR RECEPTION HERE! The day before my wedding when myself and the groom came to set up the food and beverage manager Dave showed up 5hours late hung-over and reeking of booze. No tables were set up, the room was still disgusting from the event the day before. My mother-in-law spent all day ironing the table cloths so that they would look half way decent. The day of my wedding, even though I had the bar area rented out, when myself and the wedding party arrived, after the cocktail hour was supposed to begin, there were drunk golfers in the bar area, heckling me on my wedding day! Also we had to open the reception area early because the golfers were eating the food that we ordered for our guests during the cocktail hour! Also as we were having our sparkler receiving line, not leaving directly, but just doing the receiving line Missy was hassling my husband to sign the credit card receipt, which apparently couldn't wait 5 min. So by the time my husband and I got to do the receiving line the sparklers were almost all burnt out, basically ruining the whole thing. Overall the service was awful (I would give negative stars if I could) and when we tried to contact the owners we were given the run around and never contacted back. DO NOT HAVE YOUR RECEPTION HERE!
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Review from Jozo B.
Saint Louis, MO
2/27/2008
Tapawingo offers three different 9 hole courses. All designed by Gary Player. This course offers a great overall condition. The greens are always kept in pristine condition, are really fast, and hardly ever flat. The overall course layout is never boring. The scenery is constantly changing. Water and sand hazards are frequent. The different tee boxes make this course fun to play for all levels of golfers.
Though slightly more expensive than neighboring courses, it is extremely worth the extra couple of dollars to play a course of this caliber
