Oklahoma's Top 10 Public Golf Courses
Directory of Public Clubs

FOREST RIDGE GOLF CLUB

Since it opened in 1989, Forest Ridge has elevated public golf in Oklahoma.

From its Randy Heckenkemper layout to its course conditioning and pace of play, the Broken Arrow facility makes it possible for players to experience the same perks usually limited to country clubs.

"Everything we did was a little different," said head professional Sam Meredith. "Coming in, we offered a very high-quality product for a single price. We rolled greens fee, cart and range together. The course conditioning and speed of play was different than what people were used to at public golf courses.

"We had some initial hurdles to get over because this market was not used to it. Because it was a new concept in this market, there was a learning curve."

Golfers have caught on. The course averages around 35,000 rounds per year.

It has been the site of Buy.com Tour (formerly called Hogan Tour) qualifying. It has hosted the state amateur, mid-amateur and USGA girls qualifying, as well as the South Central PGA Section Championship and the section's match-play championship.

It is also the site of the South Central PGA Section's home office.

This year, the course will host the WAC men's championship (April 30-May 2) after having hosted the women's championship last year. In addition, it will host the Women's Oklahoma Golf Association Stroke Play Championship this summer.

Forest Ridge was a pioneer of sorts, using rye grass on its fairways. When most area courses are still dormant in the early spring, the grass is green at Forest Ridge. A handful of other courses have followed Forest Ridge's lead.

"We've raised the golf experience for the public golfer," Meredith said.

JIMMIE AUSTIN/ OU GOLF COURSE

When Stan Ball learned that Bob Cupp was going to redesign the old Perry Maxwell layout at the University of Oklahoma, he wondered why anyone would want to change the work of a genius.

However, Ball, who has been head professional at what is now called the Jimmie Austin-OU Golf Course since it was redesigned in 1996, admits that the "design is better now."

The course, which opened in 1951, was flawed from the start due to poor irrigation.

Many just wanted to improve the irrigation system and rebuild the greens instead of redesigning the work of Maxwell, who fashioned Southern Hills.

"Better equipment, better innovation in maintenance equipment made the course much better," Ball said.

Ball points to the closing hole. Once a dogleg left, it now runs horizontally with the creek on the right, bringing water into play on the approach.

Cupp, a long-time senior designer for Jack Nicklaus, changed virtually every hole with the exception of Nos. 13 and 15, although those holes had rebuilt greens, bunkers and fairways. Eight holes were slightly modified while eight others are new creations.

In addition, the facility has an expanded 22-acre practice area.

The course has been the site of the Big 12 Women's Championships, 1997 NCAA Men's Central Regional, last year's 5A boys and girls state championships, as well as the 1998 and 2000 PGA National Junior Series.

"It's a big-time course now," former Oklahoma All-American Andrew Magee said.

CHICKASAW POINTE

Wayne Canaday has worked at Chickasaw Pointe Golf Course since it opened in 1999. He grew up 30 miles from the facility, which is at Lake Texoma near Kingston. He used to camp there and even saw an occasional buffalo.

"I never thought of anything like this," Canaday said.

Thankfully, golf course architect Randy Heckenkemper did.

What he did was create a challenging course on the hilly terrain that offers an enticing view of the lake from virtually every hole.

Before the trees fill in later this spring, check out the view from the pro shop where virtually every hole on the 7,085-yard course is visible.

Although the state-built, state-owned course provides a view of the lake, the water doesn't come into play. It simply adds to the scenic experience.

The course is starting to receive some national attention from magazines like GolfWeek.

Its signature hole is No. 6. The 460-yard par-4 plays into a prevailing south wind and into a difficult and deceptive green.

"It's long, but narrow," said Canaday. "It also appears as though you're putting uphill for some reason, but you're not. The big bank on the side gives you that impression. It's tough."

LINCOLN PARK WEST

If for no other reason, this course needs to be included on the list of top public golf courses simply because one of the legends of Oklahoma golf worked at Lincoln Park for 62 years.

U.C. Ferguson, a member of the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame, was instrumental in developing golf, especially junior programs before it was fashionable to do so. He spent 37 of those years as the head professional.

"There's no telling how many people learned to play golf over the years on this course with (Ferguson's) help," head professional Dan Smith said.

The layout was redesigned in 1999. Randy Heckenkemper, who designed Forest Ridge and Chickasaw Pointe, put his signature on the course that opened in 1932 and was refurbished again in 1965. Layout changes, however, were minimal.

"The changes brought about a feel that's different," Smith said. "It's more modern with fairway bunkers. But other than those things, nothing changed significantly."

The greens have been expanded to offset the additional play the course receives. The exact impact of the redesign, however, is still being felt. The course record was 61 shot by Tommy Black during the late 1960s. Since the redesign, the record is six shots higher.

CEDAR CREEK

Borrowing the name from that course in Augusta, Ga., locals call the 14th, 15th and 16th holes at Cedar Creek "Amen Corner."

Head professional Ron Locke isn't going to argue.

The 1973 Ken Farley design is a 6,582-yard course cut through the rolling hills, tall pines and meandering creeks located 15 miles from Broken Bow near Mountain Fork River.

Cedar Creek's Amen Corner consists of three par-4s -- 455, 405, 434 yards. It's the toughest three-hole stretch on the course, and the most scenic.

"The whole golf course is pretty," Locke said. "You can see the lake on your second shot on 14. You can see it from the tee on 15 and again on 16 you're looking at the lake on your second shot. It's absolutely beautiful."

The 16th is the signature hole. Approach shots soar to an island green.

"The 16th is the hole that most people remember because it is so tough and so beautiful," Locke said.

The lone drawback to the course -- aside from its 3-1/2-hour distance from Tulsa -- is that errant shots could find some rocks in the rough. There are plans to expand the irrigation system and improve the overall conditioning.

Nature buffs can see virtually any wildlife this state offers. Locke said he has seen deer, mountain lions, bears, foxes, coyotes, wolves and wild turkeys on the course located at Beavers Bend State Park. And the best part it, it's a heck of a deal. Greens fees and half a cart are $20 during the week and $25 on weekends.

"We hear all the time that people are amazed that we'd have a course like this here," Locke said. "It's well worth the drive, particularly when you're talking about how beautiful it is."

BATTLE CREEK

The first thing that strikes a golfer on the driving range at Battle Creek is the spectacular view of Tulsa. But while the view is pretty, the Bland Pittman design is tough.

Mark Brooks, 1996 PGA champion, played the course shortly after it opened in 1997 and came away thinking Battle Creek was named appropriately.

With more than 90 bunkers and its undulating greens, the 7,237-yard course offers its share of challenges.

"It's a stern test of golf, a really good test from the back tees," said Brooks, who was a partner in the original company hired by the Broken Arrow Golf Authority to manage the course.

Since Brooks played the course, the nine have been flipped, providing one of the better closing holes in the area.

The 18th hole is a par-4 that from the back tees plays 454 yards and goes into a prevailing south wind. There is out-of-bounds on the left and a lake on the right.

"You absolutely have got to drive it well on that hole," director of golf Lynn Blevins said. "It requires two good shots. If you don't, it's basically a par-5."

The reason behind changing the nines was two-fold. The first was for business purposes -- players had to walk by the clubhouse following the round. The second was to help speed of play because the putting green is on the north side while the old No. 1 tee was on the south side.

"We'd been thinking about it and we were out of scorecards," Blevins said. "We talked to Bland and he thought it was a good idea so we did it. It's worked out well."

Blevins has had ongoing conversations with the PGA Tour about bringing a Buy.com event to Tulsa, but finding a sponsor has been difficult. Originally, he wanted to wait until after this year's U.S. Open, but now with the Williams LPGA Championship at Tulsa Country Club this fall and the Senior PGA Tour Championship in Oklahoma City, bringing another event to town is not in the foreseeable future.

"Now is not a good time, but the tour likes the idea of coming here," Blevins said. "The course is definitely of that caliber."

COFFEE CREEK

Coffee Creek is an example of a course that opened prematurely, but has grown into one of the state's best public golf courses.

The course opened in 1991 with small, crowned tee boxes and so heavily wooded that you couldn't walk outside of the fairways. However, the potential was there.

The next spring Millennium Golf Properties came aboard with director of golf Andy McCormick and started making improvements.

They rented a bulldozer for 60 days and sent it into the woods. The big trees were left while the scrub was cleared. Tees were rebuilt and the original watering system was improved.

The course recently received a four-star rating from Golf Digest after getting ones and twos during the early 1990s.

"It always had the potential," McCormick said. "Now you can see it."

No. 12 is the course's signature hole. Besides its beauty, the dogleg left requires a little strategy off the tee due to an island of trees in the middle of the fairway at the bend.

Golfers can hit 2-irons or 3-irons off the tee and go for the narrower side of the trees or they can try to hit it past the trees on the wider side of the fairway, but that requires a drive of 245 yards or more from the back tees.

"It's a fun hole," McCormick said. "You either cuss it or come into my office and say I birdied your 12th hole."

The 12th starts a three-hole stretch that is the most talked about on the course.

The uphill and tight 430-yard 13th is the toughest hole on the course. The par-4 has a tight landing area, requiring a drive over a lake. Even for a good player, a 4-iron or 5-iron is needed to reach the green.

The par-3 14th is set away from the water, but if you hit it left of the green there is a 20-foot dropoff making it difficult to get to the green.

"That's a pretty good stretch of holes," McCormick said. "That stretch is what stands out."

BAILEY RANCH

In the winter of 1993, former Bailey Ranch director of golf Warren Lehr looked over the Owasso course during its growing-in phase and made a prediction.

"I honestly think this will be one of the finest public courses in the area," Lehr said.

Eight years later, Lehr's prediction holds true.

The par-72 course plays from 4,898 to 6,753 yards and features strikingly dissimilar nines.

The course opens with three holes that are tree-lined. But it displays an almost links look from the par-4 fourth to the par-3 eighth.

The back opens with a nice view of the Tulsa skyline. It is more undulating and has more trees to deal with than the front.

Like Battle Creek, Bland Pittman designed the course on a former horse pasture.

Keeping its link with the past, the course is named after Larkin Bailey, who donated the land to the city of Owasso. Bailey operated a horse ranch on the land and reminders are still present on the course. The course logo is a cowboy riding a bronc. The logo is on each flag stick with horseshoe replicas serving as tee markers.

"This is a strategic golf course," said PGA Tour player D.A. Weibring, who was a partner with the company that initially managed the golf course. "There are some short par-4s and some reachable par-5s, but you've got to be careful or you'll pay."

STONE CREEK

When Stone Creek at Page Belcher opened in 1987, Golf Digest selected it as "Best New Public Course."

As one club professional said, "The first time I played it I said to myself, `That's a golf course.' "

Every hole provides a unique challenge.

However, it is a tribute to the Don Sechrest design that it is ranked among the state's top 10 public courses.

When the Tulsa World asked its panel to select the top 10 public courses, one of the categories was course condition. In recent years, the municipal courses in Tulsa have fallen on hard times due to tight budgets.

"We've dropped the ball in maintaining the course, but you can't take away the design," director of golf George Glenn said. "It's extremely fun to play. It has long and short. Every hole has its own personality. It has big greens and small greens, water and bunkers and trees. It's everything you want in a golf course."

It has been the site of numerous Tulsa Golf Association, Oklahoma Golf Association and U.S. Golf Association qualifiers as well as host to mini-tour events.

The lone knock on the course has been its conditioning, which is in the process of going through a metamorphosis.

The city is making a commitment to improve the conditioning of its courses at Page Belcher and Mohawk.

It's signature hole is up for debate, although most would say it is No. 13. But maybe the best example of the challenge of the course is the fifth hole. The par-4 is only 340 yards, but it may draw more bogeys than any hole on the course.

Besides negotiating the wind, water and trees, the green is wide, but shallow. It's only one club deep and the wind can make club selection tricky.

"I see a lot of guys knock it over and hit in the water," Glenn said. "Conversely, it's hard to get up and down if you're short. It's just a real hard hole."