St Clair CC - Belleville IL - Langford/Moreau

[Ryan Hillenbrand]

This is my first attempt at a photo tour so I hope it works Ok.

St Clair is a 1927 design by Langford & Moreau, and recently restored by Kye Goalby. When I was new to GCA I learned of the group's appreciation of Langford's work, yet few if any knew about St. Clair. I play it a few times each year and brought my camera this last time. Here are few pics. Thanks to Kevin Reilly for his You Tube tutorial! If you make it to the St Louis area if may be worth a visit.

Very rolling terrain, as the clubhouse sits on a ridge with a veritable moat around it. Walkers are able to access the course by several of these bridges - so you're not out of breath after you 1st tee shot.



The 2nd hole is a 185 yard Par 3. Short right is dead at it funnels down into the trees. The 1911 in the background reflects the club's founding. As we all know, photos don't capture the elevation change as well. Fun hole.




Number 5 is a 270 yard par 4 risk reward hole - my favorite on the course. While drivable it has out of bounds on both sides. The smart play was a long iron to the flat and a wedge to an easy green. After the redo, its not so easy. The green has crazy undulation that I suspect was inspired by Mr. Goalby's tutelage under Tom Doak. 2 putt is not guaranteed




Number 7 is another hole that requires strategy. Only about 370 yards, the fairway begins a precipitous drop after the 150 mark leaving a downhill shot to a severely uphill green. The other option is bomb driver down the hill, at the risk of it running into woods on the left and right.



St Clair's par 3s are varied and this is one of its best. Number 9 is around 155yds back over the chasm towards the clubhouse, with another completely redone green - far harder than the previous one. St Clair is unique in that you end the front 9 with a 3, and begin the back with a 3 on 10. (My apologies for the thumb)



Not sure about other Langfords, but St. Clair has very few fairway bunkers. The land makes it penal enough. Number 12 is typical with holes that follow the terrain and the only sand is found greenside.



The finishing hole is par 5 back towards the clubhouse. While only 500 yards, a drive too long is no advantage here as you have to negotiate the downslope. A 3 shot hole for most players to an elevated green. Note the hilltop par 3 number 13 off the right. A straight uphill tee shot to a table top green.




Hope you enjoyed

[Paul Gray]

Ryan,

Thanks very much for posting this. I'm always hugely grateful to anyone that bothers to go to the effort of posting a photo review. I've tried to do likewise with my phone camera before now but have concluded that I need to find my proper camera!

[Terry Lavin]

As Brad Klein might say, nice landforms!

[Nigel Islam]

Very nice Ryan. St Clair is one of two L&Ms in Southern Illinois and looks nicer than the other Franklin CC which has nine of their holes.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Another LM I need to go see when in the area.

Loved those footbridges when I saw them at Wakonda, and used here, it makes me think it was part of the LM repertoire, as well as a nice little slice in time - they had all walkers, but realized few would like the steep up and down climbs.

Makes for a charming little feature, including looking a little rickety.  Not sure many weight challenged Americans would use that bridge now, just in case........

[Thomas Dai]

Ryan,

Photo tours take a lot of time and effort to put together so well done for attempting your first. More please

You mention regarding the 2nd hole that "..photos don't capture the elevation change as well" but you've managed to capture elevation and slopes and angles nicely in your photos so extra brownie points!

atb

BTW, [img width=800] is useful for photo sizing.

[Jeff_Stettner]

Nice photos, Ryan. Thanks for taking the time.

I will echo Ryan's point about the landforms... they are really extreme. Without the walking bridges it would make for a very difficult carry. The new greens are a huge improvement and the tree removal (still limited, unfortunately) opened up some corridors and have allowed for better turf across the place.

Did the greens play as firm for you as they did for me the couple of times I snuck out there this summer? I could also debate number 5 with you... while the landing area has been improved on the layup, the hill, road and rough along the left essentially create in-course OB... The hole has always struck me as forced.

Either way, Kye did a great job (like he did at my home course, Glen Echo) and STL is slowly seeing some solid older tracks coming back to life. If we could only get the chainsaws to Westwood...

[Dan Moore]

Interesting looking property.  Home course to Jay Haas when he was growing up.  Haas was interviewed at Wakonda during the Senior championship earlier this year and had high praise for both courses.  Notwithstanding the 1911 date L/M were there in the 1920's. 

Did they redo all of the greens?  Are there any fairway bunkers hidden in the trees? 

[Ryan Hillenbrand]

Did the greens play as firm for you as they did for me the couple of times I snuck out there this summer? I could also debate number 5 with you... while the landing area has been improved on the layup, the hill, road and rough along the left essentially create in-course OB... The hole has always struck me as forced.

Either way, Kye did a great job (like he did at my home course, Glen Echo) and STL is slowly seeing some solid older tracks coming back to life. If we could only get the chainsaws to Westwood...

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Jeff - I can see your point about #5, there is just something I like about ridiculously tight driving holes that scream 5 iron, but your heart says grab driver.  Interestingly every time I've played it, its the parking lot up on the right that seems to claim the most victims.

Greens were really firm.

[Ryan Hillenbrand]

Interesting looking property.  Home course to Jay Haas when he was growing up.  Haas was interviewed at Wakonda during the Senior championship earlier this year and had high praise for both courses.  Notwithstanding the 1911 date L/M were there in the 1920's. 

Did they redo all of the greens?  Are there any fairway bunkers hidden in the trees? 

Dan - Fairly certain all greens were redone other than 15(?) which had been redone about a year earlier. I think a member said it was a good test run on how quickly they could back to playability.

Only bunker I can think of is on number 6 inside a dogleg, but they removed most the trees there and now the bunker is plainly visible.

[Brian Hilko]

Here are some pics from my most recent visit.


Approach on 1






The drivable 5th. Only 265 but the ob left is very much in play. Great risk reward short par 4.








Approach on 7. Amazing how bold Langford was on hilly sites. Hitting this approach with hickory had to be terrifying.





The par three 13th. One my favorite parts of most Langford golf courses is the terrifying up hill shot to a pushed up green. Harrison Hills approach on 15 is my favorite. This one might be a close second.





side view of how long the green actually it. We both looked to have hit decent shots but came up well short. From the clubhouse the hole has the feel of a biarritz green just because of how long and narrow the green is and the 2 bunkers flanking the left side. On the tee it could not of felt more different. Great deception by Langford.





Here is the approaches on 15 and 17. You can see both greens in the first picture.








18 approach. Wild par 5 finisher!





I find myself being wowed every time I play a new Langford course. Of all the golden age architects par seem to matter the least to him. At St. Clair there are 5 par 3's and 5 par 5's. 9 and 10 are back to back par 3s at the same length and 14 and 15 are back to back par 5s but it never feels quirky. His use of terrain to dictate strategy is on full display at St. Clair. On number 7 you have the choice of laying back at about 140 and hitting level into the green or you can get aggressive and drive it into the valley and face a 70 yard shot about 30 feet below the green surface. The had a very similar feel to 7 at Crystal Downs. Number 15 we find similar strategy in the second shot. If a player plays aggressive they will have to hit a delicate wedge shot of a down hill lie to a pushed up green. 18 on the drive you can go for broke and try and drive it all the way down the hill and have a mid iron in to a par 5 but if you fail you will have an awkward downhill lie second shot. St. Clair has all the bold Langford shaping you find at Lawsonia, West Bend, Culver, Harrison Hills, Spring Valley, and Kankakee Elks. It is amazing how many hilly sights he worked on. I wish I would of taken more pictures but I was enjoying the golf to much! Anyone visiting the St. Louis area should make a stop at St. Clair.