I have played Forest Park since 1978, under a variety of conditions and have also played all three new nines.
The original nine-hole course was a very easy and completely flat. It was a favorite for beginners and for seniors wanting to still play and walk. The original 18 hosted a USGA Publinks in the late 1920's.
Forest Park was the sight of the 1904 World Fair and is actually bigger in acreage than New York's Central Park. As part of the centennial of the 1904 World Fair, St. Louis initiated a number of local projects aimed at improving the quality of life in the city over the long term. One part of this was the restoration of Forest Park. This included upgrading the roadways, paths, lighting, benches and facilities. It also included the connecting of all of the ponds and lagoons and the complete refurbishment of the Grand Basin below the Art Museum.
With this some changes were needed to the golf course as the 4th hole's fairway was the giant hill (Art Hill) which fell from the steps of the Art Museum to the Grand Basin and the 17 hole was a par-3 requiring the tee shot to pass over the Grand Basin. Since the goal was to make the Grand Basin more usable for all park visitors, including paddle boats, strolls around the basin and picnics, the golf course was seen as an impediment to this goal. The golf course was expected to adjust.
Personally, I always preferred holes 5 through 16 and I also agreed with the belief that the grassy slope between the Grand Basin and the Art Museum should not be restricted to golf use. Since a fairway is either for golf only or not for golf at all, then I agreed with the golf course leaving this spot. Other golfers disagreed.
The result was the complete redesign of all 27 holes by Hale Irwin (or his company). First the easy nine was 100% redesigned, including creating a new clubhouse at the opposite end of the nine-holer. This nine is still flat and short, but is now much more interesting with some well place bunkers.
For the 18-holer:
Holes 2, 3, 4 and 17 were eliminated;
holes 1 and 18 were redesigned so that the golfer is now playing in the opposite direction where each hole was located;
#9 was changed from a very long par five to a par-4 and a par-3; and
#10 was changed from a blind long par-3 to a short (but fun) par-4.
This was the par sequence of the old 18:
4, 3, 3, 5, 5, 3, 4, 4, 5,
3, 5, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3, 4
(although #2 was sometimes played as a drivable par-4).
In my opinion:
#1 was a fine opening hole;
#2 could be fun, but due to many surrounding trees was always in awful shape including NO grass on the tees;
#3 was a medium length par-3 but with the green elevated about 30-40 feet and thus blind;
#4 was only fun because the tee was elevated, the fairway sloped (thus giving more distance) & the fairway was about 100 yards wide; followed by a blind green over another hill in a little swale, although with a fun green that Perry Maxwell would have loved.
This combination resulted in the first four holes normally (even when teeing off early on Saturday morning) taking over 1 hour to play and with lots of lost balls for all types of golfers.
The other 2 new nines match with the old 18 as follows:
Old:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18
new:6, 1, 2, 3, 4, 7;
new: 9. 1, 2/3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Many local Forest Park golfers were upset about these changes. Some were bothered by the changes to the easy nine. Although this is still enjoyable for golfer's of lesser skills and is still easy to walk.
Many were bothered about the loss of the 4th (Art Hill). I was not as explained earlier.
Finally some was upset at the loss of the very long & famous 9th hole.
I do not know why the 9th was split into two although I can see that they needed an extra hole for the system of three nines to work where each nine begins and ends fairly near the new clubhouse. Although actually the old nine required no strategy, it was just long with OB all the way down the left (this is OB is Skinker Blvd., the west boundary of the course and THE spot on the course to see very fit runners/bikers/roller bladers going by on the paths between the OB and the street.)
In addition to the old #9 only being long - just keep hitting the ball as far as possible until the green is reached - it was also better to be slightly right. Although this brought OB into play, it also resulted in ball flying into the paths, the street, and the many churches across the street along the 9th.
Whereas, on the new par-4 (followed by a par-3), staying left is rewarded.
Finally, although the old 10th was a very challenging par-3 of just over 200 and with only the top 1/3 of the flagstick visible, the new short par-4 is a good example of a fun short par-4.
All of the other changes resulted in no layout changes. However, every green was rebuilt, some with new green designs, and all of the tees and fairways were upgraded.
The new greens a great. The old course did not have the biarritz now the rectangle green. There are also some new false fronts.
Any one of the nines is enjoyable muni-golf. The course is now in better shape and the current greens fee is very reasonable of $36 for 18 holes walking on a Saturday (2005). And although there are a few hills on the old 18 portion, this is a very walkable course with each tee very close to the prior green.