Norwood Hills ( Stiles in STL)

[mark chalfant]

36 holes of Stiles in the Missouri Heartland.  Has anyone  played  here.

Thanks

[Tom Walsh]

I've played the west course once 20 years ago. Hosted a tour stop briefly in the early 70's. One year won by Trevino, '72 I think. The next year Gene Littler won. I was there for that one. Very cool--Gene the Machine beat Bruce Crampton down the stretch.

Norwood Hills also hosted the '48 PGA won by Hogan.

The East course is shorter, but great fun I'm told.

NHCC is a private club with 500? members. The last time I was on the property was to pick up my son after he played a round there probably 5 years ago. The grounds were immaculate. I'd play there again in a heartbeat. ;~)

[Buck Wolter]

Hopefully John K will chime in as he was a national member for several years. It was literally next door to where I worked for 15 years and got to play it a couple times a year and at least one time with John ( sorry for the pace that day John!).

The west is the championship course but the east is no pushover -- scrambles were always about even versus par. The east was almost more interesting as it seemed to play along the ridge tops rather than in the  valleys. Great members course and probably the best players in St Louis gravitate towards it.

Buck

[Ryan Hillenbrand]

Hi, new to the GCA discussion group.

I grew up playing at Norwood, my parents are still members. One of the most underrated courses in the St Louis area and until the 80s was the the only 36 hole facility in town. At the time, if you were a real player you belonged to Norwood.

Another good piece of trivia is this is where Tom Watson met Bruce Edwards for the first time. Watson was a rookie on tour (1973 St Louis Open I believe) and a virtual unknown. Edwards was with a bunch of caddies who traveled to tour stops looking for a loop and saw Watson shagging his own balls. Another caddie was familiar with Watson and encourage Edwards to approach him - he said he might have real potential.

[Ryan Hillenbrand]

Buck - I'm guessing you worked at Emerson? I can't count how many balls I put in the parking lot behind #6 East, the redan with the OB fence just to the left

[Jim Nugent]

Ryan, what was the St. Louis Open?  I never heard of it, and I grew up in St. Louis.  Had there been any real pro tournaments there, I would have attended in a heartbeat. 

[Steve Pozaric]

Jim:

The StL Post Dispatch refers to it as the  St. Louis Children’s Hospital Golf Classic at Norwood Hills Country Club
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/golf/st-louis-will-bring-watson-flood-of-memories/article_57ae970e-444c-59b3-b3a2-1736795665be.html

[Ryan Hillenbrand]

Jim, I believe we only had a St Louis  tour stop for 2 years, held at Norwood. Not sure why it didn't last longer.

[john_stiles]

Norwood Hills is one of the courses featured in " Life and Work of Wayne Stiles "  by Bob Labbance and Kevin Mendik.

It is the only Stiles course to host a major championship, 30th PGA won by Ben Hogan.

[John Kavanaugh]

The great Jim Healy wrote a fantastic club history of Norwood that is available in their shop.  He has an opinion piece concerning the nearby Glen Echo on this site.

The Greater St. Louis Classic was held in 72 and 73 with champions Lee Trevino and Gene Littler. 

I will always be grateful for the time I spent as a member of a fine club in St. Louis.  The memories of the generosity and graciousness of the people will outlive those of the course.

[Ryan Hillenbrand]

John - do you still live in the St. Louis area?

Did you know my dad, Jack?

[John Kavanaugh]

Ryan,

I was a National Member and did and do live near Evansville, In. I may have known your Dad Jack but I never asked or remembered last names. Norwood was always a great place to find a game no matter who you knew or were.  I only dropped my membership because I joined somewhere further away.

[Joe McCormac]

Norwood Hills would be a terrific site for a non US Open USGA event.  I would actually suggest a composite course for such an event which could incorporate some of my favorite holes from the east course and drop some weak holes on the west.

[Jim Nugent]

Norwood Hills would be a terrific site for a non US Open USGA event.  I would actually suggest a composite course for such an event which could incorporate some of my favorite holes from the east course and drop some weak holes on the west.

Can you explain exactly what you have in mind? 

[John Kavanaugh]

Norwood just hosted the 2001 US Senior Am which tragically took place on the weekend of 911. It's going to be tough to get beyond that level.

[Nigel Islam]

Norwood just hosted the 2001 US Senior Open which tragically took place on the weekend of 911. It's going to be tough to get beyond that level.

John,

Wasn't the World Championship event also supposed to be at Bellerive that week as well? Was the Senior Open over on 9-9 or did they play it the following weekend?

[John Kavanaugh]

It was the Senior Amateur at Norwood and it finished. The World Championships at Bellerive was postponed.

[Joe McCormac]

Norwood Hills would be a terrific site for a non US Open USGA event.  I would actually suggest a composite course for such an event which could incorporate some of my favorite holes from the east course and drop some weak holes on the west.

Can you explain exactly what you have in mind? 

I cannot remember the hole numbers after the rerouting of the east a few years back.  The "old" 6th with the redan green is classic and would make a great part of any composite course, although it's in a difficult part of the property.  I also loved the "old" 14th uphill par 5 with a fairly diabolical front portion of the green if memory serves.

[Ryan Hillenbrand]

Joe,

The par 5 14th East is still number 14, then it goes to the old #6 as the 15th. The "new" back nine on the East may be the best 9 holes on the property. A composite of the front 9 of the West and the back 9 of the East would make a great layout, although I'd love to work in #11 and #18 West somehow.

[John Kavanaugh]

The 11th on the East is a great hole from the "ladies" tee just behind the 10th green.

[Peter Flory]

I recently came across this great pic of North Hills (Norwood Hills).  This was from an ad for the "Carter System" for their seeding/ golf course construction. 

Looks like a very wild green.  From what I can tell, the green has since been altered- still looks good, but much different. 

[Ryan Hillenbrand]

Peter


That hole is totally gone. If you look past the green in this picture you'll see a chute through the trees and an uphill fairway. #3 tee box was just to the right of the green and played as an uphill par 4. In the late 80s they combined those holes and made it a par 5, along with a few other holes they modified and added. By my recollection I think only 11 of the current 18 are original Stiles hole, including #11 where Ben Hogan closed out Mike Turnesa 8&7 to win the 1948 PGA Championship.


Of all the holes I've heard older members reminisce most about it's #2.


By contrast, I believe all 18 on the shorter (6000yds) East course are original.


There is a map of the original design, including a 9 hole South course intended for ladies play that was never built, on the Wayne Stiles society web page

[Peter Flory]

Wow, hard to believe that hole would be scrapped.