Swope Memorial Golf Course
Golf course in Kansas City, Missouri
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Swope Memorial Golf Course is the first public golf course built in Kansas City, it was originally constructed in 1915. It re-opened in 1934 with a complete re-design by World Golf Hall of Fame golf course architect A. W. Tillinghast. It hosted the 1949 Kansas City Open Invitational, a PGA Tour event at the time and is the only golf course in the Kansas City area to have done so.
 Interactive map of Swope Memorial Golf Course | |
| Club information | |
|---|---|
| 39°00′06″N 94°31′00″W | |
| Coordinates | 39°00′06″N 94°31′00″W |
| Location | Kansas City, Missouri |
| Established | 1934 |
| Type | Public |
| Total holes | 18 |
| Events hosted | Kansas City Open Invitational (1949) |
| Website | https://www.swopememorialgolfcourse.com |
| Designed by | A. W. Tillinghast |
| Par | 72 |
| Length | 6274 yards |
| Course rating | 70.9 |
| Slope rating | 132 |
After years of neglect, in the early 1990's the course was renovated with many of the Tillinghast features removed in an attempt to "modernize" the course.
In 2005 it hosted the USGA Women's Amateur Public Links Championship.
It is currently closed and going through a sympathetic renovation. The Kansas City Parks Department has hired Todd Clark of CE Golf Design to lead this effort. He is working closely with Ron Whitten, emeritus writer of Architecture for Golf Digest and a respected expert on historic golf architects. The renovation will include greens, tee boxes, bunkers, irrigation, cart paths, tree pruning and removal and a new irrigation pond. The course is planning to re-open in Spring of 2026. The course construction is contracted to Mid-America Golf and Landscape, Inc.
This sympathetic renovation will bring the course back to its original design with the modern player in mind. There are fortunately an abundance of historic photos and drawings of this treasured course. Using this information and historic information from other Tillinghast designs, the deign team will bring this course back as close as they can to Tillinghast's original intent. This renovation will be the only public Tillinghast designed golf course that retains all of its original holes and routing in the United States. Other U.S. public Tillinghast courses have lost original holes due to development and highway encroachment. For clarification, Tillinghast served only as a consultant on the Bethpage Park golf courses.
In 1953 Swope hosted the United Golf Association (UGA) National Championship, in which Ann Gregory and Charlie Sifford won the women's and men's divisions, respectively.[1]
