Bellerive Country Club

Detailed description of Bellerive Country Club

Bellerive Country Club is a Private, 18 hole golf course located in Saint Louis, Missouri.

The Bellerive Golf Course as we know it today, first opened for play in 1960. The course was designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr.

But there is history. The club existed with a course, long before 1960.

The club actually dates back to 1897 as a nine-hole course called The Field Club. In 1910, the membership incorporated as Bellerive Country Club,  after Louis St. Ange De Bellerive, the last French governor in North America. That same year, Scotsman Robert Foulis designed the "new" Bellerive in Normandy where the club remained for 50 years.

The membership decided to move west in 1955 and allowed Robert Trent Jones, Sr. to pick a prime farm location for the new site. The "Green Monster of Ladue Road" opened on Memorial Day, 1960.

In 1965 to coincide with the St. Louis Bicentennial Celebration, Bellerive became the "youngest" course to ever host the U. S. Open. South African Gary Player won the event by defeating Kel Nagle in a playoff after the two had tied at two-over-par 282. Player then donated his entire winner's check ($25,000) to cancer research and junior golf.

The 1965 Open was the first of many national and world championships to be held at Bellerive. Nick Price captured his first major by winning the PGA Championship at Bellerive in 1992. The 2001 American Express World Golf Championship, scheduled for September of that year, was canceled due to the events of 9-11. Major championship golf returned to Bellerive in 2004 when the club played host to the U.S. Senior Open. Peter Jacobsen won his first senior major by besting a field of that included local favorites Hale Irwin and Jay Haas.

The golf course underwent a year-long renovation and reopened in October 2006. Rees Jones, son of original architect Robert Trent Jones, Sr., was entrusted with this project.

Par for the Bellerive Country Club course is 71. From the back tees, the course plays to 7177 yards. From the forward tees, the course measures 5265 yards. The longest hole on the course is # 17, a par-5 that plays to 595 yards. The shortest hole on the course is # 3, a par-3 that plays to 165 yards from the back tees.

Watch out for # 8, a 581 yard par-5 challenge and the #1 handicap hole on the course. The easiest hole at Bellerive Country Club is # 3, the 165 yard par-3.

The course hosted the 2018 PGA Championship.