Prairie Highlands – Olathe, Kansas

Official Website: prairiehighlands.com 

Course Architect

Craig Schreiner

First Teed Off

May 2001

Rating	Slope	Yardage	Par
74.6	134	7066	72

Rates of Passage

$50-$65 (including cart)

View from the 19^th Hole

Playable for all types of golfers, quick pace of play, great value, well-maintained

Through our Lens

*Full disclosure: I left my "real" camera at home, so all photos are complements of my iPhone lens.  I'm pleasantly surprised at what developed!*

Our Round

 

Just outside Kansas City, this award-winning public course is a must play while you’re in KC.  We were happy to find Prairie Highlands, as the other highly ranked courses we can play in Kansas are two to three hours outside the city.  I have roots, and my brother and sister-in-law, in Kansas City, so the opportunity to play close to their home was welcome. 


 Kansas was host to nearly five days of rain prior to us playing.  Therefore, a number of the sixty bunkers and natural swales served as backup as retention ponds along the course.   Regardless of the rain, the course was in great condition.  Twilight rates at Prairie Highlands can go for less than $30–a bargain for a course with this design and condition.  We were pleasantly surprised to find it a much nicer track than anticipated when planning our trip.

Each hole rolls with the Kansas landscape.  While we had a cart, the course is extremely walkable.  Given how wet the conditions were, it was cart path only, but we still finished our round in less than four hours.  While it wasn’t busy as we played through the sunrise, the course layout is such that you aren’t viewing the next tee box from your current fairway.  Therefore, there is little to distract the player, and you can live in the moment of your current hole.  Since I file golf under “mediation activities” alongside other seemingly mundane fun such as gardening and vacuuming, this course more than satisfied my quest to disconnect.  

 

Dearest grasses, please stop eating my shots.

Each hole presented its own challenge, but you can anticipate hungry heather and natural grasses throughout.  We may have lost a ball (or five) in the tufts, even though we knew the exact point of entry.  Zoysia grass rolls along the fairways, leading to the freshly rolled bent grass greens.   The front nine is predominately wide-open, as you’d typically expect on a links course.  Water comes into play as a creek guards the green on the downward-sloped sixth.  From there, a generous pond borders much of the back nine.  While visible from many holes, the water isn’t necessarily in play.  This is certainly true from the ninth tee.  However, that doesn’t negate you (or me) from making it so.  The pond first slithers alongside the right of the 570-plus yard, par 5 ninth.   It unsuspectingly curls left to guard the green.  Nine was host to my best tee shot of the day—a beautiful tee shot that caught the wind (or was sliced), and dove right into that glassy blue. 

Mature trees are a predominant fixture along the border of the back nine, presenting a challenge more reminiscent of a traditional course, however, the wide-open, rolling fairways of this links stunner continue.  Homes line most of the course, but they don’t detract from play.  Some holes, including ten and eleven, command more of a target golf approach.  Arial views are not what they appear.  Golfers would benefit from the flyover view of each hole from the golfer’s prospective. Even though our Golfshot app has a flyover feature, it does little to incorporate the elevation changes.  You’ve been warned.  

The tees of ten appear to grow progressively taller from the native grasses, leading you to hit somewhat blindly.  Reaching the end of the tees, the fairway rolls down to be bisected by a stream.  Keep working toward the green as a generous bunker lays guard out front.   Eleven does little to ease your woes, as the tees sit behind a stand of trees along the right side.  The fairway grows back upward with a bunker at the left of your layup and to the front right-hand side of the green.  The greens were quick, even in their saturated state.  I can only anticipate the added challenge they would present in optimum conditions.  We had a little bit of wind during our round, but the breeze could become a real obstacle on a windy day.

Typically, it’s easy to pick a favorite hole.  For me, it’s typically one of the par 3s.  Neither of us had a favorite hole on Prairie Highlands, but rather we enjoyed them all.  The distance from the tips doesn’t appear too bad—at a little over 7000 yards, but many of the par 3s are in excess of 200 yards along with some nearly 600 yard par 5s.  So the  The newly updated GPS in the carts was helpful and easy to use.  We tend to lend more to our Golfshot app but enjoy the specifics for pin placement and Pro tips.  The clubhouse is generous, and has plenty of seating for those willing to park it at the nineteenth.  Additionally, there is a beverage cart to help you curb your fairway famine.  Should you find yourself in Kansas City, and not care to traverse to the likes of Colbert Hills or Buffalo Dunes, set your irons on Prairie Highlands. 

Beyond the nineteenth hole

See how it's crafted,
and enjoy some house samples. 

Boulevard Brewery: Take in a tour and some brews.  Be sure to arrive when they open to snag tour tickets before they’re all gone.  There’s a variety of tours, but we did the freebie tour featuring history of the brand, views of how it’s made and the assembly line, and two-four ounce pours of your choice to cap it all off.

The Roasterie: Head downtown for a tour and a cup o’ Joe.  Just look for the DC-3 taking off atop the lemon-colored building. 

Taste and Tour @ The Roasterie

Barbecue: My childhood favorite is Jack Stack, with locations all over the metro.  Wherever you land, wet wipes are encouraged.

Kansas City Chiefs or Royals Game

The Plaza: Bum around this downtown area for good eats, shopping and fountains aplenty.  Be sure to stay into the evening to see the buildings dotted in lights.

Scoreboard

2015, Golfweek's Best: Courses You Can Play, Kansas, #5

GOLF Magazine, Best 50 Under $50

2004-2006 Men’s NAIA National Championship, Host

2004 Kansas City Cup Finals, Host

Scorecard

Prairie Highlands Golf Course (Olathe, KS)