Loutre Shore Country Club

We drove 30 miles to play golf at the Loutre (pronounced Looter) Shore Country Club because a G**gle search stated the course was 18 holes. It's not. This is a nine hole golf course. And while I felt bad for making Denny drive that far for a nine hole golf course, we did have fun playing this one.

Loutre Shore's course is set in the hills of the Rhine Valley just a few miles north of Hermann, Missouri. The hills surrounding the golf course would be breathtaking in the fall with the great variety of hardwood trees in the area. As it was, playing in the early spring we enjoyed the wild phlox and dogwood trees that were in bloom on the course.

Hole number three, a par 4 that dog legs to the right after you hit across the pond (and dodge the Canada goose sleeping on the cart path.)

The golf course is set up for you to play two different sets of tees if you play an eighteen hole round of golf here. That means the men's second hole is a par 4 but when played as the eleventh hole there is a different tee box farther back which makes the hole a par 5. The fifth hole on the front nine is a par 4 but on the back nine as hole number 14 it is a par 3. Denny played the men's blue tees for a total yardage of 6654 yards and a rating/slope of 69.9/116. I played the red tees for a total yardage of 5204 yards and a rating/slope of 68.6/106. There are no sand traps on this course and water only comes into play on two holes (3 holes if you have a wicked slice.) The challenge comes from the large trees lining the fairways and the sloped lie of some of the fairways.

There were some rough spots off the sides of the fairways but the fairways themselves and the greens were in pretty good shape for just coming out of the winter mode. Normally for seniors we would have paid $25 each to play 18 holes with a riding cart (and this is a hilly course) but on Thursdays it's "dollar a hole day" so we paid $18 each for green fees (no cart fee) plus tax so we paid just over $38 for the two of us to play golf. We saw a golfer come out of the clubhouse with a hot dog so there is at least that much to eat at the turn and their website says there is a full bar which includes wines from the local Hermann wineries (and there are a lot of them in Hermann.)

At ten thirty in the morning we were the only people on the golf course, although others soon followed. Therefore we enjoyed a leisurely round of golf on a perfect, sunshine filled day out in the middle of nowhere, Missouri. We may just go back.

The ninth/eighteen hole looking towards the clubhouse (the building that looks like a barn.)