Lake of the Ozarks has a dozen golf courses to pick from. Bear Creek Valley Golf Club, tucked behind a strip mall in Osage Beach should be near the top of your picks. The course meanders through 250 acres of colorful Ozark forest, meadows and scenic valleys along "Little Bear Creek."
Par for the course is 72. From the back tees the course plays to 6,957 yards. From the forward tees the course measures 4,701 yards. The longest hole on the course is # 17, a par-5 that plays to 556 yards. The shortest hole on the course is # 2, a par-3 that plays to 160 yards from the back tees.
Watch out for # 8, a 501 yard par-5 challenge and the #1 handicap hole on the course. The easiest hole at Bear Creek Valley Golf Club is # 16, a 183 yard par-3.
Bear Creek Valley Golf Club offers lots of options, along with a nice mix of long and short holes, uphill and downhill holes, and more and less challenging tee shots.
Two of the most memorable holes are par 3s: the 174-yard seventh and the 183-yard 16th. The interesting aspect of the seventh hole is that it plays radically uphill to a blind green. Contrast this with the 16th that drops some 60 feet from tee to green.
#15 is a par-4, 345-yard downhill tee shot to a wide, flat landing area. From there it's a 9-iron or wedge to the large green. Watch out there;s the equivilent of the Eisenhower tree blocking a good many approaches to the green.
PGA Tour pro and area resident Trevor Dodds, has said that Bear Creek Valley Golf Club has... "better conditions than some of the courses that we play [on the PGA Tour]."