Regular Golf Club

A muni golfer’s dispatches from Bellerive and the BMW Championship

by Ryan O. (craftylefty2126@bsky.social)

TOWN AND COUNTRY, Mo. – The day started with some idiot spilling a half-full glass of water on his buddy and in the aisle near the front of the shuttle from the off-site parking lot to the course.

(It’s me. I’m the idiot.)

After apologizing profusely to everyone in the vicinity and thanking fate that my buddy was wearing black shorts, the shuttle pulled into Bellerive Country Club and dumped us out alongside thousands of other people in polos or sundresses, OEM hats and shorts with questionable inseams.

Welcome to the Western Open BMW Championship.

My wife and I joined three of my pals from back in high school in St. Louis on Sunday for the conclusion of the second leg of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup (feel the excitement!). Here’s a muni guy’s observations from the country club on an unseasonably cool day in the suburbs:

• The merch tent at any PGA Tour stop is the Wild West for business casual attire. Pretty picked over, everyone jockeying for the last Peter Millar polo in their size, somehow you spend at least $200 just by walking through the door, things of that nature.
  
• Our final haul – a set of six logo golf balls, a BMW Championship polo, a Western Open hat and t-shirt, golf towel, ball marker, coin purse, Sharpie, bucket hat and novelty bag to hold it all.
  
• Finding your friends after getting separated is hard enough with phones. How the hell people manage at the Masters every year is beyond me.
  
• The calves on Sepp Straka’s caddie are too massive to be believed. Absolute unit.

• However big you *think* the galleries are following Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, it’s not big enough. Absolute scenes trying to elbow your way to catch a glimpse. Best to get there a couple of holes ahead of them.
  
• I enjoy Tom Kim. His energy is contagious. But holy shit, even Patrick Cantlay thinks he could speed it up a bit.
  
• Chris Gotterup hits the absolute piss out of the ball. You knew that already, but the sound it makes off his clubface is just different. Built like an absolute keg (complimentary) with the power to match.
  

• No. 11 is going to be an absolute delight come the 2030 Presidents Cup. Put the pin at the front and dare the boys to take driver with that pond short right. Should make for some absolute chaos coming down the stretch.
  
• The spot on the hill above 11 green is the place to be. You can see the second green and all of the par-3 third hole in the background, with the 12^th tee off to the left. The most bang for your viewing buck.
  
• To that end, I could watch guys hit tee shots into No. 3 all day. Par 3s and reachable par 5s are where it’s at from an in-person viewing perspective.
  
• Bellerive should host an annual PGA Tour stop. The crowds were massive and locked in. The shuttle system for off-site parking was incredibly smooth. The course presented enough of a challenge, and the bunkers and rough were penal enough to matter. It’s also a fairly easy walk for spectators.
  
• I had an epiphany seeing him on the first hole – Ryan Fox’s swing is basically the Marge Simpson meme while still producing insanely good results. The Champion Golfer of the Year is an absolute gem.

• People LOVE some Gary Woodland. St. Louis embraced him fully, despite his questionable decisions on institutions of higher education (several playful MIZ’s went the kU grad’s way from Mizzou alums like myself. Let me tell you about our journalism school…). What a run to East Lake he made this week.
  
• If you’re not on the 18^th hole by the time the leaders are on 15, just catch the shuttle. You’re not seeing shit.
  
• I’m not a Wyndham Clark fan by any stretch (Oakmont sends its regards), but the dude went out and got it with a birdie-birdie-birdie finish after fighting it all day.

The course couldn’t have been any better, the drama was there throughout, and the weather was as good as it gets for St. Louis in August. 10/10, would Bellerive again.