Gateway National

Getting To Know: Gateway National Golf Links

An Insightful Interview With Shawn Barnes, General Manager / Director of Golf

By Brian Weis

Whether you have played a course 20+ times a year or looking to play the course for the first time, insights from an insider can help enhance your golf experience. Below is an interview with Shawn Barnes who shares some valuable tidbits about the course, memorable holes and must eats and treats at the 19th.

Give Our Readers An Overview of the Golf Course/Property
Gateway National Golf Links is the # 1 Public Golf Course in St. Louis and the Only One With Bentgrass Fairways!

Enjoy golf as it was meant to be played at this stunning, links-style course in the perfect location for golfers who work in, or travel to or visit the downtown St. Louis and Metro-East areas.

Gateway National offers St. Louis golfers the rare opportunity to return to the rich traditions of the game. Rolling links, separated by gentle mounds, meander through lush, green pasture lands.

Tall grasses, lakes, wood-tie bunkers, and occasional giant cottonwoods complete the landscape. In view of the magnificent Gateway Arch, you will cross occasional stone bridges, glide on raised boardwalks through quiet wetlands, and enjoy play on the only public St. Louis golf course with bentgrass fairways within hundreds of miles.

If Someone Was Looking To Golf In The Area, Why Should They Play Your Course?
Fantastic Conditions, Magnificent views of the Gateway Arch and St. Louis skyline, and Dynamic Pricing where every golfer can pick the right rate at the right time for themselves.

What Tips or Local Knowledge Would You Provide To Help Them Score Better At Your Course?
As the only Bent Grass Public Course for hundreds of miles around the course will play 250-300 yards longer than the actual scorecard yardage when compared to other courses in the area, so choose the tee you play accordingly.

Pro tip - in general play about half of the break you read in the greens.

Any recent changes to the golf course? Or any upcoming changes?
No recent changes to the course but we are recapturing bunker area on lots of bunkers that have shrunk over the years. Additionally, we are building an all new halfway house that will be called The Bud Barn at our 10th tee. The new Bud Barn will offer new items and more selection than ever before.

Recent Awards or What You Are Most Proud About The Course?
Gateway National is perennially considered the #1 Public Course in the St. Louis area and is definitely the busiest 18 hole course in the area.

What Is The Signature, Most Talked About, or Most Photographed Hole?
Many holes have the St. Louis Arch and city skyline in the background so they are photographed many, many times but the signature hole is the 250-270 yard par 4 #10 that gives the golfers fits.

Whether it's the bunker in the middle of the fairway guarding a misplayed layup shot or the pond that fronts the green along with a creek that runs along its right side golfers trying to drive the green must not only be accurate but able to carry the ball about 10-15 yards further than they think because the hole almost always plays into the wind.

What Is Your Favorite Hole? Any Tips to Play It?
My favorite hole is the Par 5, #18, as it is a great risk/reward hole. After you've hit a good tee shot you're faced with the decision of laying up or going for the green in 2 and with water on the left and in front of the green you need to choose wisely!

For the traveling golfer, do you have lodging onsite or partner with any area hotels?
We do not have a hotel on site nor do we have a hotel partner but Downtown St. Louis is literally 5 minutes away and Collinsville IL is less than 10 minutes away between the two you'll always find a room at a fair price.

Who Holds Course Record and What Was Their Score?
Course Record is 63 shot by Sammy Rachels in the 2000 PGA Southern Club Professional Championship

Back Tee Stats
Par: 71
Yardage: 7092
Slope: 74.2
Rating: 127

More Information
Gateway National Golf Links
18 Golf Dr Madison, IL, 62060
618-482-4653

www.gatewaynational.com

Revised: 04/05/2021 - Article Viewed 10,748 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.