Crystal Highlands Golf Course

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Crystal Highlands Golf Course was closed for many years and reopened August 2, 2021. I had played it back in the 80’s and do not remember much about it. But, the course is actually quite fun and a well-maintain course located in Festus, MO, about 30 miles south of St. Louis just off of Highway 55. The course is very hilly with a significant amount of design elements for architectural texture. The fairway grasses are mix of Bermuda and zoysia and the roughs are cut low so that lost balls (in the primary rough) should not be an issue. But, the course has a significant amount of mature trees and wooded areas that come in to play quite often. The large greens are of medium complexity and many have multi-tiers. The green on the 3rd hole is very steep from the back to the front. If the pin is on the lower tier and your ball is on the upper tier, forget about it. Your ball WILL roll off the green. The change in slope is probably 8’. There are also a large number of traps strategically placed on every hole; some are quite large.

Crystal Highlands is definitely much nicer than I remember. The new owner and his GM, Josh Heulsing, did a wonderful job of bringing this old course back to life. Congratulations! I can’t wait to make the trek down to Festus again to play at a leisurely pace (3.5 hours) to absorb all that your course has to offer.