The Oaks Golf Club Review

Texas Outside Rating: 9.1

Golf - Resort Public Course · 18 Holes · Par 71/72
Osage Beach, MO
Website

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The Oaks Golf Club Review

Review & Rating of The Oaks Golf Club at Margaritaville Lake Resort

World-renowned Bruce Devlin and Robert Von Hagge carved a beautiful championship golf course on property that used to be a ski slope with man-made snow in the Ozark hills.  The Oaks Golf Club at Margaritaville Lake Resort plays through rolling tree-lined fairways with dramatic elevation changes, beautiful views of Lake of the Ozarks, and challenging greens.  The par 71 course is short by today’s standards (6432) but it plays longer than the stated yardages and it’s a shot makers course that puts a premium on accuracy rather than distance.  On several holes, you should consider leaving the driver in the bag and focus on strategic course management and keeping the ball in the fairway if you want to turn in a good score.  Tight sloping fairways, dramatic elevation changes, several water hazards, and 53 bunkers most of which guard the greens make for a challenging round.  However, there are five tee boxes with yardages ranging from 3481 to 6432 yards – pick the right tee box and don’t bite off more than you can chew and you’ll have a fun and enjoyable round.  The course is scenic, offers some unique and interesting holes, and is challenging but fair for all levels of play.

Some of the holes that we really liked at The Oaks Golf Club included:

  • #4 is a fun and challenging 365-yard par 4 with an elevated tee box, a dogleg left, and a big pond in front of the green that will most likely force you to lay up or try a very risky shot over the trees to the green
  • #7 is a unique and fun roller coaster ride – a downhill shot to a fairway that takes a sharp  dogleg left and heads uphill to a green guarded by a left and right front bunker
  • #8 is a beautiful 163-yard par 4 with a big downhill shot over a pond to a green 3 bunkers in the front and one lone bunker across the back
  • #13 has an elevated tee box, a very tight fairway, and Lake of the Ozarks as a backdrop
  • #18 is an excellent finishing hole – a 423-yard par 4 with a carry over a lake off the elevated back tee box, a dogleg left, 3 fairway bunkers, and a small green guarded by 3 bunkers

The Bermuda and zoysia fairways vary from very tight to ample and most have some significant elevation changes that will require you to club up or club down.  You’ll also need to plan for and manage the sloping fairways which can be significant.  If you spray the ball, you’ll most likely be lost in trees or in the back yard of some beautiful homes that line three holes.  When we played the fairways were cut thick which means we didn’t get a lot of extra roll.  The rough was also a little thick but playable.  The Oaks fairways were in very good condition and the course is well maintained and manicured.

The bent grass greens at The Oaks Golf Club were also in near perfect condition, ran true and smooth,  and at a good speed.  Most are push up which hinders an effective bump and run and can create some roll off the edge of the green.  They have some slope but not a lot of undulation.  Most are well guarded with one to four bunkers.             

The sand in the 53 bunkers at The Oaks Golf Club is good and playable, but a little gritty and heavy.  The majority of the bunkers guard the greens and we didn’t have any trouble avoiding the fairway bunkers.  The lips are manageable – around 3 to 6 inches tall, but don’t expect to hit in and roll out.

Margaritaville Lake Resort is also home to a fun par 35 nine-hole course that's a blast to play.  Here is a link to our review of The 9 Hole Course.

Bottom line – The Oaks Golf Club is a must-play if you’re in the area – it’s scenic, fair but challenging, and home to some unique and interesting holes.

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Course Slope & Ratings

Tee Box Yardage Rating Slope
Black 6,432 71.7 132
Blue 4,810 64.0 111
White 4,003 63.5 108
Gold 6,009 69.8 130
Red 3,481 60.9 100

Course Information

Course Architect:
Robert Von Hagge/Bruce Devlin
Greens Type:
Bent Grass
Greens Condition
9.5
Greens Difficulty
8.5
Fairway Condition
9.0
Bunker Condition
8.5
GPS:
No
Walkable:
No
Beware of water on 10 holes and the 53 sand traps.

Texas Outside Rating

Overall Rating:
9.1 out of 10
Beauty:
9.2
Difficulty:
8.8
Variety:
8.9
Fun to Play:
9.8
Value:
8.8
Condition:
9.2
Front Nine Rating:
9.1
Back Nine Rating:
9.2
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FEES & AMENITIES

Approximate Weekend
Rates: $40.00 to $79.00

Service is excellent and very friendly. The pro shop is well stocked and won Merchandiser of the Year. Practice facilities are adequate. The grill has limited food and drink - cold sandwiches, some burgers, and dogs.

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Here's How Texas Outside Determines the Scorecard Rating

The Texas Outside rating scale ranges from 1 to 10 – a perfect 10 course would be something like this:  links along a cliff overlooking the Pacific ocean and bordered by tall trees; lush fairways on rolling hills with lots of natural hazards; water (which is crystal clear) on most of the holes; immaculate greens (but they are undulating and tough); lots of variety and character (each hole is completely different and includes blind shots, elevation changes, doglegs, and significant challenges); perfectly manicured traps with the whitest and prettiest sand you’ve ever seen; a nice club house with great food and a 19th hole; a GPS; plenty of beverage carts or your own cooler and ice; and it only costs $40 bucks! What this means is that you probably won’t find any 10s in Texas – try Cabo San Lucas, Pebble Beach, or some of the Hawaii courses! 
Texas Outside rates courses on the following:

  • Beauty – tall trees, rolling hills, beautiful houses, waterfalls, and similar stuff would score high; a 1 would be flat, bushes or cactus instead of trees, and some grass but mostly weeds
  • Difficulty – a straight, 300 yard par 4 with no traps or hazards, no out of bounds or water would probably get a 1; if it is a 460 yard par 4 over two ravines, with water along one side, natural hazards on the other, strategically placed traps or that dreaded tree right in the middle of the fairway, we are talking a 10. 
  • Variety – what would you give a course where all the holes looked and played exactly the same (“I thought we just played that hole!”); were side-by-side, which is good for finding or dodging other people’s balls, but not much fun; and you can see the flag from every tee box?  That’s right, it gets a 1.
  • Fun Scale – a 10 is where you walk off the course and say “now that was fun” and you can’t wait to get back, or you immediately turn around and play another 18 holes
  • Value – a 5 is $50 to $60, a 10 is $20 to $30, and 1 is $200 or so – of course all of this is dependent upon how you liked the course.  For example, if a run down, boring municipal course, with six players on each hole was only $10; it would still get a value rating of 1.
  • Condition – this one’s pretty easy – what condition are the fairways. A 10 commands very lush perfectly manicured fairways, compared to a 1, which has fire ants, weeds, and more dirt than grass!
  • Condition of Greens and Difficulty – very hard to read greens with lots of undulation and tough pin placement, rate very high on the difficulty scale.  Condition is self-explanatory.  

All of the above determines the overall score for the golf course.  In other words, we like courses that are pretty, fun, very challenging with a lot of variety, and fairways and greens in excellent condition – all for $40.  We also tend to play the courses that are affordable for the masses, which means in the $30 to $80 range. We rate hard and we haven’t found a 10 in Texas yet – don’t worry we haven’t given up and we’re still looking.