Springfield, Branson & Joplin Golf Courses & Tee Times in Kansas

Who runs public golf in Springfield, Branson & Joplin

In Springfield, the Springfield-Greene County Park Board runs three 18-hole courses: Rivercut, Horton Smith and Bill & Payne Stewart. It also runs the Betty Allison Junior Golf Course at Oscar Blom, a lighted nine-hole par 3 where kids play free Sunday through Thursday. There is no resident card; the Park Board sells a Golf Patron Plan for frequent players and takes 15% off green fees and carts for veterans and military on Fridays. In Joplin, Schifferdecker is the only public 18-hole course, a par 71 on Route 66 that the Joplin City Park Board has run since 1929. It is open year-round. Big Cedar's courses near Branson are open to the public, with lower local rates for residents of nearby Missouri and Arkansas counties, Greene and Jasper included.

Public courses worth knowing in Springfield, Branson & Joplin

• Rivercut Golf Course: A Ken Dye design along the James River. Named to Golfweek's 2022 list of the Top 10 Missouri public courses and rated Golf Digest's No. 1 Missouri municipal course in 2009.
• Bill & Payne Stewart Golf Course: Perry Maxwell planned it and it opened in 1947, the Park Board's most established course. Named for Missouri Amateur winner Bill Stewart and his son Payne, who won two U.S. Opens and a PGA Championship.
• Horton Smith Golf Course: Built in 1962 and named for Horton Smith, who won the first Masters in 1934 and won again in 1936.
• Schifferdecker Golf Course: Opened in 1922 as Joplin's municipal course. It hosted the Missouri State Open in 1925 and 1926 and the Tri-State (Ozark Amateur) since 1926.
• Payne's Valley: Tiger Woods' TGR Design built it as its first fully public course. Golf Digest named it Best New Public Course in America in 2021.
• Ozarks National: A Coore & Crenshaw design at Big Cedar where Phil Mickelson won a PGA Tour Champions event weeks after turning 50.
• Top of the Rock: A nine-hole Jack Nicklaus par 3 above Table Rock Lake. Big Cedar says it is the only par-3 course the PGA Tour has used for a championship event.

Booking tee times in Springfield, Branson & Joplin: the local rules

Springfield's three Park Board courses book online, and nine-hole times can't be booked online before noon on weekends. Big Cedar runs on its own windows. If you aren't staying at the resort, Payne's Valley and Cliffhangers open 14 days ahead for tee times from mid-April to late October and 30 days ahead the rest of the year. Other Big Cedar courses open 30 days out, or 60 days for mid-June to mid-August. Resort guest rates are only available by phone. The 2026 peak season runs April 13 to October 25, and Buffalo Ridge and Ozarks National close from December 7 through early March.

Why tee times in Springfield, Branson & Joplin are hard to get

Golf in Springfield, Branson & Joplin follows the seasons: spring openers and fall weekends are the busiest stretches, and summer mornings fill before afternoons.

Most public courses open their tee sheet a set number of days ahead, often 7 to 14, and many municipal courses give residents or card holders an earlier window. The best weekend-morning times usually go the day they're released. Leagues and outings take blocks of the sheet before the public ever sees them.

When tee time cancellations happen

Booked-up doesn't mean gone. Plans change: groups cancel ahead of the course's cancellation deadline (often 24 to 48 hours out), players drop when the forecast turns, and a group that shrinks leaves an open spot. Those times quietly come back on the booking page, usually for minutes, not hours.

How to get a tee time in Springfield, Branson & Joplin

Doing it by hand? Here's what works.

1. Know the booking window. Find out how many days ahead each course releases times, and whether residents get an earlier window. Be ready the morning it opens.
2. Look again 24 to 48 hours out. That's when most cancellation deadlines pass and spots come back.
3. Be flexible on group size. Singles and twosomes fit into gaps a foursome can't.
4. Try twilight and weekday afternoons. They're the last to fill and often cheaper.

Read the full guide to getting a tee time when everything's booked