The Orchards Golf Club

Belleville sits in the Metro East region of Illinois, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, and the golf here benefits from that proximity — a large, golf-hungry metro area that has cultivated a competitive and varied public course scene on both sides of the state line. The rolling terrain of southwestern Illinois gives courses in this corridor more topographic interest than the flat agricultural stretches farther north, and the region's distinct seasons mean the course plays through genuine transitions, from firm summer fairways to the soft, receptive conditions of spring and fall.

The Orchards Golf Club suggests, by name at least, that the property has some history tied to the land itself — fruit-growing country was once common throughout this part of the American Bottom and the bluffs above it. Whether or not the orchards remain, that agricultural past often shapes how a course sits within its terrain.

As an 18-hole public layout playing to a par of 71, The Orchards is a solid local option for Metro East golfers looking for a familiar, accessible round without crossing the river.