Loch Lloyd Country Club

Loch Lloyd is a gated village just south of the Kansas line in Cass County, and the club is the reason the village exists. The original 18 by Donald Sechrest opened in 1990 and hosted a Senior Tour event the following year. New ownership brought in Tom Watson, who identified a hidden valley next door, and in 2012 he added nine holes there and reworked the rest into a 27-hole layout that Golf Digest ranked among the best new courses in the country that year. The clubhouse, pool, recreation complex and fitness center round it out, and the lake gives the whole place a resort feel that nothing in Johnson County quite matches.

Who lives and joins here? A lot of people who work in south Overland Park and Leawood and want more land, more privacy and a gate, and are willing to be on the Missouri side to get it. The village straddles a school district line, which surprises buyers: part of Loch Lloyd is served by Belton and the Kansas addresses at Stilwell 66085 fall under Blue Valley, so verify the exact parcel before you assume anything about schools. Membership is open to residents and non-residents alike, which means you will see members driving in from Leawood and Overland Park for golf and dinner.

If you are buying inside the gates, understand that the club is a separate purchase from the house. Membership categories are Full Golf, Junior Golf for members 39 and younger, Full Social, Senior Social for 65 and older, and Junior Social. Golf demand is high enough that the club runs a waitlist, and applicants approved for the list are required to put down a non-refundable ten thousand dollar deposit. So if golf is the point, ask about the waitlist first, then shop for the house, not the other way around.