The toughest eighteen: Indiana's most challenging golf courses.IN SEARCH OF A GOLFING challenge? We checked in with the Indiana Golf Association to learn which Indiana courses are the toughest, based on slope rating The slope rating of a golf course, typically in the US, is a measure of its difficulty for bogey golfers. The term comes from the fact that when playing on more difficult courses, players' scores will rise more quickly than their handicaps would predict. . Here's what we found:Wolf Run Golf Club, Zionsville Topping our list with a 148 slope rating is Wolf Run, a course that designer Steve Smyers intended from the start to be ultra-challenging. In fact, when dentist and successful amateur golfer Jack Leer first opened the course in the late 1980s, its original slope of 151 was among the nation's toughest. Even the pros have found it tough--Nick Faldo said holes 12 through 15 were the hardest four in succession he had ever played. Wolf Run is packed with challenges throughout its 7,090 scenic yards, including ridges and ravines. Crooked Stick Golf Club Crooked Stick Golf Club is located in Carmel, a northern suburb of Indianapolis. It was built in 1964 by the famous course architect Pete Dye. It was host to the PGA Championship that John Daly won in 1991. It was also host to the 2005 Solheim Cup matches. , Carmel The first of a few Pete Dye Pete Dye (born December 29 1925 in Urbana, Ohio) is a golf course designer and a member of a famous family of course designers. Dye has degrees from Rollins College, Stetson University, and Purdue University. creations on our list of the state's toughest, Crooked Stick is one of the most prominent. Among other honors, it hosted the 1991 PGA (1) (Professional Graphics Adapter) An early IBM PC display standard for 3D processing with 640x480x256 resolution. It was not widely used. (2) (Programmable Gate Array) See gate array and FPGA. , the 1994 U.S. Women's Open and last year's Solhelm Cup. It also has had the honor of hosting Dye himself, who bought a house on the course. Measuring 7,400 yards and carrying a slope rating of 146, Crooked Stick is known for playing hard but fair. The par 3 hole No. 6 is considered the signature, featuring water and a covered bridge. Sycamore Hills Golf Club Hills Golf Club is a golf club located in Mölndal near Gothenburg in Sweden. The 18-hole course, designed by Arthur Hills, was opened in 2004. External links
Named for the sycamores that accent this picturesque course along Fort Wayne's Aboite River, Sycamore Hills earns a 146 slope rating. Designed by Jack Nicklaus Noun 1. Jack Nicklaus - United States golfer considered by many to be the greatest golfer of all time (born in 1940) Jack William Nicklaus, Nicklaus and opened in 1989, the course always ranks as one of the state's best and among the nation's finest. The Aboite makes its presence known in several places, especially on the signature 15th hole, where players must cross it four times. The course offers a nice range of challenges, measuring 7,275 yards from the back tees but just 5,232 from the front. Purdue University Purdue University (pərdy  `, -d`), main campus at West Lafayette, Ind. Birck Boilermaker boil·er·mak·er n. 1. One that makes or repairs boilers. 2. Slang A drink of whiskey with a beer chaser. boilermaker Noun a person who works with metal in heavy industry Kampen Course, West Lafayette West Lafayette, city (1990 pop. 25,907), Tippecanoe co., W Ind., a suburb of Lafayette, on the Wabash River; inc. 1924. A primarily residential city, it is the seat of Purdue Univ. This Pete Dye design is one of the nation's top collegiate courses, marked by waste bunkers, wetlands, ponds and native grasses. It has served as a training ground both for university competitors and students interested in golf course design and maintenance--in fact, students helped build it back in the late 1990s. The course measures 7,272 from the back tees and carries a slope rating of 145, and regularly hosts a variety of collegiate and amateur tournaments. A signature hole is No. 6, a lengthy par 5 with a dogleg dog·leg n. 1. a. Something that has a sharp bend, especially a road or route that bends abruptly. b. A sharp bend or turn: Make a dogleg at the fire station and continue south. right turn around a celery bog. Sand Creek Sand Creek, Colorado, site of a massacre (1864) of Cheyenne by Col. John M. Chivington and his Colorado Volunteers. The Cheyennes, led by their chief, Black Kettle, had offered to make peace and, at the suggestion of military personnel, had encamped at Sand Creek Country Club, Chesterton Three nines make up this scenic course, originally created by Ken Killian and Dick Nugent for executives of Bethlehem Steel The Bethlehem Steel Corporation (1857–2003), based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, once was the second largest steel producer in the United States (after Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based US Steel). . Pick a different pair of nines and you'll have a different experience. The Marsh/Lake combination has earned a slope rating of 145 from the back tees. The Marsh course gets its name from its extensive wetlands, creeks, ponds and rolling terrain, while the Lake course adds the challenges of Lake Morgan. Another nearby body of water--Lake Michigan--also spells trouble by stirring up tricky winds and adding strokes to the scores of the unwary. Hulman Links, Terre Haute Terre Haute (tĕr`ə hōt, tĕr`ē hŭt), city (1990 pop. 51,483), seat of Vigo co., W Ind., on the Wabash River; inc. 1816. Designed by David Gill, this course boasts more than 130 bunkers, eight lakes, huge fast greens, plenty of elevation changes and a slope of 144. Accuracy is at a premium on its extremely narrow fairways lined by water and trees (the joke is that on some holes, foursomes must walk down the fairways single-file). Two lakes bother golfers on the finishing hole--one that must be avoided off the tee and another that must be carried on the second shot to reach the green. Following winds are common on this hole, but not always welcome as they can help send a strongly hit tee shot into the second lake. Otter Creek Otter Creek may refer to:
Ever since it opened in 1964, Otter Creek has been on lists of the country's 25 best public courses. Robert Trent Jones See: American TV writer Trent Jones Robert Trent Jones, Sr. (June 20, 1906 – June 14, 2000) was a golf course architect who designed (or re-designed) about 500 golf courses in at least 40 US states and 35 other countries all around the world. Sr. designed the original 18, and his son Rees added another nine in 1995. Combine the West and East courses and you'll achieve a slope rating of 144. The younger Jones' East nine sports a Scottish links look. The West nine includes Otter Creek's signature hole, No. 4 West, which the elder Jones called "Alcatraz" because it's surrounded by water. All three nines make good use of the site's gently rolling hills Rolling hills are like a mountain chain, only a "hill chain" of hills that roll on and on continually. You will often find them in between plains and mountains, near major rivers, or randomly anywhere. The only places without rolling hills are deserts and flood plains. and water features. Brickyard Crossing, Indianapolis It's hard to imagine a more intriguing place for a golf hole than inside the world's most famous race track, but the Brickyard Crossing has four such holes set inside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway--holes 7 through 10. Designer Pete Dye, when he re-created the course in the early 1990s, set the remaining holes outside the track to the east, finishing up the course with a few holes that cross Little Eagle Creek Eagle Creek may refer to: A number of locations in Saskatchewan, Canada:
Brickyard Crossing sports a slope rating of 143 and measures just under 7,000 yards from the back tees. It's challenging enough for the pros, but open to the public. Victoria National Golf Club, Newburgh Some folks argue that strip mining is bad for the environment. Others play golf on a piece of southwest Indiana land made gorgeous by strip mining, which left behind deep lakes, ravines and hills. That would be Victoria National, a Tom Fazio Tom Fazio (born February 10, 1945) began his career in golf course design in the suburban Philadelphia and has created, considered by many, some of the most visually attractive golf holes in the world. gem in Newburgh that consistently ranks among the nation's best courses. Victoria National measures about 7,200 yards from the back tees and has a slope rating of 143. Surface coal mining created numerous pits that have since filled with water to become hazards on 15 of the 18 holes. The course will host the USGA USGA United States Golf Association USGA Uhren & Schmuck Gassner (Germany) USGA US Global Nanospace Inc. (stock symbol) USGA Undergraduate Student Government Association Senior Amateur this fall. Ironwood ironwood: see hornbeam. ironwood Any of numerous trees and shrubs, found worldwide, that have exceptionally tough or hard wood useful for timber, fence posts, and tool handles. Golf Club, Fishers Ironwood sports three nines, which means three different 18-hole configurations. The one with a 142 slope rating is the Valley/Lakes pairing, which measures 6,901 yards from the back tees. The Fishers course was designed by Bob Thompson and Art Kaser, who have a fondness for islands. Hole 6 on the Lakes course tees from an island, with a long carry over a lake to hit the fairway, with water continuing to threaten all the way to the green. And the next hole features an island green. Purgatory Golf Club, Noblesville That quest for Verb 1. quest for - go in search of or hunt for; "pursue a hobby" quest after, go after, pursue look for, search, seek - try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of; "The police are searching for clues"; "They are searching for the a good golf challenge just might land you in Purgatory, an imposing course with a slope of 142. But despite the somber-sounding name, Golf Digest has declared that it's "more heaven than hell." Just remember that when you land in one of the 133 bunkers scattered across the Ron Kern links-style design. Adding to the challenge is length--at 7,754 yards from the back tees, it has staked a claim as the longest regulation course in the world. Perhaps its best-known challenge is No. 17, dubbed "Hell's Half Acre Noun 1. Hell's Half Acre - a district in Manhattan formerly noted for its slums and vice Hell's Kitchen Manhattan - one of the five boroughs of New York City ," a troublesome hole not because of length (just 173 yards) but because of the more than two acres of bunkers surrounding its ample, three-tiered green. Woodland County Club, Carmel Yet another course with Pete Dye's signature, the four-decade-old private club debuted a Dye championship course four years ago. Measuring 7,191 yards from the back tees, the Carmel course carries a top slope rating of 142. The club was originally designed and owned by golf architect William H. Diddel. It was a public fee course at first but quickly attracted enough interest to convert to a private club. Dye was called in to make some improvements in 2002. Glendarin Hills Golf Club, Angola This is a relatively new entry to the Indiana golfing scene, opened in 1999 on a rolling site that had been farmland. From the back tees it measures 7,003 yards and boasts a slope rating of 141. Water comes into play on several holes, and No. 4 is an especially attractive par 3 that's set back into the woods. Glendarin Hills added a large clubhouse in 2004. Grey Goose Golf Club, Decatur Ernie Schrock designed this course on 240 acres of woods and wetlands. It's challenging with a 141 slope, yet it's not an impossible length, measuring just 6,447 from the back tees. Grey Goose features water on most holes, including the 10th, a par 5 with a triplet triplet /trip·let/ (trip´let) 1. one of three offspring produced at one birth. 2. a combination of three objects or entities acting together, as three lenses or three nucleotides. 3. of wetlands. The daring will try to cover those three carries in only two shots, but there's little margin of error. White Hawk Country Club, Crown Point Another 27-hole entry with three separate challenges, pick the Greyhawk/Blackhawk combination for a slope of 141 and a distance of about 7,000 yards. Dick Nugent crafted White Hawk on 250 acres of woods, prairies, creeks and wetlands, with the course planted in bent grass. On this combination, a particularly memorable hole will be Blackhawk No. 6. The par 3 is only about 150 yards from the back tees, but you'll be aiming for a small, kidney-shaped island green. The Fort, Indianapolis Once one of the capital city's best-kept secrets, the course that was originally built for Fort Benjamin Harrison Fort Benjamin Harrison was a U.S. Army post located on the northeast side of Indianapolis, Indiana, named for the 23rd United States President Benjamin Harrison. Land was purchased in 1903, with the post officially being named for President Harrison in honor of Indianapolis being occupants was deeded to the state and redesigned by Pete Dye as part of Fort Harrison State Park Fort Harrison is a state park in Indiana. It is located in the northeast section of Indianapolis, Indiana, and occupies part of the former site of Fort Benjamin Harrison. . The course, which measures 7,144 yards from the back tees and carries a slope rating of 139, cuts through gorgeous, wooded hills that seem out of place in mostly flat central Indiana. Bent grass lines the tees, greens and fairways, and wetlands come into play along holes 5 and 6. Liberty Country Club, Liberty, 139 Liberty Country Club is no newcomer, around since 1927. With a slope of 139 it promises a fine challenge despite its comparatively short length of 6,375 from the back. For many, the highlight is hole 14, a dogleg left with trees lining the left side. Beware the large bunker on the right in front of the green. Sagamore sag·a·more n. A subordinate chief among the Algonquians of North America. [Eastern Abenaki s  Club, Noblesville
Open less than three years, the Jack Nicklaus-designed Sagamore Club has quickly earned a spot among Indiana's elite: With a slope rating of 139, it's a 7,173-yard challenge, thanks to the presence of sand and/or water on every hole. Nicklaus was said to be more involved in this course's design than some that bear his name. He even insisted on changing the direction of the front nine when he determined that too many holes on the original layout played against the natural contours of the site. True to Nicklaus form, the course is tough but rewards a good shot.
USGA
Course Slope
Course City Rating Rating
Wolf Run Golf Club Zionsville 75.8 148
Crooked Stick Golf Club Carmel 77.3 146
Sycamore Hills Golf Club Fort Wayne 75.2 146
Purdue Birck Boilermaker
Kampen Course West Lafayett 76.5 145
Sand Creek Country Club
(Marsh/Lake) Chesterton 75.1 145
Hulman Links Terre Haute 77.2 144
Otter Creek Golf
Course (West/East) Columbus 72.1 144
Brickyard Crossing Indianapolis 74.0 143
Victoria National Golf Club Newburgh 75.4 143
Ironwood Golf Club (Valley/Lakes) Fishers 74.5 142
Purgatory Golf Club Noblesville 78.1 142
Woodland County Club Carmel 74.9 142
Glendarin Hills Golf Club Angola 74.0 141
Grey Goose Golf Club Decatur 71.1 141
White Hawk Country Club
(Greyhawk/Blackhawk) Crown Pointa 73.9 141
The Fort Indianapolis 74.5 139
Liberty Country Club Liberty 70.8 139
Sagamore Club Noblesville 75.2 139
Source: Indiana Golf Association, ratings from back tees
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