Brickyard Crossing (w/pics)

[Chris_Clouser]

       When the Speedway Golf Course was first laid out by Bill Diddle nine holes were within the confines of the two and a half mile track.  The other nine were located on the grounds adjacent to the backstretch.  To go between the two loops one had to cross a wooden bridge that went above the track.  This bridge was known as the “Brickyard Crossing” and is where the facility draws its name from today.  In 1961 the course was expanded to twenty-seven holes in time for the PGA Tour stop.  The course was the home of a regular PGA Tour stop over Memorial Day weekend and had one of the largest purses on the tour.  The top players of the era such as Casper, Palmer and Nicklaus all played in the event.  
   Everything changed in 1991 when Pete Dye was hired to convert the golf course in a sweeping plan by Tony George to create a top-flight golf resort with the new course at the center.  The tie-ins with the racing facility, the IMS hall of fame and other nearby tourist traps would make for an unforgettable getaway for any golfer.  The course met with immediate praise when it reopened and was the host of a Senior Tour event for several years.  Now the course is not only a one of a kind attraction with four holes within the track, but it is also a must see golf destination because of the merits of the course.
     Fortunately for Dye, it was predetermined that part of his new course was going to lay within the race track.  So he had built in appeal right from the start.  He was also blessed with the Little Eagle Creek that runs through the middle of the remaining holes outside the larger attraction.  With the narrow site available outside of the track, there was no opportunity to have two loops of nine holes, so Dye routed the course with only the first and final holes near the clubhouse.  He also used as much as he could to bring in the tradition of Scottish courses that he originally studied in the 1960s, pot bunkers on the ninth hole are a prime example of this thinking.  A railroad runs along the eastern edge of the property.  Houses are hard against the northern end of the course along with the other trappings of Americana with telephone and electric towers in plain view on the course and actually in play on a hole or two.
   Dye’s bunkering and greens were almost identical to what he was doing at other courses during this stage of his career.  They were the longer flat-bottomed hazards, placed at particular angles to emphasize position on the golf course, and the round pot style bunkers usually positioned near the greens.  Mostly Dye uses psychology to make the player think the hole is more difficult than it truly is.  On all but two of the holes, the path to the green is uninterrupted by sand if the player ventures just off of the direct line to the putting surface.  The greens are typical Dye with contouring and some tiers.  The most interesting green complex is on the seventh hole.  Named after the famed Redan hole, the green slightly runs from the front right towards the back left with a lone pot bunker as the defense for the hole if one is strictly looking at hazards.  
   Brickyard Crossing is one of a line of courses that was manufactured on the environment provided.  This is evidenced by the large hills and mounding that surrounded many green complexes.  This “stadium” style of construction was used by Dye due to the desires of the course to eventually hold large tournaments, which they did for years with the Senior Tour.  But the hills are not the only large construction jobs on the site.  The seventh again provides a wonderful example as the green itself is almost like a volcano in the middle of a large ring in the form of a berm around the perimeter of the hole.  The area within the ring is a much lower than the actual putting surface.  It is quite an imposing site from the back tee markers.  
   But aside from the controversial seventh hole, Brickyard Crossing has some excellent hole layouts.  As with any Dye design you are going to see some of the stalwarts of strategic golf, Dye almost always gets the strategic aspects of every hole correct.  There are of course several holes that have a variation of the same theme, hazard on the shorter line to the hole and then a bunker or water protecting the side of approach from the non-preferred angle of play.  But at the Brickyard that does not seem nearly as forced on the player as at other Dye layouts.  Another design element is that Dye often raises the ground along the outside of the approach side of the green to use as an aid for getting balls to run onto the green for running shots, again drawing off of his understanding of traditional Scottish designs.
   For those that will ask here are the three iterations of the routing over the life of the course.  I only have seen it in its current form and have no knowledge of how the course played before Dye’s work on the course.

Photos of the course will be in the second post.
Original routing

Updated routing by Diddel

Current course by Dye

[Chris_Clouser]

Holes of note:

Hole 3 – 365 yards - The third winds itself around some of the best terrain to be found in 365 yards with a hill on the left side of the hole.  The fairway winds around this and leaves a blind shot into a wonderful green for anyone except those that go along the extreme right side.  The green is perhaps the most contoured on the course and provides some wonderful putts, but blind seconds into the green often end up running long and into the chipping area beyond the green.  Perhaps my favorite on the course.

Tee shot

View from on top of hole

View from behind showing the flow of the hole around the hill


Hole 4 – 206 yards - The fourth is a beautiful setting that is protected on the inside by the creek and a stone wall, as well as a bunker.  Of the short holes, the fourth is the superior hole from tee to green in beauty, challenge and design.



Hole 7 – 190 yards – The first hole inside the track and what is often considered Holy Ground for Hoosiers.  An imposing hole that looks much longer than its yardage.  Features a 50 yard long green that is split by a ridge.  Though not a true Redan, it does share some characteristics.  The hole drops off in all directions from the green.  I don’t know if I would call it a great hole, but it is definitely worth some conversation.



Hole 8 – 448 yards – A solid strategic hole that is great on the green end as it curves around the water on the left.  

From behind the green.  Note the little tongue that goes toward the hazard on the front right when viewed from the fairway.


Hole 10 – 346 yards - The tenth features a wave like motion in the terrain that leads up to the green complex and another excellent green by Dye.  The pot bunker in the back of the hole creates some trepidation on delicate pitch shots that run down the length of the putting surface.  

From behind the hole


Hole 13 – 192 yards - The thirteenth features an E-shaped hazard and a deep pot with a railroad tie for the back face of the bunker.  This might be the scariest par three when all is said and done.  Start of the strong finish.



Hole 14 – 311 yards - The fourteenth features a deep pot bunker in the middle of the fairway in a clear allusion to the links courses of Scotland and another difficult green complex for the player that cannot control their wedge game.

The tee shot
 
The pot bunker in the middle of the fairway


Hole 15 – 545 yards - With the electric tower being the aiming point for the sloped fairway, the player can either be left with a perfect lie to set up an ideal approach or be stuck behind the piece of Americana for a difficult second.  Perhaps the best par five out of a lackluster group.

The approach


Hole 17 – 204 yards - The seventeenth is similar to the fourth but running in the opposite direction, from left to right.

The green from the hill on the left
 

Hole 18 – 457 yards - The final hole is the class of the longer par fours as a group as the creek runs along the right side all the way up the hole.  The fairway slopes from left to right to create a typical Dye finishing hole with a pot bunker protecting the center line into the green.  

From the tee.  Note the 30 foot hill on the left.

The green

[John Nixon]

Chris, thanks for the post. I've not yet played Brickyard, and to be honest, have never really felt a stronge desire to. Your writeup and pics, though, may change my mind. I'd always envisioned a course totally surrounded and dominated by the urban treasure that is the 16th and Georgetown cityscape, but I am glad to see I was mistaken.

Some of those green complexs appear pretty severe, even by Pete Dye standards - would you agree?

[Peter_Herreid]

As always, Chris, thanks so much for the photo essay!

I have always talked Brickyard Crossing up as perhaps one of the, if not the, greatest expression of "place" in American golf, in that there can be no mistaking where one is--the heartland of America--when playing the course.  No faux Irish mounds, no quasi-Scottish fescues, etc...  I think that, even if the course has significant flaws or is over the top in many areas, it is one that should be visited for its overwhelming sense of "location"...

One question-and it was 12 years ago when I played there, so I may easily be wrong....

Wasn't the 18th a par-5 at one point, with a green over that extension of the creek?  I thought this was one of those times that Pete Dye tried his "fill-able" hazard idea; one that could be left "dry" as desired, and then "filled in" for tournaments, etc...

I might be all wet, though, because I know he eventually did that at the River Course...

[Billsteele]

Chris-I really am enjoying your photo summaries of some of Indiana's best publics. One of the things that photos do not reveal about the 7th green is the severity of the drop off surrounding the putting surface. When I played it a few years ago, the area around the green was shaved down with no rough to stop the ball. Thus, if you missed the green, you had an interesting chip up the slope to a pin that was partially obscured. The other thing that I remember is the sense of awe I experienced travelling from the 6th green through the tunnel to the 7th tee. At that point, you realize that you are in the middle of one of America's iconic sports venues. Very neat. I thought the course had a lot of visual intimidation (as do many Dye courses) but was overall very fair and allowed you to recover from most missed shots as long as you missed on the proper side. The tee shot off 18 was particularly perplexing because it seemed like your choice was to go way left into the hillside or flirt with the water on the right.

[Chris_Clouser]

John,

I think that of the modern designs and the early designs of his career it would seem they are extreme, but I think in the late 80s and early 90s Pete was thinking about challenging the top pros a lot in his green designs.  That was one of the driving forces of the redesign because the intention was to try and get a pro tournament at the Brickyard.

Peter,

The 18th was a par five prior to Pete's work on the course, so maybe that is what you are thinking of.  Look at the routing on the first post to see the changes.  

Bill,

Yes, the fall off around the 7th is amazing on all sides.  It is quite an intimidating site.

[Jay Flemma]

Amazing greens!  Great job chris!

When is the book on INDIANA golf coming?

[Chris_Clouser]

Jay,

I'm struggling in trying to format the book properly.  Once I get that figured out I will try to get a publisher lined up.  But I have talked to a couple of places, just nothing concrete at this time.

Chris