So based on Paul T.’s recommendation and neat picture thread this past week, I decided to make the five and a half hour drive from Chicago to French Lick, Indiana this past weekend in order to see both the recently renovated Donald Ross Course (formerly the Hill Course) and the brand new Pete Dye Course.
The drive down yesterday morning really wasn’t too bad considering it is pretty much a straight shot down I-65 and US-37. I left yesterday morning at 5am Chicago time and, with a much needed pit stop in Bloomington for a campus Penn Station sub and boardwalk fries ☺, arrived at the Ross Course by 1:10 and was on the first tee at 1:30.
While I didn’t bring a camera to the Ross Course as it is well documented with pictures on this site, I wish I had just in order to take pictures of the 18 greens and they are out of this world good. The course has a certain “country” feel to it as the course has wide open vistas, fairways that follow the nature shape of the land, random bunkering, and 18 fantastic green sites. While the course was not exactly playing F&F (the course received 2” of rain that morning), I decided to play the Gold Tees at +/- 7000 yards. What really makes the course is the totally world class set of greens, which in many ways I enjoyed more than the greens at Pinehurst #2 (!!!). The greens just make the course so much FUN and they literally blew my mind. After making the trip to see Lost Dunes about three weeks ago and seeing greens that felt as visually extreme as I have ever seen, I can honestly say that the greens at French Lick are more difficult and, while not visually as extreme, are just as interesting as there are no two alike on the entire course. I was shocked on the longest par-3s of well over 200 yards that the greens were far more severe than any modern GCA would ever design on a hole of similar length today. While the 8th Green gets much of the attention on here for its severity, I felt the 17th was by far the most difficult after (the pin was up top on the right) pulling my wedge a little left and watched it roll 30 feet down the slope left, concluding in my first FOUR putt in 10 years! I ended up playing in about 3.5 hours walking and never felt overly rushed at any point of the course. I thought the course was a joy to play and I wish I had another crack at the course as that there was some local knowledge that I could of used off the tee and around the greens. Despite all that I shot a solid 77.
That night I had dinner in Hagen’s in the Ross Clubhouse (Glenn the Asst. Pro made the great recommendation of Ribs and a Red Hook beer), and ended up staying at the west baden hotel and couldn’t get over the super cool free standing dome and the history of the hotel. You can’t beat drinking $3 “premium” Goose Island beers while watching the ceiling of the dome at dusk.
The next morning it was off to the Dye Course for a morning tee time. The course is only a short drive from the west baden hotel. After two right turns, you proceed to drive straight up a tree-lined hill that feels like a ski slope. You come across a locked gate that the only way to access is with an advance tee time. Once through the gate the first thing you realize is that 1) you are on a mountain, and 2) pictures really do not do the course and views justice…they are spectacular. You end up pulling up to a mansion at the highest point on the property and using a parking lot that is comprised of about 30 spots in between some trees. The Pro Shop is the converted carriage house and small. When I made a comment that it was very cool that a big brawny course has a low key and small Pro Shop operation the Asst. Pro was quick to mention that they are planning on building a huge clubhouse next to the range that would grant the logistics needed in order to “host the kind of tournaments we want.”
The first thing that you notice about the course is that while on a HUGE scale, the course’s fairways and greens are very tiny. My caddy told me that the widest point on any fairway on any hole is 29 yards, many times with the world ending on one side. The greens are also very small and for the first time I found a smaller par-4 green than the 4th at TCC. I was shocked that Dye decided to make the greens so small on some of the longer 450+ yard par-4’s, as in some solid wind the greens are next to impossible to hit with a long iron. Due to this, almost any player is going to miss a ton of greens, and the very interesting green complexes make for some tough but fun up and downs.
I decided to play the black tees at about 7200 yards +/-, and it felt every inch that long. When I teed off at 8am there was little or no wind and my score showed such with a well deserved 40 on the front nine with a dumb double bogey on the par-5 7th after hitting my tee shot off the end of the world. The wind is really a fantastic asset at the Pete Dye Course that isn’t always present at the somewhat nearby Whistling Straits.
My favorite string of holes were probably 11-15, which was followed by what I think the is the only weakness of the course, the finishing 16-17-and 18th holes. #18 is not a bad hole, however it ends up feeling like a bad version of the 3rd. Apparently the first 16 holes have been open for a long time, but Alice and Pete didn’t like how the 17th and 18th turned out and they decided to start over again, hence delaying the full opening of the course.
The common theme from everyone from the caddy to the professional staff is that they expect to be considered a possibility for future majors, despite being in between the PGA-Owned Valhalla and Crooked Stick. A member of the Staff at the Ross Course mentioned that they would be “tickled” if the Dye Course gets an average of 20 (!!!) rounds a day. I was one of 5 people on the entire tee sheet on a sunny Sunday in May.
Overall French Creek is a fantastic option for a day or two driving trip to see the Ross and Dye courses as they make a wonderful one – two punch that holds its own against any two resort/publics in the Midwest.
Some pictures of the Dye Course to follow…