Chatham Hills, Westfield, Indiana

[Ted Sturges]

I was given a tour of the new Pete Dye golf course currently under construction in Westfield, Indiana last week.  I came away extremely excited about what is being built there.  Chatham Hills is a real estate development just north of Indianapolis.  The developers have hired Pete Dye to design and build the course.  What struck me was the high quality of the site.  The developer had more than 700 acres, and they were wise enough to serve up Mr. Dye with the best land on which to build golf holes.  Though none of the holes were to the seeding stage as of last Friday, I could see enough to come away thinking this may well be the best course in Indianapolis.  Crooked Stick as a site comparison would fall well short, as it was built on cornfields (all the topography change there was manufactured).  The re-do at The Fort and the property where Wolf Run was built would challenge Chatham for best Indy area golf course sites, but I give the nod to Chatham.  My favorite holes as I saw them in the dirt would be the sporty two shot 3rd!, the 4th (a par 4 classic cape hole), the par 5 7th, and the two shot 15th! 

Much of Mr. Dye's career has been made by building thoughtful, strategic golf courses on often times sub par sites (even the Ocean Course at Kiawah, though ocean front property was not a "great" site as he had to bring in tons and tons of dirt to raise the playing surfaces enough to see the ocean).  I personally think you can count on one hand the number of world class sites he has had (The Golf Club, Casa de Campo, and the Pete Dye Golf Club to name 3).  To me, the site at Chatham Hills is better than the site he had to work with at The Golf Club.  Stay tuned for more news about this interesting golf course development in Westfield, Indiana.

TS

[Josh Tarble]

Wow!  I hadn't heard much about the development so this is an excellent report.  I had also read their website and assumed a lot of it to be PR spin.  Great to hear you think it will be really good.  Any insight on walkability?



I started this thread earlier, and still not much info. 

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,60955.0.html

I have a good friend that is joined in their initial member offering and he has told me they're going to have several cool concepts including an executive tee routing and par 3 routing.  Sounds cool if done right. 

[Ted Sturges]

The course will defintely be walkable.  They are building a short course just south of the first hole.  That will be in addition to the 18 holes.
 
TS

[Josh Tarble]

That's good to hear...looking at the plan that was my main worry.


Did you discuss anything with the executive routing option?  This is just word of mouth so I'm not sure exact details, or how it's going to work, but sound like they are going to have a set of tees that will allow players to play a full 18 holes in half the time.  I'm thinking like some sort of short tee/par 3 hybrid routing.

[Josh Tarble]

Yesterday I got the opportunity to play Chatham Hills and I walked away extremely impressed.  In short, Chatham is easily top-3 in Indiana and in my eyes could very well take the top spot from Crooked Stick.  It is really that good.

As my earlier posts show, I was concerned with the walkability of the routing given the fact that it is a housing course.  After walking it, those fears were quickly alleviated.  There are a couple long-ish walks (maybe 50 - 60 yards) but there are also a couple of tees steps off the previous greens.  I was clear that walking was kept in mind.

As Ted mentioned above, the property is simply outstanding, the front nine winds through a bit of housing but nothing that takes away from the course and the back nine is perhaps the best golf property in Indianapolis. 

The holes are very inspired and do not fall into many of Dye's usual tropes.  The par 3s are nice and varied, stretching from 140ish yards to 220ish yards.  I hit wedge, 8-iron, 6-iron and 4-iron on my first go around.  The par 4s are excellent and the par 5s are outstanding.  Early favorites are the short par 3 2nd, Cape-style 4th, a very subtle but excellent green-site 6th, monster redan-style par 3 11th, blind-tee shot par 5 13th, and the closing stretch of 15, 16 and 17 are absolutely wonderful. 

I have no doubt Chatham will become a "must-see" in the Indianapolis area.  For fans of Indy golf I found it to be a mix of the Fort, Trophy Club and Crooked Stick.  Once it grows in fully, this place is going to be off the charts.


The par 3 2nd


The redan-ish 11th