I went through my stack of stuff and found the preliminary routing for the golf course. This was probably done in 1995 or 1996. This was a promotional poster that they gave out through the Purdue media relations department.
Paul, you're correct that Pete Dye did attend Purdue for a short period. He received an honorary PhD from Purdue in 1998 - during the same ceremony that I received my undergraduate degree from Purdue.
Here is a review I wrote for myself back in 1999:
"I've had the privilege of playing this course twice - on opening weekend in the summer of 1998 and then again in April of 1999. The two dates produced two very different golf courses. The summer course was hard and the rough and "natural growth" were long enough to lose small children and Hondas. The spring course was wet and the rough had not grown in yet. Both had their advantages and disadvantages. Now, I played from the farthest back tees that they allow you to play. They do have another set, but humans have not developed to that point to allow for people to play from them. The course can stretch to nearly 7500 yards from the tips.
Northern Indiana, which is mostly farm country, is exceedingly windy. The April morning that I played, there was a constant wind of about 15 miles per hour with wind gusts over 20 miles per hour. The course was also wet, so it was playing longer than the 7000 yards on the scorecard. The greens were pretty quick, but not like they are in the summer. The rough was much easier to hit out of as well. The summer version of the course is much more difficult, as I stated before the rough is very tall.
The course set up is very typical for Pete Dye's golf courses. The landing areas are generous, but if you miss the fairway, you're going to pay. The amount of sand (they call them "waste bunkers") on this course will make you think you're in Arizona. Now, the reason they're called waste bunkers is because they are unraked and they are huge. There are mounds of vegetation sprinkled throughout and the sides are left unmaintained. I don't particularly care for that because you can hit a beautiful drive that kicks a couple of feet off the fairway and lose your golf ball. The waste bunkers are not your typical waste bunkers. When I think waste bunker, I think of a much harder surface than a regular bunker, but not these. They are quite difficult to escape from because you are hitting from an unmaintained, regular bunker.
Keeping with Pete Dye's values, there are very few bunkers that block the front of the green. The player who wants to use the run up shot can on this course, and indeed on a windy day, you must do it. The great thing is that you can use the mounds in front of the green to help you. On several occasions, I would use a draw or fade and bring it in off these mounds and let the ball run up on the green. It was really fun and much more interesting than your typical hit high and land it soft that many newer golf courses use.
Overall the golf course is very well done and tons of fun to play. As the course ages, it will improve greatly as well. For as young as the course is, it is very good condition."
