Dye course at French Lick

[Dan Herrmann]

Kind of sad that this is the picture they use to depict the course on their website:

[Keith Doleshel]

The choice of picture used to describe the course is unfortunate. The course is attractive on TV and appears to be a great challenge without the use of heavy rough. The volcano bunkers do look fake and are not visually appealing.

[Chris Roselle]

A few pictures I took last fall as I was an official at the USGA Men's State Team Championship at the French Lick Resort.  The PGA of America has reversed the nines for the Senior PGA Championship.  The clubhouse is the highest point in Indiana and really makes for some spectacular views.

[Tom_Doak]

I know Pete Dye suggested that a lot of higher handicappers would be more comfortable hitting from the rough than the fairways, and that was part of why he made them as narrow as he did.

When I was building Riverdale Dunes for Mr. Dye, in 1984-85, I built a short par-4 hole [#10] that was somewhat based on the 10th at Riviera ... wide fairway, angled green, best angle if you played away from the green toward the outside of the dogleg.  When he came to look at it, Pete asked me why it was so wide on the left, and after I explained it, he said sure, that was ok, but the average guy would have an easier time hitting it out of the rough than the fairway so why make the fairway so wide?

I had a hard time reconciling the idea that anybody would play the hole by aiming for the rough.  Pete does not have that problem.  I remember him telling Tom Weiskopf on the 11th at the TPC that he should playing for position in the waste bunker next to the green as his best percentage play to make 4 there!  So, maybe French Lick is the place where he's finally implemented that idea in full.  I really ought to go see it, but none of the reviews I've seen so far have made it sound appealing at all.

Ran seemed to enjoy it in his review.

One does not get to be "Golf's Most Beloved" by always telling the whole truth. 

[Nigel Islam]

I played the Dye course in 2010, and had no desire to go back until I got the chance to walk the property today. It really is a breathtaking view on top of the hill. The holes make more sense seeing them again. It's actually a terrific place for a spectator to view a tournament. The fairways are still very narrow and the back tees are still ridiculous, but I'm actually contemplating giving it another go in the near future.  Oh and yes I stood on top of the 301 yard plate for the par three 16th (or 7th whichever they choose to use going forward) which I think played 155 straight downwind for the Seniors.

[Andy Ryall]

Twelve of us played in Sept. 2014 just before the USGA State event, ranging in handicaps from 8 to 28.   The rate is all-day, so we played 36, and while it's not a course I would enjoy every day, I thought it was provocative.   Maybe it's Dye's way of trying to get ahead of the curve in terms of what golf might look like 30 years from now, and its just too over the top, even with that in mind.

A simpler way to look at it would be akin to bringing a virgin to the Spearmint Rhino in Vegas and saying this is what women are really like.....nice to visit but you wouldn't want to stay/live there.

We did a package with 36 at Dye, 36 at Ross and 18 at Sultan's while staying at the resort and I thought it was quite reasonable.