Kampen Course at Purdue University

[Josh Tarble]

I had the opportunity to play the Kampen Course at Purdue this past weekend and wanted to share how much I enjoyed the course.  First of all, it's a very difficult course but I would imagine if played from the proper tees it would be a very enjoyable experience for a wide variety of players. 

I have gone back through and read some of the discussion on this course...a lot of it was focused on the thickness of the native areas and the similarity of many of the tee shots.

On the first point, the native areas are pretty dense, but I found it was fairly playable and only punished REALLY poor shots...I played the entire day with 3 balls and lost 2 in the water.

The similarity of the tee shots is what I really didn't understand.  I thought there may have been more variety with the tee shots than most other Pete Dye courses I've played.

A few of my favorite holes:

#5 - a long par 3, to a pretty small green.  Pretty tough hole but plays from an elevated tee and with a low-cut recovery area to the right.
#6 - long par 5 - this was a good hole wrapping around a marshy area, great tee shot, if you hugged the marsh and hit a good drive, the hole was nearly reachable even at 590 yards
#8 - my favorite hole - really interested blind tee shot...bomb a drive to the right over some bunkers for a short approach to very interesting green site or play a safe long iron or three wood and face a tougher approach

#11 through #15 was my favorite section
#11 and #12 were an uphill then downhill par 4 both with good tee shots
#13 was a fairly stereotypical Dye par 3 with water fronting and left. 
#14 was a really good rendition of a "Cape" hole with a great tee box in the marsh and green site jutting into the same hazard, the canted fairway helped promote the right shot type as well.
#15 was a cool take on an "Alps" hole - played well uphill, long drive guarded by fairway bunkers to have a view of the green or lay back and be blocked by the "alps" - I haven't played any Raynor/Macdonald Alps but have never seen any play severely uphill so I thought this one was really cool.

All in all it is a really cool course on what I don't think was an ideal site for a course.  I can see some touches of Whistling Straights in the design.  Well worth playing the course if you're in the area.
 

[David Stewart]

Hey Josh,

I have two Purdue degrees and spent 9 years of my life there, so I know the course well. I wrote an "In My Opinion" piece on it if you haven't seen it: http://www.golfclubatlas.com/in-my-opinion/kampen1/. I moved to North Carolina and now am in Ohio so haven't played it in a few years, but your comments mirror what I wrote about. There is really a lot of variety out there and the strategy is top-notch. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[Bill Seitz]

In the past I would get down there a couple times a year for 36 holes (either both there, or one round at Coyote Crossing), and I've always really enjoyed the course.  My buddy is kind of a beast, so we've only ever played it from the tips, but I'd love to see how it plays from a proper set of tees.  I'm a low handicapper, but 7,400 yards is a lot of golf course.  My only criticism is that the par 3s are all pretty similar, and it seems like the same par 3s of which I see at least one on every Dye course.  The final stretch, if played into the wind (which seems to be the prevailing wind) is probably the most difficult closing stretch I've ever played. 

We played a few years ago about a week and a half before the NCAA Championships, and they were advertising tournament conditions.  After a few holes I thought we had made a mistake, and that they weren't promoting those conditions, but rather issuing a warning.  Four inch rough right off the fairway, about seven inches if you were 5-8 yards deep.  Just brutal.  On the first day of the NCAAs, the second kid in the first group pulled his drive about five yards into the left rough.  Three players, two spotters, and five minutes later, he had to head back and re-tee.  Under those conditions, that was the most difficult golf course I've ever played.  Still love the place, though. 

[John Nixon]

I won't add my bit about the course here, but if anyone interested in playing there is also a baseball fan, Purdue is putting the finishing touches on their new baseball stadium just down the road. My 17 year old attended a baseball camp there a few weeks ago, and the place looked top-notch. Might be a great way to fill a day-long visit to the campus.

[Josh Tarble]

David,
Yours is an excellent write up...I thought about reviving your thread but decided to start a new one.  Interesting that you've heard comments that it's not a very good looking course.  I thought the exact opposite, for a central Indiana course, I thought it was very eye catching with a lot of interesting movement on the holes.

Bill,
It's definitely a beast.  Like you I'm a low handicapper and played the tips, I too would like to try it up one maybe two tees.  I would see how it plays where I feel I don't have to hit driver nearly every hole.  I bet that would make which fairway to hit on #7 more interesting in specific.

I also would say it is fair to criticize the par 3s.  They are very similar to each other and seem very typical of numerous par 3s Pete Dye has built before.  That being said I think they are well done, just stuff everyone has seen before and nothing out of the ordinary.

[Andy Troeger]

Take this is remembrances from quite a few years ago now, but I recall that playing up isn't as helpful as you would think. Due to the movement of the fairways around bunkers, I either had to try to make a ridiculous carry to a pretty narrow area or just hit a 230 yard shot and a reasonably lengthy second.

Its not a bad course, but I found it repetitive in spots for sure. I'm one of the original complains regarding the native, so I'll leave that for those that have been there more recently.

[Matthew Sander]

I played Kampen for the first time at the end of July, and enjoyed it very much. I'll echo the sentiment that the par threes as a group seem to be lacking. #2 and #17 are nearly mirror images of eachother. Also, based on the Dye courses I've played, I feel that sometimes there is too much of a reliance on water for par threes. Three of the four at Kampen feature a prominent water hazard, and I feel that as good as he can be with groundwork and visuals, his par threes can seem a bit repetitive.

I really liked hole 15, which as has been pointed out on this thread, seems to be an Alps interpretation. The features are great for a short par 4 that could have been very mundane. Also, Kampen features a really strong set of par 5s with 4 being my personal favorite. Just enough confusion visually to leave a little doubt in your mind whether laying up or going for the green in two.

Looking at Kampen in an aerial, you may assume it will feel a little redundant due to the number of switch back holes. However, the differing features and visuals created enough differentiation to keep the holes from blending together too much.