Wolf Run

[Andy Johnson]

A buddy of mine that lives in Indy told me that Wolf Run has apparently sold. New owner plans to make the course public in 2017 then bulldoze it for houses the next year. Too bad, while too penal for the average player, the course was incredibly unique and had potential to be really good.

[John Kavanaugh]

They could find an Indian Burial Ground on site and it will still be a better housing development than it has been a golf course. http://www.snopes.com/movies/films/poltergeist.asp

[Tommy Williamsen]

I guess I'd better hurry and get there. I've wanted to play it for a long time.

[John Kavanaugh]

I guess I'd better hurry and get there. I've wanted to play it for a long time.

Why? Honestly.

[John Kavanaugh]

If Golfweek hadn't allowed raters to vote on course where they were members Wolf Run would nothing but a blip on the radar of overly penal golf. A bunch a guys from Chicago joined for a few bucks and pumped the place up. I'd rather wrestle greased pigs at a 4H fair while getting buggered by a spiral dicked dirty mammal.

[Brian Bowman]

John,


What do you have against the course that made it so bad in your opinion?  I thought the course was excellent.

[John Kavanaugh]

John,


What do you have against the course that made it so bad in your opinion?  I thought the course was excellent.

Wet, poor drainage, high thick rough, stupid hard to prove a point, cheap, cheap, cheap. Built for men converted for women. I'm one of the last great joiners in the world, live close by and never pulled the trigger. Indy is a great golf town. Crooked Stick is a fine club for couples and Wolf Run should have been a great retreat for the "men" of that fine city. It failed. Why?!? God didn't make green apples and Smyers didn't build a playable venue. Exactly why...I don't have a clue. Please anyone, of the hundred or so shots available is there a single memorable one in the bunch. I can't remember.

[Richard Hetzel]

John,


What do you have against the course that made it so bad in your opinion?  I thought the course was excellent.

I played it this past fall, and yes it was difficult, but it was interesting. Maybe a few holes were overly penal, and I bogeyed this one. I would take a bogey each and every time on that hole.


Sorry to hear about Wolf's pending demise. Mr. Kavanaugh surely hates this hole:

[John Kavanaugh]

I don't mind a hole if it is beautiful. That looks like the face of my prom date.

[Richard Hetzel]

I don't mind a hole if it is beautiful. That looks like the face of my prom date.

This is better!

[John Kavanaugh]

Better, looks like the girl I married. Better not come up short!!!

[Richard Hetzel]

This hole killed me and I thought it was most difficult on the course. I tripled it and my drive was perfectly struck down to the end of the fairway, smack dab in the middle. You miss hitting the green on your approach here, and you have trouble!

[John Kavanaugh]

Richard,


That looks like a short par four with a a wet ass fairway. Am I right?

[John Kavanaugh]

Richard,


I see that you just played Kinderlou. Now I loved that place. How does that compare to Wolf Run in your opinion?

[Jeff_Brauer]

Mentioning Jim Colbert a lot this morning....but Wolf Run is a place he took me to show me what he never wanted designed.  He could barely play it.  Many others felt the same way.  Just because you can play golf well, doesn't necessarily mean you want a hard course.  Eventually, 90% of them get softened up. (just my guess)

Not to mention there is a right and wrong way to make a course tough.  A series of targets smaller than can't normally be hit at the typical shot length is in the "wrong" category.

And, I say all this as a friend of Steve Smyers, and admirer of most of his work.  Love courses like Old Memorial.  He has another project here in DFW now, also for clients asking for the hardest course in the area.  Just finished grassing, but I haven't toured it. Wondering how it will turn out.

[Tommy Williamsen]

I guess I'd better hurry and get there. I've wanted to play it for a long time.

Why? Honestly.

I belonged to Four Streams outside DC for fifteen years. Steve Smyers designed it and I loved it. I miss it a lot. Wold Run has a reputation for being more difficult than Four Streams but I am curious to see what he did there.

[John Kavanaugh]

Tommy,


That's a great reason and while you're in the neighborhood go check out Purgatory.

[Brian Bowman]

i played it in May and thought it was very tough, but overall an excellent course.  If you're not on top of your game you struggle, i played 1 tee down, in firm and fast conditions, and shot 75.  I didn't think it was overly tough, the tee ball is king there, you have to make solid shot after solid shot, the shortest holes play to the smallest greens, and the length isn't terrifying.  Still can't figure where all the hate comes from?  I think the tee shot on one is scary and memorable,  2 is an easy hole, 3 is an easier par 5 up the hill,  I love the approach shot to 5 when you come up the hill to see the gorgeous green/ surrounds.  I didn't like 10, as it was downwind, and i hit it short of the bunkers in the rough.  The tee shot on 12 is memorable with a draw, the ball will bound down the fairway forever.  13 is definitely a hard, long par 3 hole with too many bunkers, but i lipped out for birdie.  14/15 are two very tough holes, although i think 14 approach is very much worth remembering.  16 is an awesome little par 3, that keeps the attention of even the best players to hit the tiny green. and while 17 and 18 aren't the best holes in the world, I think the course is better than you give it credit for.


Oh and i remembered all that from playing it once 3 months ago.

[Josh Tarble]

I tell everyone that asks about it, there are 6 or 7 really great holes that are very cool, 5 or 6 solid golf holes that have sound strategic principles and 6 or 7 really unique, but very bizarre holes.  I think its a great place but could definitely see how someone would have the opposite opinion.

It will be a shame to lose it, its a very unique course and a fun place to spend a day.

[Richard Hetzel]

Richard,


That looks like a short par four with a a wet ass fairway. Am I right?

I don't recall, but if over 400, it wasn't much. We walked all 18 and I don't remember anything soggy there that day.

[Richard Hetzel]

Richard,


I see that you just played Kinderlou. Now I loved that place. How does that compare to Wolf Run in your opinion?

I played just the front 9 (was chilly and that was all I could get the wife to agree to) at Kinderlou on a whim on the drive back from Florida to Cincinnati. It had ample width unlike Wolf, and I liked it. The greens, although larger, were a bit boring, not terrible though.  A few boring holes, a few decent holes. I disliked the longish par 5 that wrapped around in an almost circular shape, number 4 I think it was. I liked many of the holes on Wolf Run and if I could have played it at 6000-6100 I would have scored better.

[Greg Clark]

Mentioning Jim Colbert a lot this morning....but Wolf Run is a place he took me to show me what he never wanted designed.  He could barely play it.  Many others felt the same way.  Just because you can play golf well, doesn't necessarily mean you want a hard course.  Eventually, 90% of them get softened up. (just my guess)

Not to mention there is a right and wrong way to make a course tough.  A series of targets smaller than can't normally be hit at the typical shot length is in the "wrong" category.

And, I say all this as a friend of Steve Smyers, and admirer of most of his work.  Love courses like Old Memorial.  He has another project here in DFW now, also for clients asking for the hardest course in the area.  Just finished grassing, but I haven't toured it. Wondering how it will turn out.

That project sits on well above average land for Dallas.  I know ownership has very high goals for the course.  I wasn't aware that "hardest course in the area" was one of them.  Hope it works out.

[Andrew Buck]

If Golfweek hadn't allowed raters to vote on course where they were members Wolf Run would nothing but a blip on the radar of overly penal golf. A bunch a guys from Chicago joined for a few bucks and pumped the place up. I'd rather wrestle greased pigs at a 4H fair while getting buggered by a spiral dicked dirty mammal.

I liked the course. 

My first play of Wolf Creek was with a few members of our college golf team on the way back from a Spring Break tournament in 1995.  His dad was a member there and Crooked Stick, and I remember him billing Wolf Run as "much better" than Crooked Stick.  While I don't think that is true, it was certainly more unique, and there were few courses like it at the time.  That Sunday, we had to make the decision to play Wolf Run, or go to the Jordan "I'm back" game in Indy, and we played golf based in part on his desire to have us see Wolf Run.  Fun day, but in hindsight probably should have witnessed the return of Jordan.

Wolf Run may have problems, but memorability isn't one of them. 

[Richard Hetzel]

 
Wolf Run may have problems, but memorability isn't one of them.



Well stated!

[Nigel Islam]

I tell everyone that asks about it, there are 6 or 7 really great holes that are very cool, 5 or 6 solid golf holes that have sound strategic principles and 6 or 7 really unique, but very bizarre holes.  I think its a great place but could definitely see how someone would have the opposite opinion.

It will be a shame to lose it, its a very unique course and a fun place to spend a day.

I think that is a very fair assessment. Indiana only has a few Doak 6-7s and losing one is very disappointing. I probably agree with some of what John has been critiquing the course about, but at the end of the day I'm really hoping that it survives.