A Pete Dye Golf Experience

Mr. Dye calls The Pete Dye Course at French Lick his best inland site. Golf Magazine named the Pete Dye Course at French Lick America’s Best New Course You Can Play in 2009. Golf Digest Magazine named it America’s Best New Public Course also in 2009. Thanks to the Indiana Sports Corporation, I had the opportunity to play there this past Friday. After being there my impression is while the accolades are nice and certainly deserved, they are understated.

After some thought and deliberation, I would categorize it as … Awe Inspiring. Don’t believe me? Take a look.

This is a picture of the 11^th hole, a par 4 of 330 to 456 yards depending on your choice of tees. We are 33 feet above the green looking down. Above and to the right you can see the par 4 12^th is to your left.

This is just one example of something that happens 18 times during the round. You stand on the tee and observe what you are about to attempt and all you can say is, “Wow”.

The best part of playing The Pete Dye Course for a true golfer is the challenge of playing the course. After playing it I will tell you, the most fun for me was the challenge this genius of a design offers. From every tee, there is a different route of success. Making each set of tees a completely different golf course, rather than a shorter version of the same course. As an aside, I think this is Mr. and Mrs. Dye’s greatest strength as golf course designers. They build their courses to challenge everyone without using distance as the challenge. Anyone can design a course that is a challenge at 7700 yards. It takes some knowledge to build a good one at 5100 yards.



The 14th



With this in mind, the fees to play The Dye Course at French Lick includes unlimited play for the day. I highly recommend you play one round on a set of tees a little longer than you normally play and then come back and play a set a little shorter. You will be amazed at the different lines, you must take to play a course you just finished playing.

Check back to this blog often, as we will continue to discuss the experience of playing the The Pete Dye course at French Lick as well as the entire group of golf courses that make up the Pete Dye Golf Trail.

For more information about stay and play opportunities call me at 574-540-2309 or email at petedyegolftrail@gmail.com.