French Lick, Indiana and Donald Ross!

What a great experience!  During my Memorial Day weekend trek across the Midwest, I was also able to get in a little golf of course.  I had put on my list that I wanted to play one of the great older golf courses in America and one on the GolfDigest Top100 list.  For this trek I was going to be right by the venerable Donald Ross Course at the French Lick Resort in southern Indiana.  The course was designed and built by Ross in 1917 in a beautiful small valley near the French Lick mineral springs and resort.  Today you can stay at one of the 2 original resort hotels and play  36 holes of golf on the Ross or new Pete Dye designed courses.  The Ross course was the site of the 1924 PGA Championship won by Walter Hagen and this year in less than a month the new Dye course will hold the 2010 PGA Championship!  [I'm hoping I can also play Pebble Beach this year and thus be able to have played 2 of the courses (resorts) where two of the year's Majors will be held.]

I had chosen a very early tee time so that I could then continue my travels.  I actually stayed in the nearby town of Jasper and so had to drive back to the course on a gorgeous scenic winding small road which would take about 30 minutes.  I did not get into my hotel the night before until about 10:00pm and was pretty tired.  Needless to say, I set my alarm wrong (not thinking correctly after having lost an hour that day because of crossing into another time zone), and so woke up and had to rush to get out the door.   No one was on the road and it was a tranquil drive with the morning mist/fog just beginning to lift (and I had not had any coffee!).  I arrived at 7:00am -- actually a little early.  There were a few golfers already at the clubhouse, as well as the cart attendants but no pro or cashier.  So the starter sent us out and said we could pay when we made the turn which is pretty nice considering this was not going to be cheap.  I thus actually went out early right behind a local couple who have a standing first tee time on the weekends. 

The course was immaculate and so tranquil with the mist lifting.  It was also tough!  Everything was very, very wet because of the fog/mist and that did not help but I just carried my towel with me everywhere.  The holes appear to not be all that difficult with really only one dogleg, HOWEVER there are many elevation changes, few flat fairways, and many bunkers especially in the middle of fairways, not to mention the challenging and undulating greens.  This is to say nothing of the rough!  It is pretty long and gnarly as well as wet and then many fairways are lined with very tall, natural grass.    There was also no map of the holes on either the scorecard or the markers at the tee boxes, so I had quite a few blind shots especially from the forward tees.  On one par 3 from the forward tees it was 164 yards!  I had to hit driver and managed to put it just to the left of the green and was able to chip on and make my putt.   From the tips, this course would be daunting at over 7000 yards and some tough carries.  Must say the sand traps were immaculate and since I did hit into 2 of them, I had the chance to finally play out of real sand; my sand shots all ended up really well too and I made my up and downs!

Although I started a little rough, my short game and putting really helped me and I finished with an 87!  Great course and great folks at the clubhouse. I then cleaned up and had an early lunch at Hagens the restaurant at the course.  They are known for their baby-back ribs as well they should be!  The meat just fell of the bone and was slathered with wonderful sweet bbq sauce.  I was golf satiated for the day (as well as having  purchased some shirts, a visor and bag tags - I mean couldn't pass up anything with the name on it), and fortified to head back out on the road for my memorial project. 
[If you are also reading my memorial blog I will probably have the new post for this trip up tomorrow sometime.]  I have played a Donald Ross course previously but not one as prestigious or challenging as this one and it was so fun to play in such an out-of-the-way place.  As I headed out of the resort, I had a smile on my face and looked forward to the scenic drive before me...and more golf courses to come.