Number 2 - Brickyard Crossing, Speedway, IN
What a great golf course! The Brickyard is a fantastic Pete Dye design and is built around the Indianapolis 500 Motor Speedway, with four holes INSIDE the track itself! Conditions are really good here, fairways and greens are bent grass and well maintained. The fairways are lined with medium but healthy rough and great mounds, bunkers, and trees in the traditional Pete Dye look and feel. Overall, we found the course to play fairly easy from the back tees. The greens and fairways are most are very large, so lower handicappers can easily avoid the hazards. There are plenty of choices for tee boxes, so the course plays more like a resort catering to all levels of players. The Brickyard used to host a Senior Tour event, which speaks to the quality of facility there. We really enjoyed the round, and found ourselves enamored with both the course design and the surrounding. Great golfing experience, we'll say it's a must play in Indianapolis!
Number 1 - Prarie View Golf Club, Carmel, IN
This golf course rivals all the clubs in the State of Indiana, both public and private! What a great golf course, which is designed by Robert Trent Jones, and we had a wonderful public golfing experience. Upon arrival, we felt like members of an exclusive club. The clubhouse is simple but large and well designed, offering a quick check in, friendly staff, and some delicious food. The real gemstone is the course itself! Conditions are impeccable, the turfgrass is so healthy and nice - they ask you to drive in the fairway, not the rough! Each hole has wonderful character, and the course overall is a great test of every facet of one's game. Prarie View strikes the perfect balance of long and short holes, wide and narrow targets,left and right doglegs, as well as tree lined holes and links style holes. The piece of property is really unbelievable for Central Indiana. The course winds over small hills and through a creek valley, offering well placed bunkers, greens, and contours - all while maintaining a terrific flow with the terrain already there. The par 3's are beautiful and challenging, the par 5's are a mix of reachable and 3 shot holes, and the par 4's will give every club in the bag a workout. Overall, this was the best golfing experience we had during 2009, and we can't wait to play it again in 2010! This is THE BEST golf course in the Indianapolis area!
We're looking forward to checking out some new venues this season! Look for video blogging this year, we want to give some visuals of our favorite courses, holes, and shots in 2010! See you on the first tee!
Collin Hedegard
collinhedegard@gmail.com
