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Hit the Links This Labor Day Weekend

What's lovelier than a lush, green Indiana lawn? How about a lush green lawn with 18 little holes in it? Indiana is filled with fabulous golf courses that offer a variety of experiences.

Blackthorn Golf Club in South Bend (574-232-4653) combines serious golf with a little "blarney" for a rewarding experience. The course is a 19-hole layout, but it's the first hole that sets the tone. Known as the "Blarney Hole," this one is billed as "the ultimate mulligan." For golfers looking to improve their game, the Blackthorn Golf Academy offers golfers the chance to participate in group clinics, individual lessons, and specialty instruction.

When Terry W. Smith, president of Rock Industries, Inc. wondered what to do with the land his company had mined out nearly 40 years earlier, the answer became clear: golf. In June of 1994, Rock Hollow Golf Club in Peru (765-473-6100) opened its first nine holes for play; in June 1995 the 18-hole Championship Golf Course opened. Designed by Indianapolis native Time Liddy, Rock Hollow has a unique terrain that incorporates natural surroundings.

Players who try the Honeywell Golf Course in Wabash (219-563-8663) are likely to describe it as two courses in one. The front nine and back nine were built in two different time periods. The front nine is longer and more open; the back is "short and tight" and features the only back-to-back par threes in the state.

Purdue University is home to the incredible Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex (765-494-3139). Along with a full-featured practice facility, the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex offers two 18-hole championship courses. If your strength is accurate shooting, take the rest of your foursome to the Ackerman Hills Course filled with narrow fairways and plenty of obstacles. The Kampen Course, designed by legendary designer Pete Dye, features thousands of trees, six ponds, and more than 10,000 wetland plants.

When you've played as much golf as Hale Irwin, you know what makes a course worthwhile. Irwin's commitment to incorporating existing environment with land planning is evident at Coyote Crossing Golf Course in West Lafayette (765-497-1061).

The road you take to Prairie View Golf Club in Carmel (317-816-3100), appropriately named Longest Drive, offers a first glimpse of the beautiful course located on 206 acres. Designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr., Prairie View utilizes the natural beauty of the area. If you want to make sure your game is at its best before you take to this spectacular course try Prairie View's top-notch practice facility, home to Indiana's largest bent grass practice tee.

With so much natural beauty at Heartland Crossing Golf Links in Camby (317-630-1785), you'll have to remind yourself not to look up until you've completed your swing. The course is filled with fescue, prairie grasses, wildflowers, water, sand, bent grass tees, fairways and greens.

It's not unusual to find a father who passes his love of playing golf on to his children. But a father who designs golf courses, and shares that passion with his offspring, isn't something you find every day. Otter Creek Golf Club in Columbus (812-579-6585) showcases the talents of two members of an incredible gifted golf family. Robert Trent Jones created the original 18 holes of this course utilizing the rolling landscape.

Several years later, Jones' son, Rees, was asked to design an additional nine holes to work in harmony with his father's design. Rees Jones' course opened in 1995 with a "links" look.

One of the most dramatic features at Quail Crossing Golf Club in Boonville (812-897-1247) is the fact that five of the holes were carved from an old mining quarry and are played from abrupt elevation changes.

Both golf and resort enthusiasts will be provided with an experience available virtually nowhere else in the region at the French Lick Springs Resort and Casino (812-936-9300). There are two championship courses on the premises, including a fully restored 1917 course designed by Donald Ross.

What do you get when you combine Masters and U.S. Open Champion Fuzzy Zoeller with Zoysia grass fairways? The naturally beautiful Covered Bridge Golf Club in Sellersburg (812-246-8880). Zoeller, an Indiana native, designed this 18-hole, par-72 course, which incorporates five lakes, a creek and forested areas.

Just getting warmed up? To order a free Indiana Golf and Travel Guide, log on to VisitIndianaGolf.com.

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