Indiana Golf Scene

The four-man scramble is one of the most enjoyable formats for team competition in golf. After all, finding one decent shot out of four is a welcome proposition to many golfers. Beginning this spring, golf clubs across the country will be able to compete in The Great American Scramble and vie for the coveted title of National Champions in Las Vegas.

After the longstanding Buick/Oldsmobile Scramble shut down in 2005, golfers were left without a national scramble competition. PGA Professional Wayne Stone decided to change that. Stone created an event aimed at bringing excitement, camaraderie and team-building experiences back to golfers through the scramble format.

Stone, who is the director of Golf at Windermere Country Club in Windermere, Fla., decided there was enough interest to create a national scramble just by gauging the response of his members to the loss of the Buick event. Encouraged by the feedback, Stone set out to create the national tournament that was currently missing from the golf world.

Historic Indiana icon has plenty offer after record-breaking renovation

French Lick has a humble population of just over 2,000 residents. Its most famous former resident, basketball great Larry Bird, helped transform the Hoosier State into a hoops hotbed and put his tiny Indiana town on the map during his stellar collegiate and professional careers.
Long before Bird and basketball was king, The French Lick Hotel was the town’s centerpiece attracting gamblers and golfers to stay and play long into the night and perhaps the early morning.

Now entering its second golf season since a record-breaking renovation was completed, French Lick Resort and Casino is ready to compete for attention as a top tourist destination on the national stage. 

It is the Catch-22 of golf. If we only scored a little bit better, we’d be more excited about practicing more, which would lead to even better scoring. Yet most every infomercial you’ve ever watched says the “key” to a better score is a new club or a training aid when what we probably need is obvious; some time with a teaching professional who is passionate about helping us improve our score so that we can conquer that Catch-22.

But we’re afraid to break the cycle. “Golf School” sounds more like a prison sentence than an opportunity for a golf epiphany. We fear we’ll be embarrassed in a group of players who are better than we are.

The United States Golf Academy at the Indiana National Golf Club at Swan Lake Resort in Plymouth, Indiana wants to smash that stereotype. The Academy has some revolutionary thoughts, and passionate pros, who want to change the way you think of “golf schools” and get you on the road  to enjoying the game more than ever.

A Plum Experience

When you think of Pete Dye courses, the first inclination is to imagine coastal routings, lots of marshland and yes, all those railroad tie-bulkheads separating land from water. Maybe that’s one of the things that makes Dye’s layout at Plum Creek Golf Club in Carmel, just outside the I-465 loop, that much more special.

True to his Hoosier roots, Dye’s designed a delightful links-style layout in an old cornfield of  what used to be the old Lynnwood Farm, the Percheron horse farm of longtime Eli Lilly executive Charles Lynn. Dye himself walked the property for months back in 1989, before picking the routing, careful to save the venerable barn that had become a landmark for the area, and is still featured on the course’s logo.

Yes, there’s still plenty of water, with man-made ponds and a stream coming into play on 12 of the 18 holes. But no railroad ties, just a gorgeous journey through the countryside, while tackling a remarkably challenging course.

Conference Center and Banquet Facilities

Eagle Creek Golf Club continues to enhance its reputation as Indiana’s industry leader in hosting golf outings and special events by offering “Country Club” type conditions on 36 holes of Championship golf. Choose from the playerfriendly Pines course or the scenic and challenging Sycamore course.

Discover the essence of pure golf as the Sycamore blends a mixture of hilly terrain, tree-lined fairways and water holes with  traditional links-style flavor that adds an exciting new look to this Championship-caliber layout. Your outing can now enjoy the comforts of our brand new Conference Center and Banquet Room located directly behind the clubhouse.

Imagine four-time Indy 500 winner Rick Mears standing on the tee of any golf hole and being “intimidated?” Yet that’s the word he uses to describe the #1 handicap hole at Indianapolis Brickyard Crossing Golf Course, a dogleg left par-4 with water all the way down the left-hand side.

Now imagine trying to concentrate on that “intimidating” tee shot with the roar from Indycars or NASCARs or Formula 1 racers whizzing past you at 220-plus miles an hour! And now that I’ve experienced it, I can honestly tell you it’s a feeling you can get at only one place on earth, Brickyard Crossing.

Find Great Golf at Great Prices with GolfUS.com

Now in its sixth season, GolfUS.com, the nation’s largest tee time auction site, offers golfers throughout the Midwest the opportunity to explore new courses, or play their old favorites, at te best possible prices, because they’re set by other golfers.

“I have used over 80 to 90 auctions in the last three years and have never lost out on a round of golf! Have even had rain checks issued when the weather didn't cooperate If you like to play golf and travel locally or short distances, GolfUS.com is great!”

Join the Move to Private Paradise,

the acclaimed course located just 15 minutes south of Indianapolis’ downtown circle is transitioning to a private club by 2009, and doing it for the very best reason. The people who’ve played this fabulous Nick Price/Steve Smyers design over and over believe its ranking as one of Indiana’s top golf facilities, and its place among Golf Digest’s Top 200 courses in America for service makes it very much worth it.
Heartland Crossing’s unique membership packages make it even more “worth” it! With no initiation fees, full membership plans starting at only $150 a month and with only 10-month billing, the entry cost at Heartland Crossing is minimal. The folks at Heartland Crossing also realize that this generation’s golfing patterns have changed.

Maximize Your Game With Unique PuttLab and TrackMan Technology.

Are you ready for this? Ultrasound and 3-D launch monitors that can follow ball flight and even recommend the best golf ball for YOUR game?

Believe it. Only at the United States Golf Academy at the Indiana National Golf Club at Swan Lake Resort in Plymouth, less than two hours from Indianapolis or Chicago. And when we say “only”, we’re talking the only place outside of the club manufacturers own test sites that has the “PuttLab” and “TrackMan” technology to fit you with the right putter, clubs and even golf balls.

Eagle Creek Golf Club, considered the crown jewel of the Indianapolis City golf courses, is a Pete Dye masterpiece that tucked away on 500+ acres adjacent to one of America’s largest municipal parks. You’ll be treated not only to great golf, but also to the property’s natural habitat of wild animals, wetlands and its stunning variety of elevation changes.

What makes the Eagle Creek experience so special is the “pure golf” ambience the golf feels as he plays his round through the beauty of a natural parkland setting that is void of any housing and offers a quiet respite from the busy world around us.