Brickyard Crossing Golf Course

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 Brickyard Crossing Golf Course, a dogleg left par-4 with water all the wa down the left-hand side.

Now imagine trying to concentrate on that "intimidating" tee shot with the engine roar from an Indycar or NASCAR or Formula 1 racer whizzing past you at 220-plus miles an hour! It's a feeling you can experience at only one place, Brickyard Crossing.

While many of you have known for years that there are golf holes within the walls of the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it is still news to some that tee times are available at a course that's more than just a gimmick around a racing landmark, but is a wonderful landmark in its own right to the design mastery of Pete and Alice Dye, Indiana's own Hulman and George family of golf.

A current member of Golf Digest's Top 100 Public Courses in America's, and a fixture in every Indiana Top Ten list, Brickyard Crossing has been good enough to host a half-dozen Champions Tour events, and playable enough to not have to have been tweaked for those tourneys from the way it is set up for play the rest of the year. And the golf course might be an even tougher drive than the all-left-turn Speedway, with a rating and slope of 74.0/143 from the 7,000-yard tips, 72.0/138 from the 6,600-yard blue tees and 69.3/133 from the 6,000-yard whites.

Dye called working around the walls of the legendary track to create his own legacy "like working with the Pacific Ocean at Pebble Beach." The Dyes then went that analogy one better by incorporating pieces of the pit and outside walls of the track in their trademark bulkheading around the surprising number of ponds and a creek that come into play around the course.

The four holes inside IMS are, clearly, the stars at Brickyard Crossing. Beginning when you drive your cart away from the sixth green, through the tunnel under the backstretch, and arrive in the spacious infield. No less than Speedway President Tony George has remarked that "the view from the seventh tee is breathtaking to see the entire race track." But then trying to remember the task at hand remembers, "hitting the (redan) green is a must, sticking it close is a bonus." He's worried about sticking it close while the rest of us are just trying to swing the club while some form of racing practice is going on a few yards away? The seventh is particularly exciting when the Formula-1 cars are practicing as a hairpin turn in the road course might almost be mistaken for a cart path next to the green.

The aforementioned #8, as "intimidating" as it is to Mears, actually offers an elevated fairway seemingly as wide as the backstretch. Just don't miss it on either side or you'll be wet, or be playing back up to it from the right rough.

The final two holes on the inside of the Speedway offer great contrasts, to the previous hole, and to each other. Number nine might have the narrowest fairway on the course, with 27 tiny bunkers dotting the left and right sides of this mid-range par-4. The 10th is a shorter, simpler, dogleg-left par-4 around the largest bunker at the Brickyard, running down the left side of the hole from the landing area to the very front of the green. The 10th, along with the 18th, both made INtake Magazine's list of Indianapolis Dream 18 holes. Get through the inside of the track anywhere close to par and you'll feel like you've earned a checkered flag!

While the holes between the walls at Indy get much of the attention, there's a lot more great golf than meets the racing spectator's eye. The front nine holes outside the track are relatively dry, especially compared to the finishing holes. Take advantage of the first two par-4s, relatively short doglegs-left with Dye's signature tie-walls separating the bunkers from the playing areas. To conquer the longest par-3 on the course, the well-bunkered #4, you've got to negotiate the first of Dye's track-wall bulkheads at Little Eagle Creek, a delightful little stream that will probably loom a lot larger as you head for home on the back nine.

Every hole at the Brickyard has its own memorable quirk. The par-4 fifth challenges you with one of the few semi-blind tee shots on the course. The par-5 sixth should be a birdie opportunity for the big dreamers, like 1998 Indy 500 winner Eddie Cheever. "Look for the pros to be firing a fairway wood at the pin on their second shot looking for good position for either on eagle or birdie." Sounds like he's tried it before!

You'll need all the confidence you've mustered on the interior of the track when you exit the tunnel for the eight finishing holes, seven of them with water in play beginning with the par-4 11th. Two-time Brickyard 400 Champion Jeff Gordon considers the next stretch of holes, 12, 13, and 14th as the third turn of the golf course, not only because they're located near turn three, but because you have to set yourself up for the four difficult finishing holes. At under 300 yards from all but the tips, the 14th will tempt you to try to drive it, but long-time Head Professional Rollie Schroeder truly believes that the longer you hit the drive, the tougher the approach to the well-protected green.