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 You could have that next business meeting, or close that next deal, or try to impress that next client or show-off for your buddies in a stuffy private boardroom or a noisy restaurant. Or you could entertain them at one of Indiana’s top five semi-priate golf retreats, the pristine setting of the only Hoosier State
layout designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr., Prairie View Golf Club in
Carmel just northeast of downtown.
Well-established on just about every golf publication’s Indiana Top Ten list since its opening in 1997, Prairie View has now had time to grow into the rolling prairie and towering oaks and sycamores tucked along the banks of the White River, maturing the already-acclaimed golf experience every season. And the imaginative staff at Prairie View is constantly searching for new ways to personalize your next visit to get you the ultimate bang for your buck, on and off the course. This is the place that created the “Wanna Play” package of golf passes that allow holders to call up someone and say, “wanna play?” putting them just a tee-time reservation call away from that first drive.
Jones designed Prairie View with accommodating fairways and bunkers that, while enormous in size, are really more like targets than hazards. Like on the very first hole, where the right-side bunker should be an easy carry off the tee and its actually the left-center bunker that’s the target, 280 yards off the gold tees.
 Another thing you’ll appreciate, especially on those blustery Indiana spring days, is the variety of shot-making opportunities and flow of Jones’ layout. There are a nearly-equal number of doglegs left and right, and holes into, with, or across whatever the day’s prevailing wind is ‘cross the Prairie.
Something else you’ll notice early on is the quiet. No loud reminders of civilization from “trains, planes and automobiles” at Prairie View. And except for a couple of houses off #9 near the entrance to the club, no homesites either, now or in the foreseeable future. This is pure golf.
The two finishing holes might be as great a closing pair as you’ll find anywhere in Indiana. #17 is Director of Golf Brian Nicholoff’s favorite with the “Valley of Regret” (not quite a Valley of Sin) located between a fairway bunker 30 yards short of the green and a bunker right in front that forces a play left, right, or over it, taking into account how your ball will bounce off the mounding beside and behind the green. The 18th is a great three-shot par-5 known by the locals as the “Twin Towers” for the two titanic sycamores that provide the target off the tee.
When you look back on your round at Prairie View from the Viewpoint Grill, the lounge, or as part of an event personalized for your group by the crew of Food and Beverage Director Thomas Erdman, you’ll look back on a course that wasn’t designed to trick you, with no hidden hazards and bentgrass greens that were a test of skill, not so much of nerve.
Speaking of the wonderful 1830’s-style clubhouse behind the traditional white picket fence, it is home to not only the grill and dining facilities, but a full-service Golf Shop and men’s and women’s locker rooms. You can add to the enjoyment of the Prairie View experience with customized lessons from Head Professional Darren Thomas, or Assistant Pro Kelly Brown, on the largest bentgrass practice tees in the state. In fact, the entire practice facility, from the strategically placed target greens to the practice putting areas located near the first and tenth tees, was far from an afterthought in this course’s planning.
The imaginative professionals at Prairie View want to make that outing for you, your small group, or even large contingent, as unique as the course you’ll play and will create the package that’ll suit your budget and your sense of style.
And besides their own packages, Prairie View participates in the Hamilton County Visitors Bureau’s Stay-and-Play Golf Package programs. For more on a customized day at Prairie View Golf Club, contact them by phone at (317) 816-3100 or visit them online at www.prairieviewgc.com.
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