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 If it’s possible for a true gem of a golf course to be “hidden” in plain sight, The Trophy Club in Lebanon, northwest of Indianapolis, might just qualify. Less than a decade old, The Trophy Club burst on the scene as Golf Digest’s “4th Best New Publi Golf Course in America” when it opened in the fall of 1998. And it is only improving with age.
Just last year, Golf Digest again honored The Trophy Club with a 4-1/2-Star rating and named it among the country’s 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses, and has consistently rated it among the Top 5 public courses in the Hoosier state.
Yet you can still take this Scottish links-style getaway for under $50 most days and times. Why? Don’t ask too many questions, just go play it, for playability is what Director of Golf B.G. Winings says brings back guests again and again. Architect Tim Liddy is a protégé of Pete Dye, and like his Indiana-based mentor, Liddy loves to design holes with generous fairways. He just doesn’t always reveal them to you immediately off the tee. A comment Winings says he hears often from his first-time visitors is that it took awhile to realize how open the fairways are between the rolling terrain and the Dye/Liddy-trademark mounding and bunkering. Winings likens the layout to another of Dye’s popular Indiana creations that has been similarly honored for its excellence, Brickyard Crossing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, just without the cars screaming by at 225 MPH!
 In fact, the quiet is something you’ll appreciate at The Trophy Club. It’s all golf, no home sites or construction traffic to distract you from the natural beauty of this 247-acre layout. And it is true, links-style golf in nearly every sense of the definition. When you tee off #1, you won’t come back to the state-of-the-art clubhouse again until you’re finishing at the 18th, or 19th holes. Yes, another interesting feature at The Trophy Club is a 165-yard par-3 19th, with a pot bunker right in the middle of the green—a la the famed Riviera in California--where you can settle that bet, or join in on one of the hole-in-one contests going on all the time at The Trophy Club.
But back to that award-winning 18. The variety of challenges begins with deciding from which tees to play. From just under 5,100 yards at the forward tees to right at 6,000 yards from the White tees, to 6,550 at the Blues to over 7,200 at the tips, The Trophy Club will give you all the game you want. From a 75.3 rating/138 slope from the back tees to 72.1/130 at the Blues to a still-daunting 69.6 rating/124 slope at the White tees, there is an immediate ego-check before you put the first tee in the ground on their lush tee boxes.
Along with variety off the tee, the variations in the holes is truly remarkable. No two holes are even faintly similar. The par-4’s range in distance from the 391-yard (White Tees) 13th to the drivable 270-yard fifth. In fact, with the wind blowing the right way and pins cut in the right spots, three of the par-4’s represent drivable-green, risk/reward opportunities for the big hitters.
 Besides the generous fairways, the carefully-sculpted bunkers and severely-undulating greens are another Dye-style trademark that has people talking about The Trophy Club. The greens are large, just don’t miss them, or the penalty can be stiff. Like at any great Scottish-links layout, the pin placements on those greens, and the breezes rolling across the landscape, mean everything to your strategy for attacking The Trophy Club.
Despite the welcoming landing areas, driver isn’t always the best choice off the tee. Maybe the best illustration of this is at Winings’ favorite hole, the short par-4 12th, where only 323-yards separates the back tee from the center of the green. If the wind is at your back and the pin is in the right spot, you can attempt to bounce the ball through the narrow neck between an enormous pot bunker front-left and water that extends the length of the hole on the right. Just make sure to keep it away from both of those graveyards. A solid 3-wood or long iron and a wedge is often the smarter play.
And after your strategy has been tested by the short 12th, your strength will be at the 391-yard (white) to 481-yard (black) par-4 13th. The par-5’s are all under 500-yards from the white tees, but three of the four are over 550 from the tips. The 16th looks docile enough on the card, just 448-yards from the white tees and 481 from the blues, but it’s a classic risk/reward dogleg left that wraps around Prairie Creek, a stream that wends its way through much of the course and doesn’t come into play often, unless you don’t carry it while trying to cut the corner to the green.
Not many courses brag about their par-3’s. Winings almost apologizes for their difficulty at The Trophy Club, calling them the toughest group of holes on the course. All over 160-yards from the Blue tees and all over 190 from the tips, conquering the par-3’s at The Trophy Club is tough, even though holding your own is essential to a good score.
A good start is also important. Winings notes that in nearly all of the tournaments that are held at The Trophy Club, the first dozen holes are the ones to make your hay because four of the toughest holes on the course are among the final six, wrapping up with the great dogleg right 18th that stretches from 379 yards at the white tees to nearly 100 yards more from the tips.
How challenging, yet playable, is The Trophy Club? In 2001, the course hosted not only the Indiana State Open, but also the Indiana PGA Senior Championship, demonstrating that the golf course is tournament-capable, yet extremely playable, by golfers of all ages.
Before, or after your round, don’t forget to avail yourself of the enormous practice and teaching facility at The Trophy Club. Winings remembers a recent outing that put a tent on the range for pre-and post-round festivities and still had more than enough room for all of its golfers to loosen up prior to the event.
Whether it be a large corporate or charity outing, or a smaller-group event, the courteous and knowledgeable staff at The Trophy Club can take care of it with the Hogan Bar and Grill and the multi-functional Pavilion Room that seats over 100 in indoor, air-conditioned comfort. All of the event support is generated on-site, so all of the amenities, from carts to catering, are controlled by the Trophy Club’s own well-trained customer service professionals.
“Trophies are signs of victory and are obtained only through hard work, effort, dedication and investment of time and money. Designing and building a championship golf course requires no less.”
That anonymous piece of inspiration is the motivating force at The Trophy Club, and reason enough for you to give this gem on Highway 52 just northwest of Indianapolis a try, before the expected growth in this area makes tee times harder to come by.
For more information on tee times, outings or incredibly affordable memberships, contact The Trophy Club at (765) 482-7272, call toll free at
(888) 730-7272, or visit their Web site at www.thetrophyclubgolf.com.
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