Golf in the State of Indiana
Indiana - race right on over for some great golfing in this midwestern state, nicknamed the "Hoosier" state, bordered by Ohio and the Ohio River, Michigan and Lake Michigan, Kentucky and Illinois and the mighty Wabash River. Indianapolis is the capital city and main population concentration with 58 of the state’s 393 golf courses, many of them considered an excellent value. Several smaller centers are well represented including Fort Wayne with 21 courses, Gary with 19, Evansville with 17, and Lafayette and Terre Haute with 11 apiece.
The Pete Dye Course at French Lick featuring "narrow, immaculate fairways and rugged, intense terrain", has been called "one of the iconic courses" in the country.Fox Prairie Golf Course, Noblesville, with 27 championship holes, is considered one of Indiana's top public courses, yet with reasonable fees. Cobblestone Golf Course, Kendallville, considers itself "Northeast Indiana's Premier Golf Course." Picturesque, challenging and fun, Sarah Shank Golf Course, Indianapolis, "will have you reaching for every club in your bag."
Pros with Indiana roots include Amy Brockerstette, born in Fort Wayne, who is the first person with Down Syndrome to receive a college athletic scholarship, is a disabilities advocate and a Special Olympics athlete in golf and a variety of other sports; Joe E. Campbell, born in Anderson, who was the recipient in 1959 of Golf Digest's Rookie of the Year award and now resides in Lake Wales, Florida; Alice Dye, born in Indianapolis, who is recognised as the "First Lady" of golf course design, as well as being an accomplished golfer. Along with her husband, Pete Dye they have designed a multitude of golf courses in world-wide locations; Robert T. Hamilton, born in Evansville, who holds the record for the youngest golfer to shoot his age and is a member of the Indiana Golf Hall of Fame, and Charles E. "Chick" Evans Jr., born in Indianapolis, who in 1910 won both the US Amateur and US Open in the same year, the first time this feat had ever been accomplished. It is certainly too bad Bobby Jones is not from Indiana or the state would have its very own Indiana Jones!