Crooked Stick Golf Club
Played Crooked Stick way back in 06. Was just stopping in Indy on way up to Chicago and called my pro to see if he could get me on and to my surprise it was pretty easy. In fact, like at Olympia Fields and some others, they were more than accommodating, setting me up with a caddie and making me feel very welcome. You never know with a top 100 course how they’ll be to last minute (or any) requests to play. When they’re accommodating they are also very proud of their course and want to share it.
I don’t know if the photos were mine or not, I used them for the scrapbook here but this was a very pretty course. This is an early Pete Dye design where he is in a more laid back mood than with his other popular designs. Sure there are railroad ties used throughout but no punch-in-the-face use of them. My favorites here were eight – a cape-ish hole where you’re biting off a creek or long pond (which I birdied) – and six which is a very pretty par three with a little barn (tunnel) just off the green. On the back, 16, 17 and 18 are all memorable. On the 18th in the middle of the pond off the fairway is a mailbox. They say that’s Pete Dye’s suggestion box. His house is/was off the 18th fairway as well.
Crooked Stick is most famous for the 1991 PGA Championship held here where John Daly went from 2nd alternate or whatnot to win his first major out of nowhere and become a phenomenon. They’ve held other PGA tournaments, and Champions Tour and LPGA majors as well.
I probably give Crooked Stick a little more love than the golf magazines. Yes, it’s a top 100 on most, but barely (99th in the latest Golf Digest, 98th in Golf and 65th Modern in Golfweek). Even the Golf Gurus (which is a pretty cool golf blog in and of itself) only give this a “B” saying the setting and design aren’t as inspirational as other top 100 courses. I think that Dye in his restraint is as good as Dye when he’s in heat with designs like Sawgrass and Kiawah. Sure there are a couple more WOW holes at those but the overall fun factor is greater here. Clubhouse, like the course, is laid back as is the whole vibe. I didn’t get to stay around for a while as I had to run but my memory was a nice group of members.
I’ve only been to Indy a couple of times; one other time was to play Brickyard Crossing which plays inside the oval at the Brickyard. Pretty cool and maybe I’ll do a write up on that later. The place to eat downtown is St. Elmo’s Steakhouse. Not sure if this would be an Eagles road trip destination, as there really isn’t another golf course I’m DYE-ing to play here (pun intended) and it certainly wasn’t a party town.
Golf Scrapbook 