#62 French Lick Resort (Pete Dye)

Colin Montgomery called it "iconic", and Trish Johnson, who won the first LPGA Legends Championship here said it was her favorite, and the Old Course is now 2nd.

 I don't know if I would go that far, but it is surely interesting.  There is not a tree in play, and only one water hazard, but it has very narrow fairways.  And not straight.  Even when there's not a dogleg, neither is there a direct path to the green without going over or around an obstacle.  The penalty for leaving the fairway, instead of the usual trees, or hazards, or desert, is a 30 or 100-foot drop to a closely mown area, unless you're unlucky and the ball hangs up in the thick rough on the steep downslope.  I had more than a few lies with the ball above my knees in 3-inch grass.  Not hard to find, but I could manage less than 50 yards of progress on many of them.  Nothing in the way, except more rough.

Or perhaps a few volcano bunkers.  Not just pot bunkers, sunk into the landscape, but small, deep bunkers atop pointy mounds, surrounded by high rough.  Clusters of them.

And nary a railroad tie in sight.

More pictures.

A "forecaddie" is mandatory, and mine was Logan.  He just finished his freshman year at Indiana, and has been caddying here for 7 years.  He's a Chick Evans Scholar.  Very helpful.  He was more like a regular caddy except for carrying the bag.  He rode with me in the cart, tended pins, raked bunkers, and read greens.  He's thinking of majoring in sports management.  I told him if I were starting over, I'd want to work for the PGA Tour, or LPGA.  Having a caddy saved probably 20 minutes on the round.  We had nobody in front of us, and finished in 2:40.

Oh, and I made par on the first hole, and birdie on 18 (#2 handicap).  I don't want to talk about the others.