Lafayette Area Trip

[Argonne69]

Thanks for the tips on Rock Hollow! What a great course. It's a parkland course built in an old gravel quarry that was allowed to overgrow with vegetation, so you get some decent elevation changes, tree-lined holes, and marsh areas that present quite a challenge. It has a good variety of long and short holes. The ability to work the ball both ways off the tee is almost a necessity. A few holes are fairly wide open, but other are dangerously narrow, including the daunting 577 yard par 5 6th. I was the first out, so pace of play was not an issue.

 

Unfortunately, the course is in rather rough shape, as was noted above. They received over 50 inches of rain earlier in the season, and the fairways have a number of dead areas. The greens are also bare in some spots, although they never seemed to come into play. A number of bunkers were washed out. I'm guessing it'll take the rest of the year to get the course back into shape, and even then they may have to replant some area. I noticed they suffer from the same plague that's happening up here in Chicago, the lack of players fixing ball marks. I think I fixed an average of 4 or 5 marks per green. 'Not cool. Green speeds were slow due to the morning dew. It finally burned off by the last 4 or 5 holes, and the speeds picked up to moderate. That said, the course was still playable, and for $39 with cart on a holiday weekend, a bargain even with the conditions.

 

As has been the case all week, I struggled with the driver early in the round, but got it together before the turn. 9 fairways, 13 greens, 3 scrambles, and 2 birdies made for a quick, fun round.

 

Overall it was an excellent, challenging layout. 'Definitely worth the hour pre-dawn drive.

 

I decided to skip a 7th round. My back told me it had had enough, and I also managed to tweak my knee when I slipped walking off a teebox on the wet grass. Six rounds was plenty for this trip. I took over 100 photos, and I'll post some of them once I get a chance to Photoshop them. I'll also post my course rankings in a day or so once I gather my thoughts. It was a fun trip was some very good golf courses. The beer wasn't half bad either.

[Argonne69]

Coyote Crossing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#18

 

 

[Argonne69]

Ackerman-Allen (Front NIne)

 

#1

 

 

#3

 

 

#6

 

 

 

 

[Argonne69]

Ackerman-Allen (Back Nine)

 

#10

 

 

#11 approach

 

 

#12

 

 

#13 (par 3)

 

 

#14 approach

 

 

 

 

#15

 

 

#16 approach

 

 

 

#17 (Long par 3)

 

 

#18

 

[Argonne69]

Kampen (Front)

 

#1 approach

 

 

#2 (par 3)

 

 

 

 

#6 (par 5)

 

 

#7

 

[Argonne69]

Kampen (Back)

 

#10 (par 5)

 

 

#12

 

 

#13 (par 3)

 

 

#14

 

 

 

 

 

#16 approach

 

 

#17 (par 3)

 

 

#18 approach

 

[sabram]

Was Coyote Crossing as claustrophobic as it looks in the photos? It looks like they need to remove a thousand trees.

[Argonne69]

Was Coyote Crossing as claustrophobic as it looks in the photos? It looks like they need to remove a thousand trees.

 

Tight, but not claustrophobic.

[Argonne69]

Battle Ground

 

 

 

 

[Argonne69]

The Trophy Club (Front)

 

#1

 

 

#2 (par 5)

 

 

 

#6

 

 

 

#7 green

 

 

#8 (par 3)

 

[Argonne69]

The Trophy Club (Back)

 

#11 (par 5)

 

 

 

 

#12

 

 

#17 (par 3)

 

 

#18

 

 

[Argonne69]

Rock Hollow (Front)

 

#1

 

 

#2. Daunting blind tee shot

 

 

#3 (par 5)

 

 

#5

 

 

#6 (par 5)

 

 

#7

 

 

 

#8 (par 3)

 

 

#9. They don't mess around with the yardage markers.

 

[Argonne69]

Rock Hollow (Back)

 

#10 (par 5)

 

 

#11 (par 3)

 

 

#12

 

 

#14 (par 3)

 

 

 

#15 (par 5)

 

 

#17

 

 

#18

 

 

 

[Bob Cat]

I've enjoyed following you in this, Argonne. Hopefully a pint and a game together are in our future.

 

If you get down here to Indiana much, you might check out our WRX Indiana page at http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/615265-all-things-indiana-golf/page__st__600

 

In fact, you might consider linking this thread to that one?

 

Rock Hollow's one of my favorites and a bargain, even now. Hope they can overcome their issues. A lot of courses down here received the heavy July rains and they don't look like that.

 

The golf course business struggle is real!

[PuttCurseRepeat]

Great reports once again, Argonne. I played RH several years ago. I remember, I was spraying and it was a long, tough day. The fairways look pretty cashed in the pictures. I recall them not being the greatest when I played there.

 

I believe the picture of RH #2 illustrates a pet peeve of mine regarding design. It appears that tee shot is blind mostly due to the long grasses of the wetland blocking the view. I've seen this at other courses and it is never a good thing, imo. I don't mind blind shots, but not blind because I'm teeing over 6ft. of grass. If cutting the grass is not an option, then it calls for the tee box to be built up a few feet.

[Argonne69]

Time for a final wrap-up. Overall it was a fun trip. The courses were decent for the most part. Nothing world class, but certainly playable. Being 2 hours from Chicago, it offered a reasonable amount of good, inexpensive golf. Heck, four of the six rounds were under $50, and the two Birck courses were $75 each when played together. That's a deal. The beer in Lafayette wasn't half bad either. Here's how I would rank the courses:

 

1) Ackerman: I'm probably being a little contrarian here, but I preferred this course to the Kampen course, primarily for the elevation changes. Kampen was the more difficult of the two, but there's just something about a rolling, tree-lined parkland course that is soothing to my eye. I liked that there were elements of Dye design without being a full blown Dye kick in the head.

 

2) Kampen: The most challenging of the bunch, especially when trying to select a target line off the tee. In typical Dye fashion, he tempts you to bite off more than you can chew. There was plenty of danger off the tee, without being overly penal. Not much in the way of elevation changes, but if you like prairie-style layouts, you'll like this. In the end, it doesn't really matter which of the two Birck courses are rated higher, you'll likely play them both on the same day.

 

3) Rock Hollow: I'm going to ignore the poor course conditions caused by the excessive rain. I'm sure they'll get it back in shape next season. This was a great layout with some really difficult tee shots. One had better be hitting it fairly straight, or the trees will eat you up. Being able to work the ball both ways off the tee is almost a necessity.

 

4) The Trophy Club: The course barely made it above Coyote Crossing. I was expecting much more. I've played several courses in Nebraska that were wide open, but they were much more challenging. This course just seemed too open off the tee. There were a handful of really fun holes, but they were outnumbered by the "meh" holes.

 

5) Coyote Crossing: A decent, tight, parkland course. No real complaints. If I lived nearby, I'd probably be playing it on a regular basis.

 

6) Battle Ground: A decent course for the locals, but nothing really jumps out.

[smith851]

this is an awesome writeup and stellar reviews... already forwarded it to my buddies trip group as id like to do Lafayette for our trip next year, and sprinkle in a first round at Warren Course at ND on the way down from Michigan

 

Purdue tracks, Coyote Crossing and The Trophy Club seems like a great 4 course loop for a buddies trip

[MountainKing]

Nice write up Arg! We went down and played the Birk courses yesterday and for the most part I agree with your assessment. I also prefered the Ackerman course.

 

I didn't think Kampen was visually that impressive, I haven't played many Dye courses but they all tend to be fairly stunning visually. I also felt it was far too penal towards good shots, I had several shots land on the right or left side of the fairway only to watch it take a hard bounce toward the rough. The short par 4 on the front with the split fairway was a great example, drive landed right in the landing area by the green, took a hard kick left then nailed the cart path and went bye into the weeds. On three occasions I hit drives that landed in the short grass and kicked into the native grass. I can understand it running through a fairway but to design a fairway in a way where a shot will take a direct bounce into trouble is poor, and putting a cart path right next to trouble always irks me as well. I also don't get the purpose of having weeds if you can't play out of them, they were so thick if you had a ball go in them the ball was gone requiring a re-load, luckily a few of the area's were marked as hazards. Most of the holes did have a area you could miss a drive on but then you were still required to bomb something over a tree or left with a blind shot. The greens were rather bland but they gave a good break. We played the course at 6800 and I can't even imagine how tough it is from the tees that were still miles behind the blues. I didn't have my best ball striking day, I can't imagine playing this course if I was having a day where I was spraying it everywhere. I shot a 77 on both courses but did feel a bit more satisfied with the one on Kampen.

 

I never played Ackerman before the re-design, a buddy of mine I played with did and said it was flat, easy and just not a good course. I liked the looks of most of the holes better than Kampen, thought the greens were far more interesting and challenging than Kampen. The Par 5's like Arg said are on the shorter side and give you a good chance to score, To be honest the course should probably be a par 71, hitting a 7 iron into a par 5 an getting a birdie doesn't really feel you earned much. If I had to go back and play 1 this would be the course. It had enough Dye in it to be fun and if you hit a fairway you more or less stayed in the fairway which is a big plus.

 

Still a very fun day of golf, We got $89 mid day round and a $40 twilight round so it was a heck of a deal. I know I griped a lot but I did enjoy the experience and any day on the golf course regardless of the course is better than a day at work no matter how much I love my job!

[Bob Cat]

...and sprinkle in a first round at Warren Course at ND on the way down from Michigan.

 

I played the ND Warren course yesterday and it was in GREAT shape. 18 is open again after having the fairway reseeded.

 

They'll host the 2019 US Seniors Open.

[rkristopheranderson]

Nice write up Arg! We went down and played the Birk courses yesterday and for the most part I agree with your assessment. I also prefered the Ackerman course.

 

I didn't think Kampen was visually that impressive, I haven't played many Dye courses but they all tend to be fairly stunning visually. I also felt it was far too penal towards good shots, I had several shots land on the right or left side of the fairway only to watch it take a hard bounce toward the rough. The short par 4 on the front with the split fairway was a great example, drive landed right in the landing area by the green, took a hard kick left then nailed the cart path and went bye into the weeds. On three occasions I hit drives that landed in the short grass and kicked into the native grass. I can understand it running through a fairway but to design a fairway in a way where a shot will take a direct bounce into trouble is poor, and putting a cart path right next to trouble always irks me as well. I also don't get the purpose of having weeds if you can't play out of them, they were so thick if you had a ball go in them the ball was gone requiring a re-load, luckily a few of the area's were marked as hazards. Most of the holes did have a area you could miss a drive on but then you were still required to bomb something over a tree or left with a blind shot. The greens were rather bland but they gave a good break. We played the course at 6800 and I can't even imagine how tough it is from the tees that were still miles behind the blues. I didn't have my best ball striking day, I can't imagine playing this course if I was having a day where I was spraying it everywhere. I shot a 77 on both courses but did feel a bit more satisfied with the one on Kampen.

 

I never played Ackerman before the re-design, a buddy of mine I played with did and said it was flat, easy and just not a good course. I liked the looks of most of the holes better than Kampen, thought the greens were far more interesting and challenging than Kampen. The Par 5's like Arg said are on the shorter side and give you a good chance to score, To be honest the course should probably be a par 71, hitting a 7 iron into a par 5 an getting a birdie doesn't really feel you earned much. If I had to go back and play 1 this would be the course. It had enough Dye in it to be fun and if you hit a fairway you more or less stayed in the fairway which is a big plus.

 

Still a very fun day of golf, We got $89 mid day round and a $40 twilight round so it was a heck of a deal. I know I griped a lot but I did enjoy the experience and any day on the golf course regardless of the course is better than a day at work no matter how much I love my job!

 

Oh man, I played Kampen the summer after they hosted the NCAA National Championships---had US Open length rough. I think Raymond Floy's kid played that year--they had really bad weather--mid 40s, wet, windy in mid-May--and my friends that worked there said he just shook his head at how tough it was from the tips. I played from all the way back once just to see what I'd shoot--I went driver/3 wood on 3 or 4 of the par 4s. Was an 8 hdcp at the time and was happy with the 88 I shot.

 

You can put up some really big numbers there if you don't hit it well in the right spots.

[MountainKing]

Nice write up Arg! We went down and played the Birk courses yesterday and for the most part I agree with your assessment. I also prefered the Ackerman course.

 

I didn't think Kampen was visually that impressive, I haven't played many Dye courses but they all tend to be fairly stunning visually. I also felt it was far too penal towards good shots, I had several shots land on the right or left side of the fairway only to watch it take a hard bounce toward the rough. The short par 4 on the front with the split fairway was a great example, drive landed right in the landing area by the green, took a hard kick left then nailed the cart path and went bye into the weeds. On three occasions I hit drives that landed in the short grass and kicked into the native grass. I can understand it running through a fairway but to design a fairway in a way where a shot will take a direct bounce into trouble is poor, and putting a cart path right next to trouble always irks me as well. I also don't get the purpose of having weeds if you can't play out of them, they were so thick if you had a ball go in them the ball was gone requiring a re-load, luckily a few of the area's were marked as hazards. Most of the holes did have a area you could miss a drive on but then you were still required to bomb something over a tree or left with a blind shot. The greens were rather bland but they gave a good break. We played the course at 6800 and I can't even imagine how tough it is from the tees that were still miles behind the blues. I didn't have my best ball striking day, I can't imagine playing this course if I was having a day where I was spraying it everywhere. I shot a 77 on both courses but did feel a bit more satisfied with the one on Kampen.

 

I never played Ackerman before the re-design, a buddy of mine I played with did and said it was flat, easy and just not a good course. I liked the looks of most of the holes better than Kampen, thought the greens were far more interesting and challenging than Kampen. The Par 5's like Arg said are on the shorter side and give you a good chance to score, To be honest the course should probably be a par 71, hitting a 7 iron into a par 5 an getting a birdie doesn't really feel you earned much. If I had to go back and play 1 this would be the course. It had enough Dye in it to be fun and if you hit a fairway you more or less stayed in the fairway which is a big plus.

 

Still a very fun day of golf, We got $89 mid day round and a $40 twilight round so it was a heck of a deal. I know I griped a lot but I did enjoy the experience and any day on the golf course regardless of the course is better than a day at work no matter how much I love my job!

 

Oh man, I played Kampen the summer after they hosted the NCAA National Championships---had US Open length rough. I think Raymond Floy's kid played that year--they had really bad weather--mid 40s, wet, windy in mid-May--and my friends that worked there said he just shook his head at how tough it was from the tips. I played from all the way back once just to see what I'd shoot--I went driver/3 wood on 3 or 4 of the par 4s. Was an 8 hdcp at the time and was happy with the 88 I shot.

 

You can put up some really big numbers there if you don't hit it well in the right spots.

 

The rough was pretty brutal Tuesday, not sure when they last cut it but even at that on some holes there wasn't much rough as it went from fairway to giant weeds.