The Pete Dye Course: Golf in French Lick, Indiana

The nearest large commercial airport is Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport (SDF) in Louisville, Kentucky, 67.9 road miles from the course on OSRM's driving route. That route's named legs, longest first: US 150, 37.68 miles; US 150 / SR 56, 10.51 miles; the Shawnee Expressway (I-264), 7.41 miles; I-64 / US 150, 4.74 miles; the Henry Watterson Expressway (I-264), 2.12 miles. It ends on West County Pike Road, which is the road the resort's own written directions name. Indianapolis International Airport (IND) is 103.2 road miles by the same method, its named legs longest first: SR 37, 29.27 miles; I-69, 21.81 miles; SR 67, 12.92 miles; SR 37 / SR 60, 12.35 miles; US 150 / SR 56, 10.51 miles; State Road 39, 1.84 miles; and the Dwight D. Eisenhower Highway (I-70), 1.46 miles at the airport end. Both mileages are OSRM's. The resort publishes no mileage to any commercial airport; the only airport it names is the local general-aviation field: "The French Lick Airport (KFRH) is your jumping-off point for everything as they accommodate private, corporate, charter and small commercial flights... give airport manager Matt Carson a call at (812) 653-5561." Its FAQ adds that airport transportation can be arranged by email to FLRC-Transportation@frenchlick.com. From French Lick Springs Hotel the resort's own written directions to the ranked course read: "Turn LEFT onto West State Road 56 / Take first LEFT and turn onto Monon Drive / Monon Drive becomes North County Pike Rd / The Pete Dye Course is on your RIGHT." To the Donald Ross Course: "Turn RIGHT onto West State Road 56 / Proceed on State Rd 56 for 2.5 miles / The Donald Ross Course is on your RIGHT." Parking is stated plainly: "There is no charge for parking at French Lick Resort - it is free at all resort hotels and venues... Valet service is also complimentary for resort guests." On the property, "French Lick Resort shuttles run from both hotels to the three golf courses, casino, stables and all around the property," and "Our ADA-accessible road trolleys run between our hotels... 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year." A rail trolley also runs on the property - "Ride the rails a distance of just over one mile on 'the shortest trolley line in the world'" - daily, noon to 8pm. Clubs can be sent ahead to "French Lick Resort 8670 W. State Road 56 Frech Lick, IN 47432" [sic], and the resort asks you to "include the first course you plan to play: Pete Dye, Donald Ross or Valley Links."

Golf Digest's course record credits the designer as "Pete Dye, ASGCA." The resort agrees and adds the commission story: "Hall of Fame course designer Pete Dye called this his favorite inland design"; "Sketched on a napkin and carved into history by Hall of Fame architect Pete Dye"; and, at length, "The Cook Group, owners of the resort since 2005, set out to establish a historical and a world-class golf destination... they decided Indiana's own legend, Pete Dye, was the designer for the job... Dye walked the proposed Mt. Airie site and concluded there was no way to build a golf course on that land. The slopes were too severe and the terrain too rugged. Thankfully, he changed his mind." The resort captions the artefact on its own page: "Pictured above is the original napkin Pete Dye used to sketch his course layout during a lunch at the Villager Restaurant in French Lick." On scale, the operator's pages read "a par-72 championship course spanning a robust 8,102 yards on one of the Midwest's most dramatic elevation points" with "40-mile panoramic views of the Indiana countryside," and add "three man-made lakes, 'volcano' bunkers." The operator's USGA table for men runs Gold 8,102 yards, rating 80.0, slope 148; Black 7,254 / 76.2 / 139; Blue 6,701 / 73.3 / 135; White 6,115 / 70.6 / 130; Red 5,151 / 65.4 / 118. Golf Digest's own record gives Length 8,092 and Slope 140 for the same course, which disagrees with the operator; the figures in this paragraph are the operator's, and this guide does not mix the two. Golf Digest's ranking history for the course reads: "Second 100 Greatest: Ranked since 2017. Previous ranking: 118th. 2025-'26 ranking: 129th. 100 Greatest: Ranked 2013-'16. Highest ranking: 93rd, 2013-'14. 100 Greatest Public: Ranked since 2011. Highest ranking: 17th, 2013-'16, 2019-'20. Previous ranking: 19th. 2025-'26 ranking: 18th. Best in State: Ranked third, 2011 to current. 2025-'26 ranking (and previous): 3rd. Best New, Public: Winner, 2009." The magazine's editorial line on the state list reads: "Pete Dye's mountaintop design, Golf Digest's 2009 Best New Public winner, established that at age 80 the designer still had fresh ideas, including rumpled chipping swales, country-lane cart paths and volcano bunkers." The resort's own awards block carries the matching entry "America's Best New Public Course, Golf Digest, 2009 (The Pete Dye Course)" and "National Course of the Year (2017)." Golf Digest's course page carries no year-opened field of any kind, so this guide states the award year rather than an opening year. Conditions of play come from the operator and its booking system, verbatim: "The Pete Dye Course requires a forecaddie with each group"; "Expect to be paired and ENJOY MEETING NEW FRIENDS THROUGH GOLF!"; "ALL PLAYERS MUST HAVE A SET OF CLUBS!"; "NO COOLERS ARE TO BE BROUGHT ON PREMESIS" [sic]; "The Pete Dye Course has a range that can be utilized day of play only"; "Target pace is 4.5 hours." On dress: "Men are required to wear golf shirts with a collar and golf shorts or slacks (no sleeveless shirts or gym shorts). For ladies, no swimwear or crop tops." Course hours on the resort's page: "The Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort Daily - 6am - 7pm." Two claims are reported here as unresolved rather than asserted. The resort's Golf Awards block lists "Host Site: The Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance, 2024 & 2025" without naming a course against it, and no primary tour source was reached, so this guide attaches that event to no course. And the resort's competitive-record claims for this course - the 2015 Senior PGA Championship, the Colin Montgomerie quotation, the inaugural 2017 Senior LPGA Championship, the 2010 PGA Professional National Championship - are the operator's own statements, uncorroborated by any independent source the research reached. On protected status: a query of the National Park Service's National Register point layer for Orange County, Indiana returns exactly twelve listings, none of them the golf course; that layer is demonstrably incomplete, since the West Baden Springs Hotel is a National Historic Landmark and is absent from it. No National Register or landmark status was established for the course itself.

The resort answers the resort-stay question by name, for both ranked courses, in its own FAQ: "Is an overnight reservation required to book a tee time at the golf courses? No. However, the booking windows for The Donald Ross Course at French Lick and The Pete Dye Course at French Lick are two weeks in advance of your desired date if you do not have a room reservation at one of our resort hotels. Tee times at The Valley Links Course at French Lick are available to the public at any time, based on availability." A second sentence, repeated on the golf page and three times on the rates page - once in each course's block - reads: "Overnight guests of French Lick Resort have priority access to the Pete Dye, Donald Ross and Valley Links courses. If you are not a hotel guest and want to make a tee time, call (844) 489-0529 for rates and availability," followed by "French Lick Resort reserves the right to alter or amend this policy based on availability." The operative word is priority, not exclusivity: the stated cost to a traveller with no room reservation is a fourteen-day booking window and a phone call, not a gate. Booking is not online. The resort's Chronogolf listing carries the operator's own banner - "Online booking is ONLY available for The Sand Creek Course at this time. Please call 1 (844) 489-0529 to book, modify, or cancel reservations for the Pete Dye, Donald Ross, or Valley Links Golf Courses" - and the club record behind that page lists exactly one bookable course object, The Sand Creek Course. That system is live and transacting: a tee-sheet query against it for 20 September 2026 returned 88 slots, 52 of them carrying no restriction, while the earliest 28 of the day were marked for resort guests. It holds no tee sheet for the Pete Dye Course at all. So the absence of an online booking route for the ranked course is a fact about how the resort sells it, not a gap in the research: bookable, not online, and no overnight stay required. No green fee is published in this guide, for either course. The resort does post a rate table for the Pete Dye Course, but it carries no dated qualifier of any kind - every four-digit year on that page attaches to a package availability window rather than to the rate, and the only qualifier on the rate itself is "subject to change at the resort's discretion." The Donald Ross table gives season windows with no year. Golf Digest's own price fields for both courses are printed under its disclaimer, "This covers all ranges of greens fees. Please check with the course on specific timing and pricing," which is not a dated operator rate. The sentence that opens the courses to non-guests is also the one that tells them to call "for rates and availability," so the rate a non-guest is quoted is not established here. One cost is a condition rather than a fee, and the operator states it flatly: a forecaddie is mandatory with every group on the Pete Dye Course.

The second round is the Donald Ross Course, eighth on the same Golf Digest 2025-'26 Indiana list, labelled "Public," scored 3.6 by 18 panelists, and named in the same FAQ answer that opens the Pete Dye Course to travellers without a room. It is 4.7 road miles from the Pete Dye Course by OSRM, and the resort's written directions put it on State Road 56. The operator describes it: "Built in 1917, this award-winning course designed by renowned architect Donald Ross maintains nearly all the classic elements of its original design. Among the trademark Ross features are 80 deep-faced bunkers... A 2006 restoration ensured the integrity of this classic layout remained intact." And: "This legendary course has been home to high-profile regional and national tournaments including the 1924 PGA Championship won by Walter Hagen." Golf Digest credits the design as "Donald J. Ross, ASGCA/Thomas Bendelow/Sandy Alves/(R) Lee Schmidt, ASGCA," types the facility "Public," and records "100 Greatest Public: Ranked from 2011-'20. Highest ranking: 83rd, 2015-'16" and "Best in State: Ranked eighth, 2025-'26. Previous ranking: 6th." Practical differences from the ranked course: "Cart required. Walking is not offered"; "There is no range at the Donald Ross Course. There is a 4-bay warmup net. Range use for Ross is at the Valley Links Course"; "Caddies may be available at the Donald Ross Course upon request"; course hours "Daily - 7am - 6pm." Booking works exactly as it does for the Pete Dye Course - the same phone line, the same fourteen-day window for a traveller without a room reservation, no online route. The resort has a further course a visitor should know about by name, and know is shutting. The Valley Links Course is 2.1 road miles from the Pete Dye Course, closer than the Donald Ross, and it carries the most openly public access sentence anywhere on the resort's site: tee times there "are available to the public at any time, based on availability." It is a real nine-hole course, a walkable conversion of the original Tom Bendelow eighteen at French Lick Springs Hotel, par 36, with a championship tee length of nearly 3,500 yards. It is also closing. The resort's own words: "Saturday, October 24 will be the final day of the 2026 season at The Valley Links Course at French Lick. The course will reopen in 2027," and on the rates page, "Rates are valid until course renovations begin later in the season," above a rate table headed "THROUGH OCTOBER 24." A round there is therefore playable up to and including 24 October 2026 and not again until 2027, which is why the Donald Ross Course is the second round in this guide and the Valley Links Course is named here in prose instead. The Sand Creek Course, also on the property, is a nine-hole short course whose "nine holes are 90 yards or less"; it is the only course at the resort a traveller can book online. Off the property, the resort promotes Sultan's Run Golf Club in Jasper, whose own site advertises "Public Tee Times" and carries no mention of membership, with one caution in the resort's own words: "shuttle service is not provided outside of French Lick. If you plan to play Sultan's Run Golf Club in Jasper, transportation will be on your own." As of a 5 September 2026 reading, no closure, aeration, renovation, flooding or maintenance notice existed for either ranked course on any resort page, and none appears in the archived 6 July 2026 capture of the resort's courses page either; the resort's own events calendar, which runs from September 2026 into February 2028, lists no golf event and no course closure.

Everything a visitor needs is on the resort's own campus, connected by the shuttles described above. Three hotels are named on its lodging page. West Baden Springs Hotel: "West Baden Springs Hotel is anything but ordinary - it is an extraordinary experience. You will be captivated once you step foot inside this National Historic Landmark built in 1902," and, in the FAQ, "ideal for those who love a more peaceful setting. The European-inspired architecture creates a luxurious backdrop for a couple's getaway." That landmark status is independently checkable: the National Park Service's list of National Historic Landmarks by state carries the entry "West Baden Springs Hotel - 02/27/87 West Baden Springs, Orange County, IN." French Lick Springs Hotel: "Established in 1845, with the original east wing built in 1901, French Lick Springs Hotel attracted guests from around the world to experience the 'miracle waters'..." and, in the FAQ, "classically American in its architecture and it's great for families, with a bowling alley, three pools and kids' activities." Valley Tower Hotel: "The 71-room Valley Tower Hotel offers an unparalleled resort experience with easy access to French Lick Springs Hotel and all its amenities, the Event Center, Exhibition Hall, French Lick Casino and Valley Links Golf Course." The site also lists RidgeView Cottages and "Rooms, Suites & RV Slips." On dining, the resort states its rooms and its hours, and this guide states them as the resort does. 1875: The Steakhouse, at French Lick Springs Hotel, is the signature room - "Named to commemorate the year of the first Kentucky Derby" - daily 5pm to 10pm, reservations on (866) 321-5884. Sinclair's Restaurant, at West Baden Springs Hotel, is the fine-dining room: Thursday 6pm to 9pm, Friday and Saturday 5pm to 9pm, Sunday through Wednesday closed. Table One, also at West Baden Springs, is "a true chef's tasting table and a unique private dining experience for groups of up to 10," Thursday, Friday and Saturday by reservation only. Power Plant Bar & Grill is the family room, built around "The large electrical switchboard that once powered French Lick Springs Hotel," daily 11am to 10pm with a happy hour from 4pm to 5pm. The Grand Colonnade Restaurant serves a breakfast buffet daily 7am to 11am at "$28 for adults, half price for children age 6-12, and kids 5 and younger eat free." Pluto's Pizzeria runs Sunday through Thursday 11am to 10pm and Friday and Saturday 11am to 11pm; Valley Bar & Grill at the Valley Tower runs Sunday 2pm to 10pm and Monday through Saturday 4pm to 10pm; Spring No. 8 runs daily 11am to 5pm and states "Closed for the season starting October 1." At the golf itself there are two rooms. The Mansion at The Pete Dye Course - "Built in 1928... The mansion was built by Thomas Taggart, the former owner of French Lick Springs Hotel, for his son Thomas D. Taggart and his family" - states its hours as "Daily: For golfers with a tee time at The Pete Dye Course / Daily in October: Open to the public for lunch from 11am-3pm / Sunset Dinner: Sundays at 7pm through September 27." Hagen's Club House Restaurant at the Donald Ross Course offers "clubhouse dining with a panoramic view of the spectacular Donald Ross Course... The restaurant is named for legendary golfer Walter Hagen, who won the 1924 PGA Championship at this course," daily 11am to 9pm. One caution on counting: the resort's own text still describes three golf courses while its golf page advertises "54 holes of legendary golf," so this guide names the courses individually rather than repeating a total.