The Valley Links is a user friendly nine hole course that the resort, for better or worse, is turning into a full eighteen. While this will give French Lick 63 holes, making it one of the largest golf resorts in the Midwest, it is in my opinion a net loss as families and junior golfers will have to turn to the new Sand Creek pitch and putt course for the introduction to the game. I know these short courses are all the rage, but a regulation nine allows bonding, a connection to nature, and offers a wide variety of shots that give young people experience. Kids 12 and under play for free while 13-18 only pay half price. Those are two reasons why I believe they should leave it the way it is.
The Valley course was designed by Tom Bendelow in 1907 and later updated by Lee Schmidt. It originally was eighteen holes (one reason why many are okay with expanding it) but was reduced to nine. The present nine holes is a basic out and back routing. The first two holes are short par fours which should give the player easy pars. The incredibly long par three third, 243 yards, will prove to be the toughest hole. It’s plenty flat and plays every yard. The short par five fourth follows, and then a it’s onto a couple solid par fours. The par four fifth has a cool greenside bunker that has three grass islands inside it. The only topographical feature is a rise where the seventh green and eighth tee sit. They are both scenic holes, a 170 yard uphill par three and a downhill 495 yard par five. The eighth has a hazard crossing the fairway, and is big moment for those who can drive over it. The ninth finishes with a strong par four. Looking at the scorecard, it has good length and most will find matching its par 36 a challenge.
(The 435 yard par four fifth has this cool bunker guarding the green…
…being a long par four brings every one of those islands in play. Expect some uncomfortable stances when the ball trickles in.)
Pete Dye protege Chris Lutzke is redoing the course, and you can be guaranteed that he will try to match the Dye course atop the hill. I’ve seen the schematic routing and there’s an island green which will be the seventeenth hole. I’ve seen Lutzke’s Eagle Eye in Michigan, and he does a great job matching Pete’s architectural style. Surprisingly the project isn’t getting much publicity so I’m interested to see if that changes when the new course is near opening. As is, the valley course is a simple 3 (average)(worth driving 15-30 minutes to play).
(Today’s Valley course are holes 1-9 with the ninth being the opening in the present routing…
…you can see the hole numbers on the left so the island green will be 138 yards. Several holes will be altered with the uphill par three sixth coming at a completely different angle than present seventh.)
(I played the blue tees at 3,041 yards. The cost was $50. It’s a bit pricey but I’m willing to absorb it if kids are free or half price depending on their age.)
(Worm cam photo!)
(My new caddy will be working the drone for upcoming blogs. Hopefully we can get some really cool pictures!)
