On Sunday afternoon I connected with another golfer from social media at Blackthorn Golf Club in South Bend. I’ve been staying near South Bend and Blackthorn has been on my list of courses to hit while I’m here. The individual I golfed with is a member at the course and plays here frequently.

Blackthorn is a Dr. Michael Hurdzan design close to South Bend’s airport. You get to see planes landing and taking off on a few holes. Cool! Especially if you are into that sort of thing, like I am.

Overall, I’d say Blackthorn’s presentation was my favorite thing about the course. The course has a mostly wooded look with more elevation changes than you’d expect for Northern Indiana. There is adequate separation between holes and only a couple homes nearby as well. Thankfully, the course isn’t super tight off the tee and you have room to miss. A couple trees impact play, but nothing too obnoxious.

We played the orange tees which are 71.5/132/6551. After my first time around Blackthorn, I’ll say it is a sneaky tough course. Visually, I found it to be intimidating. A number of landing areas are semi-blind and fairways narrowed or ran out where I wanted to hit the tee shots. The 5th is a 440 yard par-4 with a tree in the middle of the fairway to throw you off. The 16th is a short par-3 with a tall tree you may need to hit over. Odd.

By far the toughest aspect about Blackthorn are the greens. They are busy with lots of spines, tiers, and contour. They were also very quick the day I played and I wasn’t ready for it. I hit what I thought was a decent chip on the first hole and it rolled off the green. I never adjusted and every putt was at least five feet past. These were some of the toughest greens I’ve played in quite some time.

The par-3’s were my favorite holes at Blackthorn. Finally a course with yardages that vary! The 3rd is 170 yards and plays downhill to a large green. The 8th is 158 yards with a green framed by a hillside and trees in the background. The 13th is long, wacky par-3 with a deep green that has a bank to the left. That par-3 16th is only 134 yards, but the green is small and that left pin was hidden from view.

My twilight green fee was about $55 and for that price it is hard to beat Blackthorn. All the conditions were excellent. The turf was lush and the ball sat up. The greens were smooth, although my friend said they can get bumpy in the afternoon. The rough was gnarly.

Personally, the Warren Course with its parkland look is still my favorite course in the area. But, Blackthorn is a solid second and worth a stop if passing through. I enjoyed the layout and certainly wouldn’t mind a couple more rounds here to try to adjust to the speed of the greens.

Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):