The last of the eight courses on our golf trip was the Warren Golf Course, which is associated with the University of Notre Dame. From what we could find online the course looked great. And, thankfully, it wasn’t too far out of the way on our drive back to Chicago.
The Warren Course is named after Bill Warren, a Notre Dame alumnus who I believe helped sponsor the creation of the course. I’m not that familiar with the various colleges but we paired with a single who was a Notre Dame fan and he shared that touring the campus is a cool thing, if you have the time. If not, then some of the campus can be seen from the course – including the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. Pretty cool.
Depending on what golf magazine you read you may find the Warren Course ranked among the top public courses in Indiana. In case you are curious, the U.S. Senior Open was played here in 2019 so the course has some significance to it. After playing here I can see why it is ranked so high. I thoroughly enjoyed the round, even with my lackluster golf game these days. For $80, it turned out to be a good deal as well.
The Warren Course is a Coore and Crenshaw design and it is a bit of a unicorn since it is their only collegiate design. The course opened in 1999 and is what I would call a classic Midwest course. The layout is parkland style with gentle elevation changes. Some holes have a links look while others are more tree lined. We rode, but it would have been a good course to walk if we hadn’t already played so much golf the last five days.
I played the blue tees which are 71.3/130/6744. The main challenges are going to be all the bunkers and the small, undulating greens. Water is in play on just a few holes so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Tall, thick fescue and trees separate most holes. I hit more tee shots into the fescue than I care to admit and didn’t have much luck finding those drives.
The course’s defining characteristic is probably the interesting bunkers, which include some cool-looking pot bunkers. Most greens have two or three bunkers surrounding the sides so missing short works best on the approach shots. If you get pin high left or right of the greens then a high, soft lob is needed to get the ball close.
The course is a par-71 with four par-3’s and three par-5’s. I thought the par-5 10th (495 yards) was the signature hole. The tee shot plays through a chute of trees while the green is located across a creek. I also enjoyed the par-3’s. The short 4th, at 143 yards, was my favorite.
The conditions were nice and worth the green fee. The tees and fairways were lush. The greens were quick and rolled pure. The sand was good and made a nice thump when splashing out of a bunker.
Overall, I’d highly recommend a round at the Warren Course if you find yourself in the area. While the setting wasn’t as thrilling as some of the other courses we played this week, the design is top-notch and very fair.
Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):