NWO Golf Links June 2016

Taggert also recognized the potential to drawmore

clients to his hotel by constructing a golf course.

The Valley Course, designed by Tom Bendelow,

opened for play in 1907. Golf became so popular

at the resort that the most famous designer of the

time, Donald Ross was commissioned to build a

second course, the Hill Course. It opened for play

in 1917 and hosted the 1924 PGAChampionship,

won byWalter Hagen.

Over the years both the French Lick Springs

Hotel and the West Baden Springs Hotel fell

upon hard times. All of that changed in 2005,

however, when the Cook Group, a medical

device manufacturing company headquartered

in Bloomington, Indiana purchased both

properties and began the huge task of restoring

them to their former greatness.

Over $550 million was injected into renovating

and reviving both properties. The resort has

provided needed jobs and benefited to the

overall economy of Southern Indiana.

The West Baden Springs Hotel was restored to its

original grandeur, plus a casino was added to the

French Lick Springs Hotel. Both properties are now

included in the French Lick Resort, which also

includes spas at both hotels, along withThe Donald

and a new

The original Hill Course underwent a $5

million renovation in 2007 and reopened as

the Donald Ross Course at French Lick. It has

received rave reviews and was restored to the

original design Ross envisioned, when he built

the course.

In 2009, Indiana’s own, Pete Dye was

commissioned to build a golf course of major-

championship caliber on the second highest

peak in Indiana, above the West Baden

Springs Hotel. Dye at first scoffed at the idea

of building a course on the site, but soon came

around and scratched out the original routing

on a napkin, which is framed and hangs in the

pro shop today.

This is a video of Pete Dye talking about the

design of the Dye Course at French Lick:

NWO Golf Links