Q&A with Dave Harner on French Lick Resort making ‘Most Historic Golf Courses’ list
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In July, French Lick Resort was recognized as one of the most historic golf courses by Historic Hotels of America. The 2024 list includes “the most beautiful, prestigious and iconic American golf courses that continue to attract both leisure seekers and serious athletes.”
Dave Harner, director of golf operations at French Lick Resort, spoke with Inside INdiana Business about the facility’s golf courses, hosting the Korn Ferry Tour Championship for the first time and a new nine-hole course in the works.
Tell me about the Donald Ross Course.
Donald Ross is a classic for people who are familiar with Donald Ross golf courses. With the deep face bunkers, undulating greens, a lot of native grass, wide open spaces, but built on the lay of the land, more or less. Back in those days, they couldn’t move millions of yards of dirt to build a golf course, so they had to find land that suited the need.
The story goes that Donald Ross and the owner of the hotel, Tom Taggart, rode on horseback through the country, found this particular piece of property and liked it so well they bought it from an adjacent farmer and built the Ross course there. In its time, it was regarded as very futuristic, very difficult. Still today, it holds its own with the best players.
We hosted a lot of championships there. In the beginning, the 1924 PGA Championship. From there, we hosted the Midwest Amateur from 1932 to 1962, the LPGA Championship in 1959 and 1960 and numerous state opens. The Epson Tour from the LPGA, the PGA Club Professionals Championship, and the LPGA Teaching and Club Professionals Championship. So we’ve hosted a lot of things there over the years.
What about the Pete Dye Course?
Pete Dye Course is the ultimate modern design. Pete built the course to combat the modern player. His thoughts were the ball and the clubs had been improved so much it would take a lengthy golf course with a lot of challenge to stand up under the good players of tomorrow. And that’s exactly what he built.
It’s 8,100 yards from the back tees. We have six separate sets of tees. And the greens complexes are small. There’s only one that’s over 5,000 sq. ft. The widest fairway is 85 ft. wide. It’s a shot makers golf course, and keeping it in the fairway is important.
We hosted many events there. The 2010 Club Professionals, the Indiana Open twice, the Senior PGA Championship, the LPGA Legends Tour, and then later on morphed that into the Senior LPGA Championship we founded here at French Lick and hosted for four years. The Epson Tours played there, numerous Golfweek Amateur Tours, many other regional tournaments.
Now we’re getting ready for the Korn Ferry Tour Championship in the first week of October to decide who the next great stars are.
How are preparations going for the Korn Ferry Tour Championship?
We’re under construction right now. The hospitality venues are going up, tents are going up, almost daily meetings of strategies and how we handle spectators and volunteers. We have over 400 volunteers, so it’s a big undertaking to manage all that. Thankfully, the tour has an event company who manages most of that. We’re more or less the host site and giving support wherever we’re asked.
What does hosting that event mean for the resort and the community?
There’ll be a lot of people running around here, whether they’re participants or whether they’re spectators, families of participants. It’s going to bring a lot of people into the area, some for the day, some for the week, some for a couple of nights and some for all seven or eight.
The restaurants are going to be busy. It’s going to be a wild time. We have our Orange County Pumpkin Festival here in town the same week. That’s a big local event that will draw a lot of people. I’d say French Lick and West Baden will be hopping.
What about the Valley Links Course?
It’s the oldest course on the property. It was built in 1907 and has undergone several renovations over time. Then when the casino moved in the early 2000s, the Valley was taken from an 18 to a nine-hole golf course. We still have a lot of play there. A lot of people enjoy playing it because it’s a course that anybody can play. It doesn’t require you being a great golfer to have fun out there.
Another nine-hole course is being developed at the resort. When will Sand Creek Course open?
We’ve talked about fall, and then we’ve talked about spring, so it depends on the weather and how soon we can get it completed. The longest hole is 111 yards, and the shortest hole is 47 yards.
Basically, you’ll sign into play, and you’ll be given a set of four clubs, three golf balls, some tees and a carry bag. It’s a walking experience, but it’s not long. It’s 700 yards from the longest tees. It’s a course that families can play, and beginners can play. It’ll be fun. We have some replica bunkers from the Dye and Ross and a few greens that are replica miniatures of Ross and Dye. It’ll be a fun course for anybody.
What other golf events are happening this fall at the resort?
Korn Ferry will cap off our year. That’s October 3-6. Leading up to the week of the tournament, we have three Pro-Ams at Pete Dye and three Pro-Ams at Donald Ross. About 650 players between the three at each place, and then the Korn Ferry, and then a fall ramp down. We’ll be busy in October, but it’ll start to signal the end of our season.
How do you feel about French Lick Resort making the 2024 Most Historic Golf Courses list?
The Ross course definitely is one of the top classic period golf courses that’s pre-1960 in the world. It’s a challenge to most everyone, and it presents itself as a classic, from the clubhouse experience on through the end of the round. We now have golf carts, but it shows that early period of golf, the way the bunkers are entrenched in the hillsides, and some of the shots that you have to hit.
We’re excited about it. It’s a fitting tribute to an old classic that’s probably been under-recognized through the years.
What do you think this distinction will do for the resort?
The distinction will open the eyes of a lot of people who enjoy the older, classic golf courses. There are people who prefer those over the moderns, and we get a lot of players here who prefer [Ross] over Dye. So just exposure and letting people know that it’s of the quality that would make them want to come play.