Days – 68 and 67 Super Tourist

Given the slice my driver had developed I thought I should get another round in before Indy. So I dropped in on Clover Meadows golf club. There was lots of clover in the fairways but I think it was named after the town Cloverdale. The “retired boys” were hanging out on the deck and had lots of questions for me. It was easily a half hour before I got to the register to pay $12 for walking 9. It proved to be a great value. The layout uses the subtle elevation changes nicely. The holes were all unique. Greens were big and mostly true. The fairways have no irrigation just “what the good lord provides” as the starter said. So roll out was insane, easily adding 30 to 40 yards to every shot until you got within 50 yards of the green where irrigation began. No sand or water to speak of. I managed 3 pars and was able to reign in but not completely resolve the slice. I managed 50 miles before arriving in Martinsville, a run down bedroom community of Indianapolis (read cheaper motels).

The routing in Indiana has been better than Illinois. Mostly farm roads with low traffic volumes through rolling corn fields. The roads were like a rollercoaster up and down all day but never for long. Just punchy climbs and fun descents.

I rolled out of Martinsville relatively early the next day to make sure I was in Indy in time for my 3:45 tee time. I cruised and found myself downtown by noon. I needed to burn a couple hours when I saw Lucas Oil stadium. A quick check on their website showed they give tours on Friday and there was one starting at 1:00. I rolled up to the ticket office and they still had room. Our “tour guide” was not great. She had very little information concerning the building, the team, the owners, and got lost. But we did get to see all of the cool places like the beer cooler (over 200 kegs a game she said), the press box, the locker rooms including the whirlpools, and best of all we got to walk (no running allowed) on the field.

The tour ran over significantly (did I mention our tour guide got lost?) so I had to hustle to the town of Speedway, home of the Indianapolis 500 to play the Brickyard Crossing. This course plays three holes within the track. I have been looking forward to this course since leaving Chambers Bay. I will not keep you in suspense it was worth riding 3500 miles for.

I made an exception for this course and took a cart. It seemed like it would be sacrilege to walk at the “Racing Capitol of the World”. I was paired with a couple that were members and they were awesome. They played well and fast without seeming rushed. The course is a Pete Dye design and if you were wondering, yes there were railroad ties! It is maintained at an exquisite level and plays like a resort course. That is to say most holes require good shots but not being perfect usually only costs you a stroke.

We were lucky and there was a Ferrari event that had cars running on the track while we played. It would have been an incomplete experience without the roar of exotic sports cars. Pete also put an insanely difficult par three with an elevated green that might as well have been an island as part of the in-track experience.

I played some of the best golf of the trip. I think Linda and Kevin’s play inspired me. There were a few holes that I will try to forget and a few pars. The slice disappeared but I did pull hook a few.

When I was done and collecting Alister from the cart barn, one of the staff quizzed me about my trip than said “hey do you want to ride back out to the interior holes and get some pics with your bike?” So unexpected. The perfect ending to a full pull tourist day in Indy!