Top Golf Courses in Indiana: 10 Best Places to Play

Indiana does not always get first billing in golf-trip conversations, and that is a mistake. This is a state with deep Pete Dye roots, a brutal Tom Fazio test in the south, polished private-club golf from Jack Nicklaus, a cerebral Coore-Crenshaw public course at Notre Dame, and a French Lick one-two punch that can carry an entire trip by itself. If you care about architecture as much as scorecards, Indiana has real golf substance.

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How we ranked

I leaned hardest on Golf Digest’s current 2025-26 Best in State ranking, then cross-checked the public side with IndianaGolf’s 2026 rankings and French Lick’s current Golfweek honors. From there, the tiebreakers were simple: architecture, consistency, challenge that feels fair, and whether the course gives you holes you will still be thinking about after the round.

1. Victoria National Golf Club — Newburgh

If you ever get the invite, go. Victoria National is Golf Digest’s No. 1 course in Indiana, and it earns that status with a private Tom Fazio layout carved from an old strip mine, where fairways run between spoil mounds and lagoons and the closing stretch is literally called The Gauntlet. It is dramatic, punishing, and the kind of course that exposes every weak move off the tee.

2. Crooked Stick Golf Club — Carmel

Crooked Stick is where Pete and Alice Dye became Pete and Alice Dye. This private club is still one of the state’s defining rounds: bold shaping, hard edges, big sand, and angles that demand commitment instead of steering-wheel golf. The late-2024 Tom Doak restoration sharpened the details without changing the soul, which is exactly what you want from a place this important.

3. French Lick Resort: Pete Dye Course — French Lick

For public golfers, this is Indiana’s headline act. The Pete Dye Course at French Lick is the mountaintop bruiser: more than 8,100 yards from the tips, enormous views, roomy-looking fairways that still make you think, and classic late-career Dye flair with volcano bunkers and rumpled swales. It is big, bold, and absolutely bucket-list material.

4. Sycamore Hills Golf Club — Fort Wayne

Sycamore Hills is Nicklaus without the fluff. This private Fort Wayne club mixes strategic holes, target holes, and gambling holes, with serious bunker work and a creek-laced par-5 15th that can wreck a card in a hurry. It feels polished, demanding, and unmistakably top-shelf from the first tee.

5. The Pfau Course at Indiana University — Bloomington

The Pfau Course feels like modern college golf done right. Steve Smyers and Fuzzy Zoeller built a public course that can test elite players without punishing regular golfers for existing, so the strong player sees compressed landing areas and angled drives while everyone else gets open-front greens and more playable width where it matters. It is relatively new, already nationally recognized, and one of the best public rounds in the state.

6. Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex: Kampen Course — West Lafayette

Kampen is Pete Dye in full attack mode. The public Purdue layout is links-style, full of massive sandscapes, pot and trench bunkers, angled greens, water-carry par 3s, and one of those drivable par 4s that makes you question your judgment before you even peg it. It is demanding, visually loud, and deeply memorable.

7. Warren Golf Course at Notre Dame — Notre Dame

Warren is the thinker on this list. Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw took gentle land and turned it into a public course built on smart angles, subtle doglegs, and bunkers that actually matter. It hosted the 2019 U.S. Senior Open, which tells you plenty, but the bigger sell is that it walks beautifully and never has to shout to hold your attention.

8. French Lick Resort: Donald Ross Course — French Lick

If the Dye course is the adrenaline rush, the Ross course is the slow burn. This public classic rolls over ridges and into hollows, with well-bunkered greens and slightly crowned surfaces that keep the short game honest. A lot of golfers leave French Lick talking about the Dye course first and the Ross course longer.

9. Brickyard Crossing Golf Course — Indianapolis

Brickyard Crossing sounds like a novelty until you play it. Yes, four holes sit inside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but the golf is real Pete Dye golf: visual deception, pot bunkering, water pressure, and a four-hole stretch that feels as competitive as it does unique. It is one of the most distinctive public tee times in America.

10. Holliday Farms Golf Club: Championship Course — Zionsville

Holliday Farms is one of the last courses Pete Dye worked on, finished with Tim Liddy and P.B. Dye, and it has that late-career master feel. The private championship course moves from creekside woods to open meadows, with enough width to tempt you and enough visual tension to punish lazy swings. Newer than the old guard, but firmly in Indiana’s top tier.

The easy first Indiana trip is French Lick, but the state’s real strength is depth. You can build a serious golf week around southern Indiana, Indianapolis, Bloomington, West Lafayette, and Notre Dame without running out of premium golf.

When is the best time to golf in Indiana?

Late May through June and then September into October is the sweet spot. Indianapolis normals are comfortable in those windows, while French Lick’s current in-season schedule runs from April 16 through October 31. July and August are still very playable, but you are more likely to deal with warmer, stickier afternoons.

Are the best Indiana courses mostly public or private?

At the top end, Indiana gives you both. The private side is loaded with names like Victoria National, Crooked Stick, Sycamore Hills, and Holliday Farms, but public golfers still have real firepower with the French Lick Dye and Ross courses, Pfau, Kampen, Warren, and Brickyard. That is a strong public bench by any standard.

What is the hardest course in Indiana?

Victoria National gets the nod. Golf Digest’s panelists have long treated it as one of the toughest tests in the state, and the club itself leans into that identity with a closing five-hole run called The Gauntlet. It is gorgeous, but it is not there to flatter you.

What is the best public course in Indiana?

The safest answer is the Pete Dye Course at French Lick. French Lick says Golfweek kept it No. 1 among Indiana public courses through 2025, and IndianaGolf’s 2026 public rankings also place it first. If you want a different flavor, Pfau and Warren are outstanding alternatives.

Can you build a great public-only Indiana golf trip?

Absolutely. A very good public-only trip could include French Lick’s two courses, Pfau in Bloomington, Kampen at Purdue, Warren at Notre Dame, and Brickyard in Indianapolis. None of that requires a member connection, and none of it feels like a consolation prize.

Is Indiana worth a dedicated golf weekend or weeklong trip?

Yes. Few states pack this many name-brand architects into one map: Fazio, Pete and Alice Dye, Nicklaus, Coore and Crenshaw, Donald Ross, and Steve Smyers all show up here. A weekend works for French Lick alone, and a longer trip lets you connect southern Indiana, Indianapolis, Bloomington, West Lafayette, and Notre Dame into one very strong loop.