Otter Creek Golf Course

Otter Creek is located in Columbus, IN, about 40 minutes south of Indianapolis, and is one of the top courses in Indiana. The original 18 holes were designed by Robert Trent Jones, and a second 9 holes by Rees Jones. The course is routed through rolling hills of southern Indiana, using the existing contours and lay of the land instead of building up the land. Jones design philosophy was that each hole should be a hard par but an easy bogey, and he achieved that here with a classic. The greens are tiered, are over-sized, and very fast. The new nine is more links style than the original parkland design, all three nines have a great selection of challenging and unique holes. There's water on 14 holes, and 127 bunkers. The West course is my favorite layout with a good amount of bunkers both around the greens, and in and near the fairways at the landing areas, and the course requires both distance and accuracy with a number of doglegs. The North course is similar in nature, but a little more open with a links type openess, but with fewer bunkers. The East course is a mix of woodland and links styles and has two huge lakes that come into play. While the East nine is worth playing, I always opt for the original North and West nines. Otter Creek has hosted The Indiana Amateur 26 times, and in 1991, the USGA's Public Links championship.