March 21, 2012
Notre Dame, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame’s Warren Golf Course has been chosen as one of the top six courses in Indiana in the 2012 Golfweek Magazine’s Best Courses – State-by-State edition that was released on Tuesday. Since Golfweek began ranking “Best Courses in the State” in 2007, the Warren has been one of only three courses to earn a top 10 ranking in each of those years. There are 420 golf courses in the state.
Golfweek is widely regarded throughout the golf industry as the authority on rating golf courses.
“The Warren Golf Course is the only course in Northern Indiana to make the list. The hard work and dedication of the entire golf staff has resulted in a transformation of the course into a true golf destination for golfers throughout the country,” said John Foster, general manager and head professional of the Warren Golf Course.
“Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore, the designers of the Warren Course, are widely regarded as the greatest golf course architects of our time. The Warren Course is one of only 20 Coore Crenshaw designs in the world. Only five of their courses are accessible to the public. Aside from the Warren, the other public Coore Crenshaw courses are in Texas, Hawaii, Oregon and Arizona.”
The Warren Golf Course opened on May 1, 2000 and has played host to three U.S. Amateur Championship qualifiers, the 2005 and 2010 men’s NCAA Central Regional, the 2011 women’s NCAA Central Regional, three Western Amateur Championship qualifiers, the 2010 United States Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship, five BIG EAST Conference men’s championships and three BIG EAST women’s championships. In addition, the par 70, 7,020-yard, tree-lined layout has welcomed numerous junior golf tournaments and serves as the home golf course for the Notre Dame men and women’s golf teams.
Among the criteria the course was judged on by Golfweek was ease and intimacy of routing; integrity of the original design; quality of feature shaping; natural setting and overall land plan; interest of greens and surrounding contours; variety and memorability of par 3s; variety and memorability of par 4s; variety and memorability of par 5s; basic quality of conditioning; landscape and tree management and “a walk in the park” test.
Earlier this year, Golfweek ranked the Warren Golf Course as one of the top 15 college golf courses in the nation, coming in 12th overall ahead of the likes of the University of Michigan and Duke University Golf Course. To qualify for that honor, a course must be part of a school’s recreational life in terms of preferential access for students, faculty and alumni. The previous year, the course was ranked 14th among college courses.
Several other publications have recognized the Warren Course both nationally and internationally for excellence. In `05 and `10, the Warren was named one of the nation’s top 15 on-campus college courses, according to Golf Digest and Golfweek, respectively. In `08, the course was rated as the second-best in the State of Indiana according to Golfweek as part of its series, “America’s Best Courses: State-by-State Rankings of the Best Public Access Courses.”