The Warren Golf Course at Notre Dame (Ind.)
Yardage: 6,096/6,133 yards
Par: 35-36—71
2009 champion: Jennifer Song
Opened: 2000
Designer: Ben Crenshaw/Bill Coore
USGA championships: This will be the first USGA championship conducted at the course and 18th USGA event overall in Indiana. While the U.S. Amateur Public Links has been played in Indiana five times, the last in 1991 at Otter Creek G.C. in Columbus, this will be the first Women’s Amateur Public Links contested in the Hoosier State.
Championship note: Depending on the location of tee markers, the sixth hole will either play 363 or 400 yards.
Campus spirit: While other USGA championships have been conducted on university or college owned golf courses, this will be the first WAPL ever held at such a venue. Last year’s U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship was held at the Jimmie Austin/Oklahoma University Golf Club in Norman. Several U.S. Junior Amateurs have also been held at campus courses, including the University of Michigan, Yale University, University of Illinois and Purdue University, located not far from the Warren G.C. in West Lafayette, Ind.
What’s in a name: The course derives its name from University of Notre Dame alum and oil company owner Bill Warren, who contributed $7 million for the construction of the layout.
Genesis of a course: The idea to build the Warren Golf Course came when the university’s original layout lost its second nine to make room for four new dormitories and several athletic fields. The original 70-year-old course – albeit only nine holes – still remains open.
Course notes: The 250-acre layout is located just off the northeast corner of Notre Dame’s campus on a piece of university property that features bluffs and wetlands along with Juday Creek, a 13-mile stream that meanders through most of the course. The creek became an important part of the design by Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore. The golf course project also gave the construction team a chance to improve the environmental conditions of the creek, which had been polluted for years.
Par for the course: One of the interesting features of the course is the scorecard features no par values for any of the individual holes. There are some postings of par, but Crenshaw essentially borrowed the philosophy from Muirfield G.C. in Gullane, Scotland. Players instead assign their own individual par for each hole.
Fast fact: No player from the state of Indiana has ever won the WAPL. Notable USGA champions from Indiana include Fuzzy Zoeller (1984 U.S. Open), Leigh Anne Hardin (1998 U.S. Girls’ Junior), John Spider Miller (1996 and ’98 U.S. Mid-Amateur) and Mike Bell (2006 Senior Amateur).
Environmentally friendly: The Warren Golf Course recently was re-certified as an Audubon Sanctuary in 2011. To preserve the environment, the club maintains a no-spray zone along Juday Creek. The course also fledges up to 100 bluebirds annually with its birdhouse project as well as other initiatives to remain a viable Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary.