west baden springs hotel

New Pete Dye Golf Course Opening at French Lick Resort

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Sports

Although more golf courses in the U.S. are closing than opening these days, as spring arrives there are at least some breaks in the industry's gloomy skies. The most sparkling of all may be the new Pete Dye Course at historic French Lick Resort in southern Indiana. (An hour's drive north of Louisville, Ky., French Lick is the hometown of basketball legend Larry Bird.)

Dye, the irascible 83-year-old architect of such celebrated layouts as TPC Sawgrass and Whistling Straits, is an Indiana native, and he was clearly energized to be working on this project. The course, scheduled to open April 24, drapes across rolling hills overlooking Hoosier National Forest. It bears many of Dye's hallmarks, including aggressive mounding, bold and deceptive bunkering, and strategic holes that vary greatly in length.

The Pete Dye Course is the latest of several recent improvements to French Lick Resort, whose mineral springs have been attracting visitors since the late 1700s. Its 1917 Donald Ross course--a wonderful complement to the more modern Dye design--underwent an extensive restoration. So, too, did the landmark West Baden Springs Hotel, one of the resort's two hotels. Built at the turn of the twentieth century in the style of a grand European spa, with a soaring atrium under a massive circular dome, the hotel reopened in 2007 after a $500 million refurbishment.

Gallery: French Lick Resort

Tags: Donald Ross, DonaldRoss, French Lick Resort, FrenchLickResort, golf, Indiana, Pete Dye, PeteDye, West Baden Springs Hotel, WestBadenSpringsHotel

West Baden Springs Hotel's Amazing Atrium

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

I have a weakness for the grand hotels of the early 1900s. A couple of years ago I wrote about the renovations of the French Lick Resort's makeover but the renovations also extended to the West Baden Springs Hotel in French Lick, Indiana which was reopened in 2007 after a $500 million renovation. The most impressive feature of this resort is a huge six-story domed atrium. The atrium is a setting of classic elegance offering small seating areas, live performances of soft music and shops around the perimeter. The West Baden area was once a vacation destination for those coming to take the waters at the local springs. The first hotel was opened in the 1850s but burned down in 1901 and was replaced by today's grand incarnation. After the stock market crash in 1929, the hotel slowly lost its guests and closed in 1932. It was bought in 2005 and when it reopened last year it was the first time in 75 years that it had been in use as a hotel.

The hotel includes a spa, indoor pool and 246 guest rooms and suites. The hotel shares amenities with the French Lick Resort offering access to golf courses, riding stables and historic tours. Overnight golf packages with unlimited golf at the Donald Ross Course, The Valley Links and driving range usage start at $375.

[via The Columbus Dispatch]

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Tags: french lick, FrenchLick, hotel, indiana, vacation, west baden springs hotel, WestBadenSpringsHotel