French Lick Golf Resort And Casino

Coordinates: 38°33′11″N86°37′12″W / 38.553°N 86.620°W

• French Lick Golf Resort And Casinos
• French Lick Golf Resort And Casino Resort
• French Lick Resort Casino Golf

Roll into the high life at French Lick Casino at French Lick Resort. This regal Vegas-style casino has 1,300 slot machines and 41 table games featuring blackjack, craps, Caribbean stud, and more. A newly expanded non-smoking area ensures a comfortable and fun gambling experience. Voted Best Hotel in Indiana by Travel & Leisure Magazine, French Lick Resort is family-friendly, business-competent and perfect for a planned or impromptu getaway. Come experience Old World opulence amid modern comforts served with Midwestern charm — close to home. We’re an easy drive from Louisville, Indianapolis and Cincinnati. INDIANA’S FRENCH LICK RESORT – THE GOLF IS GREAT, THE RESORT IS INCREDIBLE By Mike May on April 6, 2019 Midwest Features If you are seeking a getaway to a resort that combines memories of yesteryear with the amenities of today, choose the French Lick Resort in the adjacent towns of French Lick and West Baden, Indiana. We had been in the Casino only 20 minutes and left vowing never to return to it or to French Lick that has nothing to offer but golf, a water park, food venues, bars, and liquor stores. The Casino's continuous response to negative online comments is always, 'We apologize for not meeting your expectations. Before it became famous for golf French Lick was famous for its’ sulfur hot springs and a casino visited by celebrities like boxer Joe Lewis, composer Ervin Berlin, and gangster Al Capone. It’s also well known as the hometown of basketball legend Larry Bird. The West Baden Hotel has the grandeur of a European classic.

French Lick Resort is a resort complex in the Midwestern United States, located in the towns of West Baden Springs and French Lick, Indiana. The 3,000-acre (12 km²) complex includes two historic resort spa hotels, stables, a casino, and three golf courses that are all part of a $500 million restoration and development project.^[1][2]

Casino[edit]

The casino opened for business on November 3, 2006, after a gaming license originally intended for Patoka Lake was transferred to French Lick. Honoring state law allowing only water-based gaming, it was originally designed as a riverboat and surrounded by a small pond (commonly nicknamed the Boat in the Moat).^[3] In 2008, the moat was filled in and the casino boat was converted into the state's first land-based casino.

The casino features more than 1,300 slot machines, and table games including blackjack, craps, roulette, and poker derivatives.

French Lick Springs Hotel[edit]

The site was originally known as the French Lick Springs Hotel, a grand resort that was a mineral spring health spa. The hotel catered to guests seeking the advertised healing properties of the town's sulfursprings, three of which were on the hotel's property. William A. Bowles built and opened the first hotel on his property around 1845. Subsequent owners enlarged the original hotel, but it burned in 1897. Rebuilt and expanded on an even grander scale, especially under the ownership of Thomas Taggart, a former mayor of Indianapolis and chairman of the Democratic National Committee, the popular resort attracted many fashionable, wealthy, and notable guests.^[4][5][6] In the 1920s and into the 1930s the resort became known for its recreational sports, most notably golf, but the French Lick area also had a reputation for illegal gambling. The hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. The restored hotel, with its exteriors of distinctive, buff-colored brick, reopened in 2006.^[7][8][9]

West Baden Springs Hotel[edit]

The historic, 243-room luxury West Baden Springs Hotel, in the adjacent town of West Baden Springs, 1 mile (1.6 km) from the French Lick Springs Hotel, is also part of the casino resort complex. The present-day West Baden hotel was built in 1902 (118 years ago) to replace an earlier hotel. The new hotel became known for the 200-foot (61 m) dome covering its atrium.^[10][11] It held the title of the largest free-spanning dome in the world from 1902 to 1913, and remained the largest dome in the United States until the completerion of the Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1955.^{[citation needed]} The hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, and became a National Historic Landmark in 1987.^[12] It is also designated as a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.^[13] In 2008 readers of Condé Nast Traveler ranked the West Baden Springs Hotel twenty-first on its list of the top resorts on the United States mainland.^[14]

Golf[edit]

The casino complex includes three golf courses: the Valley Course, the Hill Course, and the Pete Dye Golf Course at French Lick.

Beginning in the early twentieth century, when golf was gaining popularity, the French Lick hotel began to expand its modest golf facilities. Valley Course, the resort's first golf course, is adjacent to the hotel and casino. It was enlarged to an 18-hole course on 120 acres (49 hectares) around 1907. The larger course design, attributed to Tom Bendelow, featured a combination of wooded hills and flat turf.^[15] It has been altered and reduced to a 9-hole course as a result of the casino construction.^{[citation needed]}

Donald Ross and his associates designed the 18-hole Hill Course, the resort's second golf course, around 1917. Completed in 1920 on approximately 300 acres (120 hectares), the championship course was located about 2 miles (3.2 km) from the French Lick hotel. The course hosted the PGA Championship tournament in 1924, which Walter Hagen won.^[16][17] It also hosted the LPGA Championship tournament in 1959 and 1960, and the Midwest Amateur from the 1930s through the 1950s. In 2006–07, the course was restored to its original specifications in cooperation with the Donald Ross Society.^{[citation needed]}

Pete Dye, a renowned golf course designer from Indiana, designed the resort's third course. The 18-hole Pete Dye Golf Course at French Lick opened in June 2009, and hosted the PGA Professional National Championship in June 2010.^[18] Mount Airie, Thomas Taggart's 1928 Colonial-style home, was purchased and transformed into a clubhouse and pro shop that overlooks much of the course. This site hosted the Senior PGA Championship in 2015.^{[citation needed]}

Notes[edit]

1. ^'French Lick Resort'. Inside Indiana Business. 2008-11-03. Archived from the original on September 23, 2009.
2. ^Marsh, Betsa (2010-09-04). 'Revived Indiana Resorts Mirror Their Gilded Pasts'. Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 2016-05-23.
3. ^'Two Landmark Hotels Saved, Two Others Need Saving'. Hotel Interactive. Archived from the original on 2008-06-18. Retrieved 2008-10-15.
4. ^Steelwater, Eliza (2002-08-15). 'National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: French Lick Springs Hotel'(pdf). United States Department of the Interior/National Park Service. pp. 12–15, 18–20, 53–56. Retrieved 2016-05-26.
5. ^'French Lick Springs Hotel: Overview'. Historic Hotels of America; National Trust for Historic Preservation. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
6. ^Fadely, James P. (1997). Thomas Taggart: Public Servant, Political Boss: 1856-1929. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society. pp. xii, 57, 61, 65–68. ISBN9780871951151.
7. ^Fadely, pp. 74–76.
8. ^'National Register Information System'. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
9. ^'Hotel History'. French Lick Resort. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
10. ^O'Malley, John W. (December 1958). 'The Story of the West Baden Springs Hotel'. Indiana Magazine of History. Bloomington: Indiana University. 54 (4): 370–72. Retrieved 2016-05-23.
11. ^Rhodes, A. J. (1904). The Pedigree of West Baden(PDF). French Lick and West Baden, History and Story, From 1810 to 1904. pp. 8–9.
12. ^Charleton, James H. (June 1985). 'National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: West Baden Springs Hotel'. National Park Service.
13. ^'West Baden Springs Hotel'. American Society of Civil Engineers. Retrieved 2016-05-23.
14. ^'West Baden Outranks High Profile Resorts'. Inside Indiana Business. Archived from the original on September 23, 2009. Retrieved 2008-11-07.
15. ^Steelwater, p. 58.
16. ^Steelwater, pp. 33–36; 59–60.
17. ^Fadely, p. 72.
18. ^'The Pete Dye Golf Course at French Lick'. IndianaGolf.com. Retrieved 2016-05-31.

References[edit]

• Fadely, James P. (1997). Thomas Taggart: Public Servant, Political Boss: 1856-1929. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society. ISBN9780871951151.
• 'French Lick Resort'. Inside Indiana Business. 2008-11-03. Archived from the original on September 23, 2009.
• 'French Lick Springs Hotel: Overview'. Historic Hotels of America; National Trust for Historic Preservation. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
• 'Hotel History'. French Lick Resort. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
• Marsh, Betsa (2010-09-04). 'Revived Indiana Resorts Mirror Their Gilded Pasts'. Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 2016-05-23.
• O'Malley, John W. (December 1958). 'The Story of the West Baden Springs Hotel'. Indiana Magazine of History. Bloomington: Indiana University. 54 (4): 365–380. Retrieved 2016-05-23.
• Office of Code Revision Indiana Legislative Services Agency. 'Riverboat Gambling,' IC 35-45-5-10.
• 'The Pete Dye Golf Course at French Lick'. IndianaGolf.com. Retrieved 2016-05-31.
• Rhodes, A. J. (1904). The Pedigree of West Baden(PDF). French Lick and West Baden, History and Story, From 1810 to 1904.
• 'National Register Information System'. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
• Charleton, James H. (June 1985). 'National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: West Baden Springs Hotel'. National Park Service.
• Steelwater, Eliza (2002-08-15). 'National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: French Lick Springs Hotel'(pdf). United States Department of the Interior/National Park Service. Retrieved 2016-05-26.
• Turkel, Stanley (2007-06-01). 'Two Landmark Hotels Saved, Two Others Need Saving'. HotelInteractive.com. Archived from the original on 2008-06-18. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
• 'West Baden Outranks High Profile Resorts'. Inside Indiana Business. Archived from the original on September 23, 2009. Retrieved 2008-11-07.
• 'West Baden Springs Hotel'. American Society of Civil Engineers. Retrieved 2016-05-23.

External links[edit]

Legends, Donald Ross and Pete Dye were the leading architects of two completely different areas. They are artists whose courses could not be more different in design. Now nestled among the hills of the Hoosier National Forest they are together creating an interesting contrast of eras and 36 holes of spectacular golf at one of America’s most iconic resorts.

Before it became famous for golf French Lick was famous for its’ sulfur hot springs and a casino visited by celebrities like boxer Joe Lewis, composer Ervin Berlin, and gangster Al Capone. It’s also well known as the hometown of basketball legend Larry Bird.

Live Like A Robber Barron For the Golden Age

The French Lick Springs Hotel was founded by local doctor William Bowles in 1845. Five years later another doctor John Lane built a second hotel a mile away called the Mile Lick Inn. He later changed the name of the hotel, and the town, to West Baden Springs after the famous mineral springs in Wiesbaden, Germany.

In 1901 outgoing mayor of Indianapolis, Tom Taggart, and a small group of investors, bought the property and started a large expansion. Meanwhile, up the road, Lee W. Sinclair transformed West Baden into an opulent world-class resort. While the new rail connection brought a steady stream of guests from Chicago and other Midwest cities.

In the early 1900s golf had captured the public’s attention and in 1907 Tom Bendelow was hired to design the resorts Spring Valley course, now reimagined as a nine-hole par 3. A decade later they hired Donald Ross to design the Hills course. The course won instant acclaim and The PGA Championship was held there in September of 1924. Walter Hagen defeated former champion, Jim Barnes, in the final round.

The stock market crash of 1929 saw the West Baden Hotel fail and it was sold a few years later to the Society of Jesus for one dollar. While The French Lick Hotel remained in business through a series of corporate owners its glory days were long behind it.

Abandoned and in a state of ruin Indiana Landmarks, the largest nonprofit preservation group in the nation, partnered with philanthropists Bill and Gayle Cook to make a positive impact on the hotel and the depressed region around it. Their investment not only saved West Baden Springs Hotel, but also restored French Lick Springs Hotel to its former glory.

The refurbished French Lick Springs Hotel and its new casino officially opened in November 2006, and the large part of the restoration of West Baden Springs Hotel started the next day and was completed $600 million later. Dubbed the Eighth Wonder of the World” by journalists when it opened the 200-foot span of its dome is as impressive as that of any of the wonder in Europe.

The Dye Course

I’d seen that Pete Dye course sitting high on a hill above the surrounding valley on television during the 2015 senior PGA championship. I thought to myself that looks tough, so tough in fact as to be unplayable. With panoramic 40 mile views from several tees, “volcano bunkers” tight fairways, and rugged terrain it’s certainly no pushover from the 8,100-yard championship tees. Yet while Pete’s diabolical nature can certainly be seen on some holes what I found as I made my way into the fog for my morning round from around 6,700 yards was a fun and challenging golf course in pristine condition. The best I have seen anywhere in the world this year!

Like many people, there are Dye courses I love and Dye course I hate. This falls into the first category for the superior views and conditioning as much for the design. The course starts strong with a downhill dogleg followed by a challenging tee shot on the second with bunkers everywhere. It doesn’t let up, disaster lurks on every hole, in the form of deep bunkers, heavy rough or steep drop-offs if you miss the clearly defined landing areas. Likewise, around the greens, a narrow miss of the generous greens will result in the ball kicking away sharply leaving a very difficult up and down. On the front, I also loved the par 3. 8th hole with its eight pot bunkers guarding the right side of the green and the lovely curves or the gentle dogleg right on the par 4, 9th hole.

On the back nine, I call out the 11th (go to the back tee) for spectacular views across the valley on this sharply downhill and drivable par 4. The 18th a long, dogleg rolling left and banked like a racetrack with more bunkers than some entire courses was a great finishing photo op.

The Donald Ross Course

The Donald Ross course was restored to the architects’ original vision in 2007 with a five-million-dollar makeover. It features all

the traits you’d expect of a Ross classic. Little earth was moved it its construction as Ross always preferring to use the natural contours of the land. Distance between greens and tees is minimal. Over 80 of Ross’s trademark flat bunkers with gnarly faces were returned to the layout. There are also flat greens, two-tiered greens, bowl greens, square greens, and turtleback greens all signatures of a Ross design.

The Ross course is very easy on the eye with its gentle contours and far more forgiving than the Dye, but don’t be lulled into a false sense of security. The par 70 can be stretched to 7,000 yards but as with all Ross courses it is understanding the subtlety of design that will yield results not mere strength.

Playing both the Dye and the Ross in one day will surely lead to some interesting conversations over dinner about the finer points of golf architecture and the way in which each of these legends approached their craft. Just don’t expect too much agreement among friends!

At a Glance:

• 36 holes of championship golf from Dye and Ross
• 9-hole, walking par three course
• Great tee gifts
• Excellent range @ The Dye
• Two classic AAA Four-Diamond nationally historic hotels,
• Spa
• Vegas-style casino (rated No. 4 Best Casino outside of Las Vegas by Yahoo Travel, 2016)
• Multiple bars and dining options
• Scenic train rides
• Learn More At https://www.frenchlick.com/

French Lick Golf Resort And Casinos

About Andrew Wood

French Lick Golf Resort And Casino Resort

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French Lick Resort Casino Golf

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