The day the Sand Creek Course at French Lick Resort opened for play proved worthwhile for varied reasons.
Take grounds supervisor Bryce Butler. The unveiling revealed not only months of invested time and hard work, but also a process that helped him find his path.
Butler took a few different routes, including a stint studying education and psychology at Indiana University in Bloomington, before landing in a career he felt was right for him. After realizing those subjects weren’t his passion, Butler landed a job at French Lick Resort working on the grounds crew of the Pete Dye Course. Three years of rewarding work persuaded him to enroll in the Rutgers University turf program. He graduated in 2023.
On Sept. 11 of the same year, Butler, Pete Dye Course superintendent Russ Apple, assistant superintendent Manuel Pantoja and the rest of the maintenance staff broke ground on what would soon become Sand Creek, a 9-hole, par-3 course. Unique among other golf course construction projects, the club chose to build the course completely in-house.
French Lick Resort, located in southwest Indiana, supports five courses: The Pete Dye Course, the Donald Ross Course built in 1917, Valley Links Course, Sultan’s Run and Sand Creek. The resort also features an on-site casino and historic hotels, making it a popular tourist destination. The resort plans to expand the Valley Links Course, currently a 9-hole version of the original Tom Bendelow design, to 18 holes.
The idea of a short course had been discussed for a few years, but it wasn’t until 2023 that Apple refined sketches to replace land that previously featured a FootGolf course, grown-in land and a sand volleyball court. “We turned nothing into something we’re all pretty proud of,” Butler says.
For Pantoja, keeping the construction in-house was a logical decision. The team gained an enormous learning opportunity with construction, from irrigation systems and drainage to sand for greens and equipment. “Most of us here have built greens, we’ve worked on golf course construction,” he says. “I learned everything from Russ Apple; he’s probably the smartest person I know. Everything I’ve learned from golf course maintenance to being an electrician or pouring concrete, anything, is due to him.”
The maintenance team started days on the Pete Dye Course, carrying out usual tasks and responsibilities. After lunch, the crew traded mowers for equipment and headed to the construction site for the second half of the day. “We were never down there full-time,” Pantoja says. “Trying to watch the golf course and build another at the same time, it was kind of crazy.”
Construction came with challenges. Sand Creek is partially located in a flood plain, making it susceptible to washouts and more difficult for permitting. “We tried to at least make our greens and tees above what we thought was flood level,” Pantoja says. “It floods down there pretty often. If we get 4 inches of rain, it’ll mess everything up.”
The project left the team with lifelong lessons and takeaways. Building the course brought Pantoja feelings of freedom. “When you’re building your own golf course, you can design it the way you want, even the way you’re feeling that day,” he says. “If you want to make it a little bit tougher, you can. And if you want to make it easier, you can. There’s so much beyond building it, ordering stuff and trying to get all the material.”
Butler relished seeing progress. “To see it built from the ground up, like installing irrigation throughout the whole place, that was the main thing,” he says. “Being on the grounds crew, you don’t get to see a ton of that.”
Building the short course also helped revive significant history for the Indiana resort. French Lick featured a short course in the early 1900s, but it eventually grew in.
Holes on Sand Creek range from 40 to 90 yards. The course possesses numerous unique aspects and nods to other architects featured on the resort. The second hole includes a cloverleaf green with volcano bunkers. No. 3, a 57-yard shot into a double-tier green, is a scaled-down mimic of the 13th green at the resort’s Donald Ross course. No. 7, a 41-yard shot and the shortest hole on the course, is a pitch over the water into a steep green. The 90-yard ninth hole presents a wall in front of the green and railroad ties, both a nod to Dye.
A defining aspect of the short course is the water feature, a 300-foot “miniature lake” with mini waterfalls throughout the water flow. The feature begins between the sixth and eighth green and flows into a hand-created pond. “It’s probably my favorite thing down there besides the actual golf,” Pantoja says. “We put a lot of work into it.”
To keep the course maintained as beginner- and family-friendly, the only difference in care between Sand Creek and the other courses is mowing heights. Pantoja says greens are cut slightly higher than the resort’s regulation courses to keep speeds slower and welcoming to golfers of all levels.
Butler, now the course’s main caretaker, works each day to ensure the layout looks and plays its best. He focuses on mowing, keeping checkerboard patterns on the greens, and being sure that each flag is clean and standing upright.
The course has continued to stay busy since opening May 1, Pantoja says. Future plans include adding lights for evening play. Speakers are located throughout the course, offering a more relaxed vibe.
Employee Appreciation Days are spent playing the short course, and those times bring nostalgia for Butler. “It’s just kind of where it started,” he says.
Pantoja still makes frequent visits to the course. “Even when I drive down just to check on it, I’ll see families, kids … they’re just there smiling ear to ear,” he says. “It’s the greatest feeling in the world that you feel that there’s people down there playing it and enjoying it. It’s just the best feeling in the world.”
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