Golf Guide: West Lafayette - IN

People who think of a beer and a shot when they hear the world "boilermaker" deserve credit for their knowledge of libations, but they are obviously not from West Lafayette, Indiana. The word Boilermakers in these parts refers to all things pertaining to Purdue University, particularly the sports teams.

As a major university, Purdue offers the kind of culture and attractions that many visitors will find intriguing. Restaurants, bars, theaters and art galleries in downtown West Lafayette will help fill the hours when visitors are not playing the more than 180 holes of public golf in the area.

Among the foremost of the region's courses is Coyote Crossing Golf Course. This Hale Irwin-designed public course delivers quality in such abundance that Golf Digest gave it four and a half stars and the National Golf Course Owners Association named it the Indiana 2005 Course of the Year. Coyote Crossing offers stay-and-play packages.

Should visitors want to play where the Boilermakers do (best not to wear Hoosiers attire), they can tee it up at either Ackerman Hills or the Kampen Course, both Pete Dye designs. The Lafayette Elks Golf Club is yet another Dye design (after all, Pete is a native of the state), this one from early in his career, so the course only plays to a slope of 124, unlike some of his latter designs, which often require higher math.

And Battleground Golf Club features wide fairways that allow golfers to grip it and rip it. Then they can settle in for a post-round boilermaker.