Prairie View Golf Club

Getting To Know: Prairie View Golf Club

An Insightful Interview With Patrick Dodson, PGA, Head Golf Professional

By Brian Weis

Whether you have played a course 20+ times a year or looking to play the course for the first time, insights from an insider can help enhance your golf experience. Below is an interview with Patrick Dodson, PGA who shares some valuable tidbits about the course, memorable holes and must eats and treats at the 19th.

Give Our Readers An Overview of the Golf Course/Property
Located on 206 acres in Hamilton County, Prairie View Golf Club is the only Robert Trent Jones, Jr. golf course in Indiana.

Robert Trent Jones, Jr. blended 18 holes of traditional golf design into the natural beauty created by the rolling prairie, towering oaks and sycamores that characterize our site on the banks of the White River. A clear running stream that meanders through four holes, natural wetlands, and five serene lakes placed strategically throughout the course serve to complete a truly unique playing experience.

Consistently rated among the top course in Indiana, Prairie View Golf Club has hosted nearly all major Indiana PGA and Indiana Golf Association championships.

If Someone Was Looking To Golf In The Area, Why Should They Play Your Course?
From the moment you pull onto Longest Drive, the winding road which leads to Prairie View Golf Club, it is obvious you are not in store for an everyday golf experience. You've arrived at Indiana's best golf course. You'll travel by one of the five lakes featured on the course; and then towards the clubhouse, with our 1830's era architecture complemented with a white picket fence, prairie grass, wildflowers outside and plush amenities inside.

Dedicated employees of Prairie View are in abundance. Whether it's our bag and cart attendants, starters or player services staff, PGA professional golf shop and golf academy staff, dining and lounge employees, or our grounds crew, we have one goal- to make your day at Prairie View one to remember.

What Tips or Local Knowledge Would You Provide To Help Them Score Better At Your Course?
Generous landing areas welcome tee shots, but a fairway wood is often a good choice because the layout encourages location over length. Prairie View is an approach shot golf course with a number of ingenious pin positions on every green dictating the route of play. Some 90 sand bunkers dot the course, defining landing areas and hiding pins. And while the site is bounded on three sides by the river, water comes into play only on four holes.

Recent Awards or What You Are Most Proud About The Course?
Prairie View Golf Club has been the host site to many outstanding events and golf tournaments over the years including: (currently Ranked # 2 Best Public Golf Course in Indiana)

2016 Indianapolis Open
2016 Masters Junior Championship
2015 U.S. Amateur Qualifier
2015 Indiana State Senior Amateur Championship
2015 Masters Junior Tour Championship
2015 Great Lakes Valley Conference College Championship
2015 IHSAA Spring and Fall Preview
2014 - 2019 (IHSAA) Indiana High School Boys and Girls State Golf Championships
2014 Mid-American Conference (MAC) Championship
2014 Indiana PGA Club Professional Championship
2013 Prairie View Home for Indiana State Girls High School Champions - Carmel High School
2012 Indiana State Amateur Championship
2012 Women's Golf Association of Metropolitan Indianapolis Championship
2009 Ranked # 1 Public Golf Course in Indiana
2007 NCAA Division III Men's National Golf Championship
2003 Indianapolis Open Championship
2001 Indianapolis Open Championship
2000 Indiana PGA Assistants Championship
1998 Indiana State Open Championship

In addition to these prestigious Championships, Prairie View Golf Club is also host to many golf outings benefiting charities throughout the state of Indiana.

Prairie View Golf Club is the site of the # 1 state of the art golf practice facility in Indiana with six (6) PGA instructors, including the 2011/2015 PGA Teacher of the Year. The Professional staff provides golf instruction, club fitting, golf club sales, golf club repair, junior golf programs, ladies specific programs and corporate golf clinics.

What Is The Signature, Most Talked About, or Most Photographed Hole?
My favorite hole is number nine. Its the first hole that you see when you drive onto the property! It takes a well positioned tee shot and then a long iron over water onto a two teared green! The front nine is very "get-able" from a scoring standpoint, that is until you reach the ninth hole!

What Is Your Favorite Hole? Any Tips to Play It? My favorite hole is number seventeen, a dog leg left par four that requires a long tee ball. The second shot is usually a long iron into a well protected green. The finishing stretch of 15-18 are a true test of golf, but 17 is my favorite!

Must Have Dish or Drink after the round at the 19th Hole?
Must have dish is the southwest chicken wrap. Our Food and Beverage operation is outstanding, and never disappoints!

Who Holds Course Record and What Was Their Score?
Corey Conners shot a 65 during the final round of the MAC Conference Championship held at Prairie View in 2014! Corey went on to play in the MASTERS later in his career.

Back Tee Stats
Par: 72
Yardage: 7073
Slope: 137
Rating: 74.8

More Information
Prairie View Golf Club
7000 Longest Drive
Carmel, Indiana, 46033
(317) 816-3100
www.PrairieViewGC.com

Revised: 02/09/2016 - Article Viewed 33,290 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.