The Warren Golf Course at Notre Dame

Getting To Know: The Warren Golf Course at Notre Dame

An Insightful Interview With John Foster, General Manager

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 John Foster 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
Nationally recognized as one of the top collegiate golf course, this Coore Crenshaw designed golf course is located just north of the Notre Dame campus. The Warren Course is one of only 20 Coore and Crenshaw courses worldwide, only four of which are publically accessible. This classic design boasts generous driving areas, heavy bunkering, small green complexes, small, and undulating greens. A premium is put on one's approach shot and short game. Four tees are available depending on one's skill level.

Tees and greens are bent grass. Fairways are a blend of bent grass and red fescue with a first cut of rye, a bluegrass primary rough and the heavy rough is red fescue.

The course has proven to be a great test of golf for all skill levels. Since 2002, the Warren Course has played host to over 20 USGA, NCAA, PGA and Western Golf Association event.

What Tips or Local Knowledge Would You Provide To Help Them Score Better At Your Course?
1) Choose the proper tees from which to play

2) Most greens are small, heavily bunkered and slope back to front, so the proper miss is always short.

3) Nearly every green offers an opportunity to run the ball up to the hole location. Take advantage of it and put away the lob wedge and go old-school.

4) Proper positioning of the ball in the fairway is critical to attack the small greens.....driver is not always the best option from the tee box.

Recent Awards or What You Are Most Proud About The Course?
#10 Best College Course - (Links Magazine 2012)
#8 Best Public Course in Indiana (Golf Magazine 2012)
6th Best Course in Indiana (Golfweek Magazine 2012)
10th Best U.S. Campus Course (Golfweek Magazine 2012)

What Is The Signature, Most Talked About, or Most Photographed Hole?
#16!!!!

The penultimate Coore Crenshaw designed golf hole. The total length of this par 4 from the back tees is only 365 yds. A forced carry of 180 yards is required to carry a creek that runs across the hole. The three large fairway bunkers that guard the left side of the fairway give the hole a slight right to left dogleg appearance, encouraging the player to hug the left side; however, the most effective tee shot for approaching the green is from the right side.

The small, three- tiered green is protected by a small pot bunker at the front center and a large bunker to the left of the green.

What Is Your Favorite Hole? Any Tips to Play It?
Hole #4 - 135 yard par 3

Reminiscent of the Postage Stamp at Troon. The green is heavily sloped from back to front, very narrow and guarded left, right and front by bunkers

The relative short distance of the hole means that a good score is achievable for any player, regardless of handicap, and it can be.

However, an errant, too aggressive tee shot can leave even the best players hoping for a bogey at best.

Who Holds Course Record and What Was Their Score?
Mark Baldwin, ND Men's Golf team member (2005) - 62
Jerry Pate, PGA Tour Player - 63 (2000)

Back Tee Stats
Par: 71
Yardage: 7,020
Slope: 132
Rating: 73.4

More Information
The Warren Golf Course at Notre Dame
110 Warren Golf Course
Notre Dame, IN, 46556
574-631-4653
www.warrengolfcourse.com/

Revised: 11/16/2012 - Article Viewed 33,336 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.