Dave Sansom
Dave Sansom
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Dave Sansom
Dave Sansom
Dave Sansom
Dave Sansom
Dave Sansom/Courtesy of Crooked Stick
Dave Sansom
Dave Sansom
Dave Sansom
Dave Sansom
Dave Sansom
Dave Sansom
Crooked Stick Golf Club
Carmel, IN•Private
Awards
Panelists Score
Crooked Stick Golf Club
1964 Burning Tree Ln
Carmel, IN 46032-7907
United States
Overview
Crooked Stick is the course where Pete Dye became Pete Dye. Conceived following an extended tour of British courses, Pete founded Crooked Stick, located the land, raised the funds and designed the course, rejecting conventional golf holes in favor of radical ones, using bulkheads of vertical telephone poles to create abrupt change and long expanses of sand to emulate dunes. What’s more, he built it himself, pressing even his wife, Alice, and young sons, Perry and P.B., into construction work. They opened the back nine first, in 1965, with MacKenzie-style boomerang greens; the front nine came two years later, with lines and angles appropriated from Donald Ross. Crooked Stick was the first Dye course to host a major championship, the 1991 PGA Championship, just a month before the Ryder Cup visited his brand-new Ocean Course at Kiawah Island. Tom Doak finished renovation work in late 2024, but the goal was to enhance and sharpen the Dye features rather than change them, so the changes may not be noticeable.
About
Golf Digest Panelists
Ratings from our panel of 1,900 course-ranking panelists
100 Greatest / Best In State Scores
Shot Options
Character
Challenge
Layout Variety
Fun
Aesthetics
Conditioning
Reviews
Review
“Crooked Stick does a nice job of presenting a wide variety of options off the tee, into the green and around the greens. From the opening tee shot you're faced with options off the tee and other highlight holes include 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 1, 15 and 18. You choices include what club to play, what line you'll take and the trajectory needed to carry hazards and keep the ball in the fairway. There is plenty of width as long as you have the correct shape on your shots. The greens provide options on approach shots and stand outs include 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, and 16. The green on hole #15 is all-world and its followed by another great green on 16. There is almost always room provided to run a shot onto the green except for 6 and 13 - both par 3s that test different length carries. There is a ton of risk reward throughout the course - a hallmark of Pete Dye and Alice Dye courses. Risk and reward is best emphasized on holes 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16 and 18. The greenside bunkering and ample short grass around the greens faces the player with a wide variety of shots. For me, I played a lot of spiny wedges to combat the quick and firm greens, but my playing partner almost exclusively putted and bumped hybrids around the greens, fearing the tightly cut greenside approaches. There is enough undulation in the fairways to face the player with all kinds of lies throughout the round as well. Crooked Stick bills itself as a championship golf course and has the pedigree to prove it, however, it is obvious this is a members club and the course is presented in a way to be fun for all playing abilities. The greens are fun, the tee shots are exhilarating and its a nice walk with a couple of caddies. Crooked Stick does a great job of providing thrilling and captivating shots while not beating you up all round. The greens are so nice that just hitting chips and putts around the green complexes would get me to play 36 holes a day. For low handicap players, there are a number of tees that allow you to continue to go back seemingly endlessly (there is at least one tee box on each hole without tee markers, making it play close to 7500 yards). For high handicaps, there are holes that tee markers are right next to or on the fairways. In addition, there is a ton of width and the rough is the perfect type and length where you can find your ball easily but not always judge the distance of the shot correctly. Other than a couple of par 3s that don't play very long, there aren't forced carries or over penalizing shots while remaining challenging for good players. Directionally, Crooked Stick is laid out beautifully. The change in direction of the holes is excellent and provides a ton of variety throughout the round. Variety in hazards is great as well with trees, Pete Dye bunkering, sharp drop offs to the greens, water and bunkers lining holes, and streams. The greens are also pretty good especially the variety on 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 15, and 16. The green on 15 is just unbelievable and cool. Lots of slight doglegs and a couple of sharp doglegs that allow you to choose your line off the tee. Crooked Stick is located in a large prairie and it feels like a walk through a large groomed park when you're playing. The design features, including railroad ties, water hazards, mow lines, white sand bunkers, manufactured streams, bunkering and built-up features are all additive to the aesthetic of the club. Crooked Stick is unmistakably Pete and Alice Dye and you can see it from the moment you step onto the first tee. The greens at Crooked Stick roll so nice - some of the best I've putted on this calendar year. Everything was a bit soft of ideal due to some rain the night before, but everything drained really well. The greens were relatively firm, but could have been more firm to play as intended. The fairways rolled on nicely, but did not bound like expected on an open site like this. Overal condition and presentation of the course was wonderful and make you wish every course was groomed like this. Cut of the grass around the green helped with shot options around the greens and allowed the course to play more challenging for the good player and easier for the higher handicap. It can't be understated how nicely the greens rolled. For a club that isn't that old, Crooked Stick FEELS old in all of the best ways. It has a great clubhouse with decades of club champions recognized on the walls, it has a long and storied championship past, the lockerrooms are very proper and nice, and all of that doesn't even touch the stories about how the course itself came to be. Pete and Alice Dye made this their home course and pet project for decades. The love and attention that was put into the course can be felt by the membership, the staff and the course as you play it. Pete and Alice continued to change, update and fiddle with Crooked Stick the rest of their lives. The design features that were employed at Crooked Stick can be found at great golf courses around the world - TPC Sawgrass, Kiawah Ocean Course, Whistling Straits, and the list goes on."
Read More2026
Review
“Crooked Stick is a nice golf course. The variety in green complexes stands out in addition to the great set of par 3s. Of note, the par 5 15th holes has one of the most interesting greens I've seen. It boomeranges around a bunker making back left hole locations extremely difficult to access. One of a number of features that add nice character to this Pete Dye design."
Read More2026
Review
“A wonderful Dye design, difficult but not too penal."
Read More2026
Review
“Classic Pete Dye that opened back in 1967 and catapulted him into the golf design spotlight. The railroad ties and angles of play visually stimulate and vex the golfer all at the same time. Terrific conditioning and fast greens provide a great surface to play your round. The par 3 holes are especially memorable. A very welcoming staff is another great reason to accept an invitation to play here if offered the opportunity."
Read More2026
Review
“Truly enjoyable experience. If you get the opportunity to play this Pete and Alice Dye gem, do it. The conditioning was impeccable and the greens were perfect...fast and true."
Read More2026
Review
“The conditioning and experience at Crooked Stick was great. I had the opportunity to play the morning before the Club Championship kicked off, which was ideal for getting a feel for the speed of the greens and the challenge the course can present. The spirit of Pete and Alice Dye is strong at this fantastic golf course."
Read More2026
Review
“The signature Pete Dye design with its angular fairways and strategic risk-and-reward shot values. The course layout transforms flat Indiana terrain using reclaimed railroad ties, penal diagonal hazards, and undulating, multi-tiered greens. A very challenging test for every level of golfer."
Read More2026
Review
“Challenging venue in great shape. Recent renovation has fine tuned a Pete Dye classic."
Read More2026
Review
“Not Pete Dye's first course but the one that got him noticed and launched his career. (and John Daly's) recent renovation has enhanced this classic course"
Read More2026
Review
“Crooked Stick is an excellent example of Pete Dye's early work. It contains his penchant for strategy and a bit of visual trickery but with much less clutter than some of his later designs. The first five holes are good -- the last 13 get really good. I think this one has become undervalued over the years."
Read More2026
