The Bridgewater Club: Bridgewater
Carmel, IN•Private
Panelists Score
The Bridgewater Club: Bridgewater
3535 E 161st St
Carmel, IN 46033-8138
United States
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Ratings from our panel of 1,900 course-ranking panelists
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Character
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Fun
Aesthetics
Conditioning
Reviews
Review
“Updated Pete Dye Course by Tom Liddy. Expanded green complexes and improved bunker redesign. Overall, the redesign improved shot options around the greens with expanded "chipping" areas. The conditioning improved with new turf grass. A nice improvement over the existing course."
Read More2026
Review
“Really well maintained - greens, fairways, bunkers all in great shape and drains well after significant rain the day before. Course allows aggressive tee shots with pretty wide fairways, but approaches need to avoid bunkers and tough green undulations. Greens improved with renovation- wider and longer in spots and run off areas. Hole 14 is a standout."
Read More2026
Review
“Really well maintained - greens, fairways, bunkers all in great shape and drains well after significant rain the day before. Course allows aggressive tee shots with pretty wide fairways, but approaches need to avoid bunkers and tough green undulations. Greens improved with renovation- wider and longer in spots and run off areas. Hole 14 is a standout."
Read More2026
Review
“One of the better Pete Dye designs in Indy. Tim Liddy did a very good job on the restoration. The routing is very good despite it being a Neighborhood golf course. There is not a weak golf hole on the course. I think consistency is the strength of the course. My favorite hole was the diabolical eighth, a par 3"
Read More2026
Review
“Nice, private club in the heart of Carmel, IN. The course and dotted with Pete Dye features through. Standout holes are the 1st, 14th and par 5s. The club also has a nice short course on property!"
Read More2026
Review
“The course opens with a relatively short, and sometimes drivable par 4. Hole 14 is really cool, with a blind fairway to the left and the option to go for the green if you're playing the appropriate tee box. There are nice shot options off the tee on holes 1, 3, 6, 10 and 14. There are nice shot options and risk/rewards on approaches on holes 1, 3, 4, 5, 12, 14, and 16. There is a lot of risk/reward holes but mostly in perception. The Risk/reward isn't maximized because of the width everywhere and the soft, slow conditions that are normal on the course - keeps the ball from running too far into hazards or bunkers. Bunkering makes you think off the tee and into the green although none of the bunkers are deep or punishing. There is nice placement and good number of bunkers with a just punishment for a small miss. There is a wide variety in tee boxes and hole locations so if you played here every day, you could switch it up enough to not get bored. The fairways are huge, probably too big, with the narrowest hole being 40 yards wide. Because of the flat land, the course is an easy walk, but there are a few long walks between holes (11 to 12, 13 to 14, 16 to 17). The course is kept in good condition and is very friendly both off the tee and into the greens, despite all the bunkers and water hazards on the course. You wouldn't have to look for too many balls and I don't think you would lose many if you played here all the time. Lots of bunkers and water that make penalties common if you're way off. The fairways are mega wide which makes the course play easier - there is even a lot of width and space around most greens aside from those that are bordered by water (5, 8, 14, 15, and 18). Chipping and runoff areas are mild and subdued which makes getting up and down a lot easier on missed greens - even short sided is pretty reasonable because of soft conditions. Relatively short course even from the back tees (~7,000 yards) which leaves a lot of wedges and doesn't test the mid or long irons, except on par 3s. Can hit driver on almost every hole without much consequence. Directionally, the layout is okay but not great. There are repeat direction holes throughout the course (4-5, 7-8, 10-11, 17-18). The piece of land is really flat without too much interest or intrigue from shot-to-shot and even hole-to-hole: much less manufactured terrain than others that Pete has worked on. Fairway bunkers are often located at run-out locations on the fairways (holes 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 16). Greenside bunkers vary a bit but the small pot bunker is a common theme throughout the round. Holes are all wide, but due to soft conditions, it doesn't seem that width and angles was the play here - not much to gain from being on the correct side of fairways because you typically have a wedge into soft greens. The course lacks shorter or tighter strategic holes - the couple that you get are 1 and 14. Nice fountains in water hazards starting at the practice facility and throughout the golf course. Housing around the course lining the fairways is additive because house aren't encroaching on play and they're VERY nice houses. Didn't see much of the "typical" Pete Dye features like railroad ties, deep bunkers framing greens, or super penalizing slopes and rough. Bunkers lining fairways and greens have beautiful white bunker sand which contrasts nicely with the deep green throughout the course. There are water features on a number of holes that carry the theme throughout the course (4, 5, 6, 8 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 18). The bridge on 14 is cool although it is not technically a part of the golf course and is a private bridge to an island. The greens were soft of idea but the fairways rolled out a fair amount (perhaps not enough to be ideal, but reasonable). The green rolled relatively true but there were a lot of divots on the greens from the soft conditions - you could tell the greens have been soft for a long time, and this wasn't just the day of my evaluation. Some of the divots on the greens (with wedges or short irons which was the majority of shots into greens) were difficult to fix because they were so deep and large from soft conditions. There is a really nice grow in throughout the course and it is difficult to tell what is new turf and what might have been there for awhile. The run offs and chipping areas weren't cut tight enough to make the course play as intended which made getting up and down easier. I think Bridgewater lacks character and there isn't much that sets it apart from other courses of its era and there are SO many Pete Dye courses in and around the Indianapolis area. The course was built in a housing development so every hole is lined with houses - you have to cross roads four times during the round and none of them are the same crossing. The piece of land that the course was built on is relatively flat and without much character. The course feels like Pete Dye's work but it is so much more friendly than his best stuff and the character of the holes doesn't match any of his better work. Generally speaking, shots lack consequence which I don't think is the trademark of Pete Dye."
Read More2026
Review
“A vanilla course by Pete Dye. Not sure what his directions were from the owner but this doesn't look feel nor play like a Dye course."
Read More2023
Review
“Several distinct Dye design principals throughout the round at this club including the forgiving opening hole, bunkering....and the par 3 eighth hole that wraps around a pond using distinct angle with the green complex making it a longer carry to the back of the green than the front of the green for pin positions. One seemingly uses every club in the bag throughout a round at this club and the green complexes offer variety throughout the round."
Read More2022
