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Indian Hills Country
Club is one of Arkansas' best kept secrets
for championship golf and world class
dining. This challenging 18-hole layout incorporates much of the natural
beauty of this area, which is topographically identified as “the foothills of
the Ozarks”. To visualize this golf course, picture ravines and gullies, gradual
rising slopes and large ponds, dry creek beds and impressive rock cliffs. Notice
also the large historic natural cave known as Indian Rock just off to the left
of the ninth fairway. Envision each hole as bordered on every side by a forest
of pine and hardwood trees rising above bushes and bramble, native grasses and
wild flowers. Indian Hills, indeed, is a very natural golf course, a perfect fit
for Arkansas, which is known as the “Natural State”.
 Indian Hills is not a modern
course with monster greens, large bunkers, and wide fairways. No, it is quite
the opposite. Its greens are comparatively small and run consistently sloped
from back to front interrupted here and there with plateaus. And by today’s
standards its length is relatively short, but this is very deceiving. There are
only ten bunkers here at Indian Hills, but they can be nasty because of their
small but deep shapes, requiring quick Shot elevation.
The play of this course is a
intriguing as its natural beauty. The tee shot presented at Indian Hills is also
a throwback to the more traditional or older type courses, in that most of them
need not excessive length but require accuracy and appropriate distance. For
example, two of the most difficult holes, #2 and #4, measure from the white
tees, only 366 and 341 yards. There are many holes, including these two, which
offer the very real possibility of “driving through the fairway” into a hazard
of out of bounds. Placement is everything.
The two par fives, the 502 yard
#7 and the 529 yard #18, short by contemporary standards, defy reaching their
greens in two shots: to do so on #7 would require a drive of 280 yards to carry
the pond which begins 240 yards from the white tees; similarly #18 because of
its dogleg and uphill terrain is well beyond all but the longest hitters.
Perhaps the best hole on Indian
Hill is the par three #8, a 166-yard tee shot from an elevated tee box to a
severely elevated green. Though the card says 166 yards, it requires a tee shot
to carry at least 190 yards to land on the green. If you hit and stay on the
green in your entire round – you can go home a very satisfied golfer as it means
you have hit a very good golf shot! Any ball hit to the right and rear of the
green, because of the holes severe slope, will end up in a red-staked hazard.
The left side of this hole is a mountainside of rocks, shrubs, and trees: some
balls come down, many do not. The cart path on this left side also ads to the
mystery of your ball’s final resting place.
How does one play this course,
then, with all its hidden treachery and subtleties? Humility is the key. Finesse
is the language that needs to be spoken. The key strategy is to keep the ball in
play! Put you pride and driver back in your bag if you can’t drive straight.
“Lay-up” is not a dirty word at Indian Hills. Only the brave and/or foolish
attempt to cut the doglegs. The risk reward ratio greatly favors the course.
With few exceptions, such as the par four #9 which reads 419 yards on the card
but plays like 480, and the par four 376 yard #16 with plays like a 450-yard
hole, you do not need more than average length.
Once your ball is in play on
the fairway, the next necessary key for success is to keep the ball below the
cup when calculating your approach shot! Any shot landing on the greens above or
to the side of the cup will almost guarantee a minimum of three putts. There is
no such thing as a straight line on the greens of Indian Hills. The combination
of undulation, slope, and the courses primary abuser – its grainy greens,
insures that every putt will curl off one way or the other as it dies It is no
coincidence that golfers return again and again to play at Indian Hills Golf
Course because every game is always a challenge.
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