Indiana's best golf: our readers pick a collection of 18 of the finest Hoosier courses.

• Position: Cover story

IT'S A TOUGH CHOICE. The Indiana landscape boasts dozens of great golf courses, designed by the best architects in the business, including quite a few by Indiana's own Pete Dye, Golden Bear Jack Nicklaus, Robert Trent Jones and son, the great Donald Ross and Tom Fazio, to drop just a few names. So how can you narrow your choices?

We decided to ask our readers to name Indiana's greatest golf courses. Our readers ought to know--nearly half say golfing is one of their top after-hours activities. The votes are in now, and below, listed in alphabetical order, are 18 prime examples of excellent Indiana golf.

Belterra Golf Club, Switzerland County

Tom Fazio designed this course that meanders through the hills of Switzerland County As you might expect, there are plenty of trees--some 2,200 of them--and you'll have to contend with lakes and the Log Lick Creek. The Belterra course measures 6,910 yards from the back tees.

[ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED]

Belterra was listed among Golf Digest's five best new upscale public courses when it opened several years ago, and last year was listed by Golfweek among the nation's top 20 casino golf courses. And because it's part of the Belterra Casino Resort Spa, you can bet that there's plenty to do after golf.

Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex, West Lafayette

The highlight at Purdue University's golf complex is the 7,465-yard Kampen Course, which Pete Dye created with the help of Purdue students about a decade ago. You'll be playing through lots of native grasses and trying to steer clear of ponds, wetlands, a natural celery bog and waste bunkers.

With a 143 slope, it's an excellent challenge, and the course has hosted its share of collegiate and amateur tournaments. Hole No. 18 is regarded among the state's best finishing holes, with a waste bunker running up the entire left side of the fairway and more bunkers to the right on the approach.

Blackthorn Golf Club, South Bend

This gem is the work of Dr. Michael Hurdzan, a 7,136-yard layout marked by broad fairways, 94 bunkers, wetlands, ponds, native prairie grasses and bentgrass greens. It's owned by the city of South Bend, and has collected numerous honors including the fourth-best new course in the country when it opened in 1994, according to Golf Digest.

Blackthorn, too, has an excellent finishing hole, a par 5 measuring 534 yards from the back tee. Watch for the woods on the left on the drive, and if you're bold you can go for the green in two. Most people take a look at the water to the left and the bunkers to the right, and opt for a safer strategy

Brickyard Crossing, Indianapolis

The second Pete Dye creation on our list, this one has the unique feature of playing partly inside the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway. That would be holes 7 through 10; the remainder are set to the east Of the race track, on a lovely piece of ground marked by the meanderings of Little Eagle Creek, which must be crossed on seven different holes.

With a slope rating of 143, this course is good enough for the pros but also within reach of the general public.

The Bridgewater Club, Carmel

Pete Dye again presents another excellent challenge. You'll enjoy each of the 7,098 yards that traverse a scenic, tree-filled 180 acres. Many of the trees were put there by nature, thousands more were planted on the property more than a decade and a half ago.

The Preserve Academy, also part of Bridgewater, is a great place to hone your skills. It includes a large practice range, a short-game area, and a Dye-designed, nine-hole executive course that's outfitted with a wide range of championship challenges.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Crooked Stick Golf Club, Carmel

Yet another of the Pete Dye courses that Indiana is blessed to host. This one, in fact, has hosted Dye himself--you know it must be a great course if one of the game's top designers decides to buy a house and live there. Golf's best players agree, and they've spent a bit of time at Crooked Stick, including such stops as the 1991 PGA Championship, 1993 U.S. Women's Open and the 2005 Solheim Cup, with the 2009 U.S. Senior Open the next major championship event.

With a slope of 146, expect a challenge as well as a lot of variety. For the most part, each consecutive hole plays in a different direction, so you'll always be adjusting to the wind. Long holes are typically followed by short, and left-to-right paths are often directly followed by right-to-left flights. Hole No. 6 is considered the signature, with its covered bridge, and the 18th hole is where Dye and his wife, Alice, picked a home site.

The Donald Ross Course, French Lick

What used to be known as the Hill Course is a course with some history--originally designed back in 1917 by the legendary Donald Ross and the site in 1924 of the first of Walter Hagen's four consecutive PGA championships. For decades, people have talked about hole No. 8, where the tee shot must reach a plateau just short of a ravine that protects the green. Make it to the green and you're still in danger--it slopes nearly eight feet from back to front.

The great news about this course, now called the Donald Ross Course, is that it...