Donald Ross Course Celebrating 100 Years And More From French Lick
- Details
- Category: Inside Golf
- Published: 2017-07-10
Bill Kendall (Photo/Symetra Tour)
DONALD ROSS COURSE CELEBRATING 100 YEARS
Bill Kendall remembers the day he started caddying at the Valley Course in French Lick. He was eight years old and it was 1951. He followed his brother, Bob, to the course at the urging of his parents. Somehow, he found a bag. It was a small bag, but he was a small child. Every 3rd or 4th hole, he had to give the bag back to his player to ease the load on his back.
Bill made $1.25 a loop and a quarter was a good tip. He caddied more out of necessity than anything. He used the money to buy books and school supplies.
Times have changed, but one thing remains the same. Professional golf tournaments continue to come to the area. The Symetra Tour is helping to ring in 100 years of golf at the Donald Ross Course, which opened in 1917 and was first known as the “Hill Course”, because it is situated about four miles up a steep hill from the French Lick Resort.
Bill now works in outside services at the Donald Ross course and is excited to see the Symetra Tour tee it up this week.
“The golf course right now is in as good of shape as I’ve ever seen it in my lifetime,” said Kendall, who was wearing his gold and black knickers on Wednesday. “The place just has so much history.”
In 1957, Bill actually caddied for Pete Dye when he won the Midwest Amateur Championship in French Lick. Bill recalls being 14 years old. The first day of the tournament Dye and Bill were paired with Chick Evans of Indianapolis, who was the first amateur to win the U.S. Open and the U.S. Amateur in 1916.
The Donald Ross Course has hosted everything. In 1924, Walter Hagen won the PGA Championship on the Hill Course. In 1958, Louise Suggs won the French Lick Open - a former stop on the LPGA Tour. In 1959, Betsy Rawls won the LPGA Championship on the Donald Ross Course, defeating Patty Berg by one stroke. The following year, Mickey Wright won the LPGA Championship. Bill was a caddy in all three of those tournaments.
In 2007, the course underwent a $5 million restoration project and finished runner-up in the “Best Restoration” category in Golf Digest.
Bill went onto become the assistant pro at the Donald Ross Course in the late 60’s and then left for about 40 years to work as a pro at a naval course 30 miles south of Bloomington. He returned three years ago.
“This is home for me, I caddied here, I worked here and then I left for 40 years,” said Kendall. “It’s great to have these women here because this course is great and now we get to add to the history.”
100 years worth.
CANADA NATIONAL COACH TALKS TANGUAY AND GROWTH
In 2011, Golf Canada, the governing body of golf in Canada, posted a job searching for a national team coach. Tristan Mullally was living in his home country of Ireland and applied and got the job. He has been responsible for developing the emerging talent in Canada ever since.
One of the top players on Tour this year is Anne-Catherine Tanguay (Quebec, Canada), who ranks No. 6 on the Volvik Race for the Card money list. Mullally was at French Lick Resort working with Tanguay on Wednesday during her practice round.
“She is very organized, anytime I come out she has very specific questions and has certain types of shots she wants to work on,” explained Mullally, who comes out to check on his players once a month. “Our time is always very well planned and I feel like we always have a bit of closure by the end because she got what she needed and can go from there.”
Tanguay has five top 10 finishes this year and ten total in two and a half years on Tour.
“She hits the ball really good and she is a long hitter, carrying it upwards of 250 (yards), which puts her in the upper end,” continued Mullally. “She is also starting to have more variety in her swing, it used to always be a four to five yard draw and now she is starting to hit cuts in and controlling her distance better.”
Mullally has worked with Brooke Henderson and was Canada’s coach at the 2016 Olympic Games so he has seen the best and believes Tanguay can one day succeed on the LPGA.
“She hits it long enough, she hits it well enough and her stats are right on the money,” explained Mullally. “She has to have a little more belief in herself, but having the success she has had this year will help. She works so hard so I think she can do it.”
Outside of the United States, no country has more players in the field this week and most other weeks than Canada. There are ten players from Canada in the field this week and Mullally works with many of them including Brittany Marchand and Taylor Kim.
“Geographically, we are a big country but in terms of golf we are small and it is a shorter season so we have to work a little harder to help players break through,” explained Mullally. “There is no shortage of talent in Canada.”
PLAYERS TALK GREENS AND COURSE
Anytime the Tour plays a Donald Ross-designed course, the words hard and challenging and interesting greens always come out the players’ mouth.
Ani Gulugian of Irvine, California may have summed it up best.
“It’s really challenging, of course Donald Ross and his greens,” said Gulugian with a half smile. “I would like to know what he was thinking when he designed his golf courses.”
The hills were also a common topic of conversation.
“You get a two for one special, you get to hike and play golf,” Gulugian jokingly said. “It’s a beautiful place and we’re really excited.”
Rookies Katelyn Dambaugh and Taylor Totland played a nine-hole practice round together on Wednesday morning and had similar comments.
“It’s in great shape so when I got out here I thought wow this is beautiful,” said Dambaugh. “It’s in really, really good condition, the greens are tricky, but that is about it. There is a lot of undulation and slope, but I think it is going to be a great course this week.”
“The greens are so hard and you have to be so exact,” said Totland. “Your approaches are key to playing well on this course. You have to putt well too.”
STEPHANIE NA MAKES ACE ON HOLE #16
Stephanie Na (Adelaide, Australia) made her first career hole-in-one during her practice round on Wednesday on hole 16 at the Donald Ross Course. She had 144 yards and used a 7-iron.
“It was a nice high fade 7-iron,” said Na. “I’m super excited, but I wish it was during a tournament round. Now when people ask me if I’ve had a hole-in-one I can say yes.”