Broadmoor Country Club, IN, USA

With 135 bunkers, Broadmoor is Ross's most heavily bunkered inland
course with which the authors are familiar.

Donald Ross has been called the first superstar of American golf. In fact, his work is so popluar that his courses often times play host to important golf events in the middle and eastern portions of the United States. An unfortunate adjunct is that some of his finest designs including Oakland Hills, Scioto, Oak Hill, and Inverness have been tinkered with by lesser architects in an effort to present a tougher, more modern challenge in major events.

Other Ross courses like Hope Valley in North Carolina have lost some of their flair because the green pads have been allowed to shrink by as much as 6-8 feet around the edges and thus many of the most vexing hole locations have been lost.

Broadmoor Country Club is in a different position from either scenario. Since its founding in 1922, the club has done an excellent job of retaining the vast majority of the features with which Ross imbued the course.  135 of Ross's 138 bunkers are still in play and are well preserved and though some of the corners of the green pads have been lost, the greens are still full of interest and challenge. An opportunity to play at Broadmoor equates to an opportunity to appreciate many of Ross's design strengths: his ability to produce a superior routing, his ability to build a course that is enjoyable for membership play one day and yet could host the U.S. Women's Open the next, his ability to make bunkers so that they don't appear as man-made contrivances, and his knack for producing fresh and imaginative green complexes.

However, what has been lost with time at Broadmoor are Ross's corridors of play, which have been severely compromised underneath hundreds upon hundreds of hardwood trees. The player on numerous occasions can be in a bunker off the tee and have no shot but to chip out as directly between him and the flag are one or more trees.

Ross did not believe in double penalizing the golfer and would be disappointed to see
these trees blocking access to the 10th green from his fairway bunkers.

Same applies with this bunker which is found sixty yards shy of the 9th green.

The bold contours of the 6th green are evident from here. Unfortunately, so are
the trees that smother the approach.

This is a great shame. The design itself is inspired and makes the most of the gentle rolls found on this relatively flat 200 acre block of property on the outskirts of Indianapolis. Save for a few green pads and tees, the high to low point on the front nine is only six feet and yet, the golfer is never aware of that fact. Whether it is by a topped shot bunker as at the 2nd hole or a nest of bunkers off the 3rd tee, Ross continually blocks the golfer from having a sustained view of a flat fairway.

Just as important, the bunkers never look artificial, which is no mean feat when working on level property. Any architect can cut a bunker into a hillside and have it appear natural but to create bunkers from nothing is an underappreciated art form. 

The bunkers catch the golfer's eye more so than the flat fairway.

Ross always let the topography dictate the placement of his green sites. Sometimes, like at Charles River Country Club outside of Boston where he routed the course over and around rock ledges, the land forced Ross into accepting an unconventional string of 'pars.' For instance, from the 9th through the 17th holes at Charles River, par is 3-5-3-short 4-short 4-3-5-5-3. The holes work beautifully together nonetheless as they are natural in appearance and highly diverse.

However, here in a state known for its flat cornfields,  Ross had far fewer restrictions placed on him. And with the land yielding only minimal interest, Ross created a number of very fine holes, thanks to some excellent bunkering schemes and imaginative greens, as seen below.

Holes to Note

1st hole and 2nd hole, 435 and 410 yards, respectively; Not exactly the quintessential Ross 'handshake' start, the golfer is reminded of the expression at Wannamoisett of not getting discouraged during the first couple of holes but to hang in there. The tough start coupled with the profusion of bunkers around the course are clear indications that the founders of Broadmoor were intent on Ross building them a first rate course.

This picture captures the srengths and weaknesses of Broadmoor. Its strength is that it has retained all
but three of Ross's original bunkers including this 'topped shot' bunker 100 yards off the 2nd tee. Its
weakness is how the trees have encroached into Ross's intended corridor of play as seen
by the bunkers buried underneath the trees on the left and the right.

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