8^th hole, 375 yards: Any description of the course would be incomplete without mentioning this hole (or, rather, its green). Overall, Ross did not design an abundance of dog-leg holes, as some modern architects seem wont to do, but this is one of them, with a sharp turn to the left. What dominates this hole, on everything from the approach to the final putt, is the green. The course guide writes that the 8^th is 'one of the most talked about holes in Indiana golf' - and right they are! It drops seven and one-half feet from the back to the front. Regardless of the hole location, it is sometimes impossible to have a ball come to rest (whether with a 7-iron approach, a 5 yard chip or a putt) on 90% of the green. The typical result is a chip from just short of the green. Is the green too much? Today, yes. This is as good an argument as any for Pete Dye's cry to slow down the greens. This green might well be the reason the state PGA held its match play championship here twice in the 1990s but not once its stroke play. When the course hosted the 1924 PGA Championship (won by Walter Hagen) one wonders how the players performed on this green.

The front of the 8th green rises 7 1/2 feet to the back!

13^th hole, 220 yards: Each level of this three-level green seems shockingly shallow, but it works here since each also has a backstop. In fact, the top level is a bowl.

Note the distinct three levels to the 13th green.

15^th hole, 620 yards: Along with the 10^th at Pinehurst No. 2 and the 13^th at Oak Hill (East), Ross shows that Robert Trent Jones did not invent the long par five. This three-shotter works its way through a natural valley before reaching the green at the end of the long, gradual rise.

16th hole, 145 yards; The heavily contoured green surrounded by a circle of bunkers calls for an appealingly precise shot. This hole is the shortest one shotter on the course by 50 yards (!), and like the 16th at Royal North Devon, it shows that length shouldn't be a pre-requisite for a course's final one shotter.

17^th hole, 375 yards: This hole plays shorter than its modest length as a hill 200 yards out adds 30 yards to the drive. The green, where the right side is four feet higher than the left, best shows the fun and challenge of severe greens. If the hole is to the right (the difficult location), the player can have a reasonable chance at a three with only the most exact of approaches. Otherwise, he will have to work hard to earn a four. If the hole is on the lower left side of the green, the player can use the slope that bisects the two sides of the green to funnel his ball toward the hole. With the former case the severity of the green hurts the player; with the latter it helps him.

Given the day's left hole location, the play was to sling the approach off the ridge in the green
and watch the ball take the slope down toward the 17th hole.

18^th hole, 415 yards: Imagine playing the hole back in the 1920s when the course opened. A big drive would have died into the upslope, leaving the golfer to bound a long iron approach shot past the greenside bunkering and onto the contoured green. Today, the strong golfer can be left with as little as an 8 iron approach and though the hole is no longer a brute, it still makes for a superb finish.

One of Ross's finest Home holes.

With the loss of too many bunkers, the Hill Course is not as engaging a test from the tee as Ross might wish, with the missing bunker on the inside of the dogleg 8th being a prime example. A restoration project on the filled-in fairway bunkers would significantly benefit the course and would not be an overly expensive undertaking. Regardless, with its amazingly bold greens,  to play and study French Lick Springs  is to better understand and appreciate the diversity within Ross's work. Time here is well spent indeed.