Audubon CC in Louisville is a Bendelow design founded in 1908, which had updates from David Pfaff in the last decade or so. I am playing the state Mid-Am there next week and played a practice round there yesterday. A few holes were in some heavy winds that I am sure are uncharacteristic so I hope to get a better idea of how a couple holes play in the next few days.
Audubon tends to have a good mix of short, medium, and long par 4's, with some of them being monster par 4's. The par 5's are a varied set with reachable and generally unreachable on a couple except for the longest hitters. The par 3's are a strong set with varying distances and elevation change. The greens were medium to large sized and rolled a good speed. Not too many had major undulations but there were some 2 tiered greens and some hard slopes in certain areas of the green.
My main curiosities would be which holes did Pfaff get a hold of? I am curious on those long par 4's whether he came in and added distance. The area is pretty locked into the property that is on, and has probably been locked for several decades, so there hasn't been much room for adding distance. It is around 6800 from the back tees, but I am curious what it might have played at one time. It would be difficult for me to believe the back tees on some holes are original. Number 6, which almost forces a cut and is in an odd area, number 8 which is way back and is a long par 4 uphill almost the entire way to a somewhat difficult green, and number 9 is a 450 plus yard hole. There are probably some others that are not coming to mind at the time. I also wonder if some of the greens were changed under Pfaff's time there or if there were others that have worked on the course, as some greens did not seem characteristic of an early 1900's set up.
Some of the visuals of bunker distances among other things I did find enjoyable. There was some deception in the visuals, such as the short par 5 number 15. There are two green side bunkers, but from 200 plus yards out there is a third bunker that appears to be between those two. Upon arriving at the green, that bunker is some 40-50 yards short and could be carried and allow a run up to the green. The penalty for ending up in that bunker would be great. There are some fairway undulation that becomes important upon arriving to the fairway that you cannot see from the tee either. Some are areas that will shoot your ball left or right off that part of the fairway, and there are multiple opportunities to advance the ball well forward off some of the downhill areas or kick plates.
I look forward to playing 2 more days out here and will likely have more insights at that time. Can anyone provide further detail on the history of the course and perhaps provide information about the way it has evolved in 100 plus years?