Pete and Alice Dye This story about great figures in Indiana golf would not be accurate if it didn’t include the names of the late Pete and Alice Dye. Pete Dye was 94 when he passed in 2020, but his legacy in the game will live forever, as his brilliant designs will stand the test of time. It’s not a stretch to say that Pete Dye was the Donald Ross of his generation and his footprint on golf in Indiana is prolific. Golf legend Jack Nicklaus, himself a worldrenowned golf course architect, is a big fan of Dye’s. “I think Pete Dye was the most creative, imaginative, and unconventional golf course designer that I have ever been around”. While Dye’s most publicized project is probably the Stadium Course at the TPC in Ponte Vedra Bill Cook Because of the ‘Miracle Waters’ at French Lick the area’s history of Beach, Florida, the roots of his golf design genius are in Indiana. Dye’s first 18-hole creation was the Maple Creek Golf and Country Club. opened in 1961, in Indianapolis. The seven courses of the Pete Dye Trail, The Pete Dye Course at French Lick, Brickyard Crossing Golf Club, The Fort Golf Course, Maple Creek Golf & Country Club, Tippecanoe Country Club, and the Ackerman-Alan and Kampen courses at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex are only a small sampling of what Dye meant to the state of Indiana. accommodating visitors dates back before the Civil War. The first hotel was built in 1888 and has had various owners over the years. In 2005, the French Lick Resort was in need of a major renovation and luckily Bill Cook, his wife Gayle and their son, Carl were there to purchase the historic property and provide the funds needed to bring it into the 21st century. The Cooks owned a medical device manufacturing company headquartered in Bloomington and made the commitment to restore the resort to its former glory. A casino license was granted by the state and the West Baden Inn underwent a multimillion-dollar restoration. Under the Cook’s ownership, the Donald Ross Course has been updated and the Pete Dye course was built atop Mt. Airie, the second highest peak in Indiana, affording sweeping vistas of the surrounding countryside. In all the Cooks invested over $600 million in the resort. Golfers and guests have returned to the resort by the thousands, contributing to the overall prosperity of not only, French Lick, but of the entire Southern Indiana economy. Indiana Golf Journal
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