Warren Golf Course At Notre Dame

Being at Notre Dame, and hosting the US Senior Open this year, along with being a Coore & Crenshaw design it had expectations. I was a little surprised to see today that they were already setting up grandstands for the event that is 2 months away. The course has been rerouted for the open and the fescue was mown, they were top dressing many fairways, and the greens were bumpy from fertilizer/sand that had been applied a few days ago. But, they still charged full freight. Guess you can do that when You're Notre Dame and people will pay whatever for something with the branding. I'm just a fan, and it left a sour taste in my mouth.

As for the course it's a fairly traditional, straightforward design. But given the conditions today it's hard to really judge the course. Seems like when the fescue is there to catch sprays, it would be a very tight tough course. I'll go back after the open at some point and review again and see how it plays.

This Coore/Crenshaw course is just a few miles from my house. Such a fun course at a great price.

Like everything else at the university of Notre dame the warren course is first class in every respect. From the cart delivery at your vehicle , to the warm reception and welcome at the starters shack our experience was top notch. Course was in great shape, greens were fast and smooth pace of play was brisk. Our group thoroughly enjoyed our round and can't wait for next trip.

Do NOT lend any credence to a negative review about this golf course. For anyone to give this course a rating lower than 4 stars, well, I'll keep it polite and simply say they are flat out wrong. I have played golf all over the USA, playing several courses "ranked" Top 100, Top 10 in each state, etc. This gem easily ranks in my personal top 5 in Indiana (public). The Dye Course at French Lick may be the only course I'd rank in front of it. Perfect tees, fairways, bunkers & greens. Over 1" of rain fell literally minutes before we played and the course drained extremely well, greens still had above average speed. The course is very easy on the eyes, the clubhouse is outstanding, Pro Shop is top notch and the staff friendly. I am NOT from South Bend, have zero connection to the university, but I am an avid, single digit HC golfer, and am looking forward to returning to Warren GC soon and often. BRAVO �

My first time at Warren GC, due to host the 2019 USGA US Senior Open. A very nice layout designed by Coore/Crenshaw design team. Fairways are generous in the landing zones, tightened up near all the greens. The greens well protected with bunkers and rough. The size the of greens will depend on the design of the hole, short par 4s and par 5s, small greens; long par 4s and long par 3s, big greens. The greens are undulating feature multi-levels, dome humps, and roll very nice. The first par 3, No. 4 hole and a great No. 16 hole have the most complex greens of the 18. This is a very walk-friendly course as this is the home course for Notre Dame University. My opinion, save $20 and walk. All the Par 5s are reachable but the green complexes do not receive long shots very well especially No. 10. With the current routing, one is able to access the Warren grill after holes 6, 9, 15, and 18. Water coolers are also spread out about every 3 holes. The practice range is fair but could use better grass, the practice green is nice plus a nice small chipping green and sand bunker for practice before teeing off on No. 1 hole. There seems to be better practice facilities at the other end of the range where the Notre Dame teams practice. Holes to watch and worth remembering, Holes 7 and 8: great and difficult par 4s back to back & Holes 16 & 18 are very picturesque and difficult with forced carries off the tee. I cannot wait to get back and play this one again!!!

Something to get out of the way quickly. The course at Warren is not currently “complete.” As it set up for me the course played to a 70 (usually a 71) because the par 4 18th was actually a par 3 due to prolonged flooding. The flood damage was extensive enough to require re-sodding of the bulk of the fairway; this process is currently underway. To be clear, this did not ruin a very nice round on a lovely course.

Beyond that I really enjoyed my morning at Warren. The front nine start things off in a fairly straight forward manner; although the fairway bunkering and narrow landing area for any shot under 200 yards on the first hole give you something to think about right out of the gate.

I found the fairways pretty open and hittable off the tee’s (which is not the exact same thing I saying I personally hit them all), there is also not a lot of danger off the tee for slightly wayward shots (this I did have a bit more experience with). Warren gets tougher as you approach the greens though with fairly small and well protected targets on almost every hole.

While it takes a good shot to get on; however, the course will not over penalize you for being close. The bunkers and greenside rough are very playable and I was able to get up and down from around the green multiple times. The biggest investment is in lateral protection as most greens have either a bunker of other form of natural hazard on both sides of the green, straight shots that are a little short tend to have a decent chance of rolling onto the green safely. It’s also worth noting that despite the fairly generous landing areas off the tee, because the greens are small and well protected, if you want to score well you will need to position your drive in such a way to give yourself a good angle into the green.

All in all, the course design is quite solid; built to allow mid to high handicappers to enjoy their round while still providing a solid challenge for anyone wanting to make a run at par. All in all Warren shouldn’t ruin anyone’s day; but it won’t make your week unless you shoot well the whole way, tee to green.

As I mentioned above, the front nine is pretty straight forward. The back nine has a little more stuff to it with a few meaningful encounters with water carries (especially when 18 gets back to full strength) and just a little more to think about as you go. Number 16 was probably my favorite as, while a bit short at 345 from the back, there was plenty to make your way through on the hole. A creek runs diagonally across the fairway (getting longer the further right you go), while the landing area on the left is littered with bunkers. There is also a small (but very findable, just ask me) pot bunker right in front of the green making this hole one of the few that puts up much resistance to a straight forward approach.

Pace of play was great for me, although I was just the second to go. The group in front of me was three strong and they managed to keep a good pace to the point that, playing as a single, I didn’t have to wait for them on any holes (I did, of course, have the disadvantage of having to capture pictures for the book along the way). The groups behind us came in promptly as well, so it appears that pace of play was fine through the first several groups at any rate.

The staff at Warren was fantastic, I can’t say enough about the starter. He walked me through almost every noteworthy turn on the course before I began and also quizzed me on my round after, wanting to make sure my experience was everything I expected.

I’d be delighted to get back to South Bend and play this course again, and I’d recommend the same for anyone else who gets the chance.

Spartangolfer11's review could not be further from the truth. You don't get the 2019 US Senior Open, US Open, US Am, US Senior and Western Am Qualifiers, NCAA regionals and the Womens Public Links by being below average. There was extreme dry conditions followed by extreme rain this summer, maintenance staff (all MSU turf Grads) worked their tales off keeping it in great shape which is why some of the Senior tour players played here instead of Harbor Shores early in the week of the Senior PGA. Staff is very flexible and helpful. I have received many tips that have helped my game. Go out of your way to play this course you won't regret it

Fall golf. My favorite time of year to play. Warren was in superb condition, despite how much play it gets. I love the small Pebble-Beach-sized, heavily bunkered greens that require precise iron play. And bring your sand game. You're gonna need it. Unlike other area courses that have virtually no bunkers at all(fake golf). Did I mention greens? Yeah. They were rolling sweet and I made a ton of putts.
Warren is very playable off the tee, so it is enjoyable for every level of golfer, but challenges the better players by defending par at the green. It is a very enjoyable course to walk as well.
Warren is a sweet little gem and we are lucky to have it! But don't just take my word for it, the USGA thinks so too. Under its direction the course will be set up for the 2019 US Senior Open Championship. What that means to us is we will have a chance to play the pro-set up. I can't wait to see the changes and how well I can score on them.
The staff is friendly and very professional. I have made great improvements from lessons I have taken and highly recommend them. They are knowledgable and the fees more than reasonable.

I liked the variety of the holes quite a bit, especially the par 3s. The place was in pretty good shape, but the 18th hole was a mess because of recent rain.

I've played several college golf courses over the year and this is one of the good ones. Would play here again in a heartbeat and was pleased to see that pace of play was moving along nicely.

This course has really gone down hill over the past few years. It has great potential, but things need to change. Maintenance has hit an all time low- bunkers go unraked (if you aren't in someones footprint, you are truly lucky), greens go days without being mowed or rolled (they are slow and bumpy), fairways and tee boxes are not mowed nearly as often as they need to be, and no one fixes pitch marks. This course does like to water- so its always green..the problem is that they water constantly. They will water fairways and greens during your round so that every green has a different speed. They also make sure that your ball picks up as much mud as possible. You will not get roll out here if you are a mid to high ball flight player.

The staff is terrible- the worst part of this course. Incredibly rude and will talk behind your back, it doesn't matter if you are a first timer to the course or a seasoned member. Not a welcoming experience. Also, do not get lessons here. The pros will charge a pretty penny, but spend half their time talking to other people or be on their phone while they should be helping you.

Finally, the food service is sub-par. Thats the reason the carts advertise restaurants on campus for after your round.

Do yourself a favor and play Blackthorn if you want to play a nice course in the area.

Tough layout. Smallest greens I've played in years. Was a wet semi-rainy day. Course drained well. Very well. A true championship track. Gotta go back to play it when its dry. Conditions of course were fantastic.

I like the course and have played it off and on over the years. Maybe we should have known better than to play on a Sunday afternoon. The starter sent us off 10 minutes early which defeats the purpose of spacing out tee times. By hole #2 it was 2 groups on each tee and the front 9 took 2:05. With 3 groups on the 10 tee, the prospect was 2:30 and a lot of waiting on the back. We bailed. While I can understand the inclination to send groups off ASAP, maintaining tee times will provide a reasonable gap to prevent the constant backup we experienced.

10 minute tee times not enforced -- starter put groups off ASAP. Result -- slow play. 2hr 15 min 1st 9, with 2 groups on 10 tee & 1 in fairway turned the round into 9 holes. Marshal waved & did nothing to get things moving. The slow play is not a consequence of the course layout -- it's very playable. Course conditions OK -- tees & greens well manicured, but fairways full of unhealed divots. I will pass on this course next time I'm in the area & play a private course instead.

The Warren Golf Course was considered to be "too difficult" by many players in the first years of its existence. The staff listened to that critique. The golf course is more playable for the bogey golfer now, yet still a challenge for accomplished players. The greens have matured and are fast and true. The bunkers have the Coore-Crenshaw features of depth and taller grass around the edges for a real challenge. Juday Creek bisects a few fairways at an angle to make accuracy of direction a must. Players who use a cart benefit from a vastly improved GPS. Even if you are a Michigan Man or a Son of Troy, you will enjoy this home of the Fighting Irish.

We played this tract many times when it was new, but now it has matured and is very beautiful. This course gets a lot of play but is still in pristine condition. The greens, fairways and tees are outstanding. The native fescue grasses have filled in well.
Pace of play has been a problem here in the past.
The pro shop assigned us the first AM tee time, but the starter allowed his buddies to tee off ahead of us.

The starter was very confrontational because we were planning on playing fast as a twosome, and he wanted to pair us up with an older lady and a youngster.
We don't encounter this type of attitude normally.

Their GPS is very awkward because they have multiple commercials on the GPS screen. This does distract from the overall experience. We have our own wrist GPS so we didn't need to use their cart GPS a lot.

The pro shop is fully stocked and there is a snack bar.
This is a beautiful operation and should not be missed.
What started out nasty became a fun round of golf.

At first appearance the course looks easy. The greens are well protected with subtle undulations. Approach shots must be accurate. Although fairways are tolerant, wandering too far can be disasterous.