Sports in Bardstown

Rated a top-10 course in Louisville by ESPN, Tanglewood Golf Course guides strokes over 200 acres of Kentucky countryside. Wide fairways roll through regions of dense forestation, complicating club selection with rapid changes in elevation and testing the endurance of each player who dares climb its undulations or somersault down its hills. Water comes into play on seven holes, including the picturesque fourth, which doglegs to the right and dares big hitters to muscle their way onto the green in one shot. Back-to-back par 5s in holes 13 and 14 give bold thwackers ample opportunity for scores below par, whereas the 185-yard, uphill 15th can easily add back those strokes for anyone who doesn't choose enough club for its par 3 expanse.

Prior to a round, players can gain familiarity with the range's practice green.

Designed by renowned architect David Pfaff, the 27-hole championship golf course at Quail Chase Golf Club splits into three par-36 courses that wind through the area's lush scotch pine, maple, oak, and dogwood trees. Limber up stiff clubs at the course’s practice facilities, which prep ungainly irons for an 18-hole run with bermuda-grass tees, a USGA practice putting green, and a reserved area for rehearsing pre-shot ritual baths. Golfers can strike through two of the club's three 9-hole courses, manipulating orbs past the angular detours of dogleg holes and around four water hazards during approximately 4.5 hours of play. Concealed cart paths obscure scenery-marring vehicles and help to keep play flowing by restricting fairway victory laps to every other shot.

Glenmary Country Club’s 18-hole golf course sprawls across 6,542 yards of carefully cut fairways as they cleave through lofty trees and neighboring residences. Slick bentgrass greens, multiple water hazards, and horn-blasting garden gnomes supply the bulk of the difficulty on this relatively challenging course, which plays to a par 72 from all three tee options. Divot-tearing duos can loop the emerald links astride a golf cart to save their strength for towering drives and confronting the trash-talking squirrels hiding in the dense tree lines that surround holes six and seven. Glenmary Country Club enforces a dress code that requires all players to wear a collared shirt and prohibits denim.

A good golf swing has many moving parts, from gripping the club correctly and to the smooth follow-through. For more than 14 years, LPGA teaching professional Brenda Daniels has fine-tuned those parts at Quail Chase Golf Club—a 27-hole championship course hemmed into Louisville's scotch pine and dogwood trees. As the facility's head instructor, Brenda leads lessons to help dissect the swings of both youth and adult golfers. To this end, she often utilizes slow-motion video analysis, which allows her to pinpoint flaws in the swing. Brenda also helms a number of special programs, including camps for kids, clinics for adults, and ladies-only sessions of Golf 101.

Strong Hold Climbing Gym at Hester's Family Fitness beckons to rock clingers of all skill levels with more than 4,000 square feet of top-rope routes, bouldering, and peerless climbing classes. With padded floors throughout, Strong Hold's crew of climbers can scale the multicolored routes with no fear of hard falls, and Strong Hold equips each climber with the harness, shoes, and cliff-badger bait necessary for topping its walls. Introductory classes, taught by master stone whisperers, cover the basics of rope work, proper knots, and the techniques required for pulling on slopers or crimps.

Skydive Kentucky with a BBB rating of A+, encourages customers to jump out of airplanes—but only in pursuit of a heart-pumping adrenaline rush. The skydive outfitter— ranked #5 in top drop zones in the nation by Dropzone— offers tandem, solo, and accelerated freefall jumps from up to 18,000 feet above the ground. Instructors train and expect customers to pull their ripcord and about 80% of clients can do so without any prompting from their instructor. Skydive trains their students to do as much as reasonable on their first tandem jump. Whether a seasoned veteran, a nervous first-timer, or a bird that wants bragging rights among his flock, Skydive Kentucky can guide thrill-seekers on an exciting yet safe descent back to earth.

Urvashi Dance Company, under the direction of seasoned midsection maestro Heidi Capps-Hayden, brings centuries-old belly-dancing tradition to the modern Kentucky heartland. Today’s deal lets you choose three one-hour group classes, each of which offers a thorough workout that builds muscles you didn’t know you had. Tribal Cardio (Mondays at 6 p.m.) gets blood pumping and helps maintain a healthy hearts, and Zil Drill (Mondays at 8 p.m.) tackles the art of zils, the small finger cymbals belly dancers don to add subtle percussion to performances and practice their tree-frog impressions. During the American Tribal Style (ATS) introduction class (Mondays at 7 p.m.), the instructor takes a high-energy, collective approach to school students in the basics of this dancing tradition. After getting comfortable with the fundamentals, twirlers can move on to ATS Next Level (Wednesdays at 6 p.m. and Saturdays at 11 a.m.) and ATS Maximum (Wednesdays at 7 p.m. and Saturdays at 12 p.m.) to transform tummies into mesmerizing kaleidoscopes.