Brownsville, TN Outdoor Activities

Mid-South Ice House sparks heated competition amid icy environs by hosting hockey, curling, and broomball teams. The center also caters to figure skaters with regular freestyle sessions. In addition to athletic endeavors, it supports family-friendly revelry with regular open skates, lessons for ages 2 to adult, and a private party room. Cosmic Skate sessions every Saturday night capture the dazzle of the northern lights, sending a multihued glow over glinting ice.

Mark Grace has more than 15 years of teaching experience, including stints as the Director of Instruction at Colonial Country Club and the Director of the Memphis Golf Association. His golf academies occupy two locations, and both utilize the power of technological instruction aids such as video swing analysis, TrackMan Doppler radar ball tracking, and a computer coaching system that can compare the swing to those of more than 400 PGA model swings. Mark bases his teaching philosophy on the foundation of grip pressure, believing that the correct grip is the key to a fluid, balanced, and well-shaped swing.

Located on 20 tranquil acres, family-owned Fisherville Farms offers horseback-riding lessons for beginning and intermediate equestrians, ages six and up. Single, private horsecursions are about 60 minutes long and include a crash course in proper grooming and saddling techniques, in addition to riding instruction. Because Fisherville Farms' headed horsemen and women are schooled in both Western and English riding styles, students have the option of learning either as they walk, trot, and gallop over the facility's sprawling trails and rings. Originating in the traditions of Spanish conquistadors, Western riding involves a bigger saddle and one-handed rein technique, whereas English riding traditionally employs a smaller, flatter saddle, horseback tea brewing, and the donning of fashion-forward jodhpurs. As evidence of their commitment to equestrian safety, Fisherville Farms provides riders with helmets and, pending federal approval, full suits of medieval plate armor for biweekly jousting tournaments.

Designed by U.S. Open champion Johnny Miller, Stonebridge's Scottish-links-style course features 27 holes designed to test your swing and backstroke. The course's namesake red-rock bridges arch over and beside three tough nines, each almost 3,600 yards long, making this one of the longest courses in the state. With 20 of the holes adjacent to water, it's also one of the most pond-besotten. Three smaller teeing areas complement the harder drives, and small streams coil beside some the course's 93 sand bunkers.

The Swim School of Memphis's instructors, drawing from Swim Schools International's programs, teach water-safety skills to fledgling divers and swimmers of all ages. Classes and activities range from the Scuba Rangers club—where kids aged 8–12 learn to snorkel and scuba dive from the safety of a pool—to open-water dives, swimming lessons, and more advanced stress-and-rescue dive sessions, during which instructors turn dog paddlers into almost-mermaids, minus the pet octopuses.

Ranked in Golfweek's Best Courses You Can Play in Indiana, the course at Prairie View Golf Club is situated on 206 acres of environmentally protected land along the White River with scenic prairieland and five lakes. The Robert Trent Jones, Jr. design features natural wetlands with a rushing stream that comes into play on four holes, forcing players to demonstrate deft control or gilled golf bags. On the front nine, the prairie setting invites harsh winds to blow across bentgrass fairways, often knocking shots off course. As players make the turn onto the back nine, they notice a marked difference in the environment, as open prairies give way to tall sycamore, oak, beech, and cottonwood trees lying just beyond the Kentucky bluegrass rough. Across the river lies Conner Prairie, a historical re-enactment village whose elegant, 1830s-era style was adopted for the design of the course's 15,000-square-foot clubhouse.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 72 course
• Total length of 7,073 yards from the back tees
• Course rating of 74.5 from the back tees
• Course slope of 138 from the back tees
• Four sets of tees per hole