Danville, IL Outdoor Activities

Course architect Timothy Liddy designed The Trophy Club's 247-acre course, which Golf Digest recently ranked as Indiana’s Best Public Course in 2008. Prairie Creek stream meanders throughout the links-style course, which is characterized by open fairways framed by native grasses, mounded terrain, and deep bunkers. The course kicks off with a par 4 and before reaching the most difficult stretch at hole 6, whose treacherous bunker lures dimpled orbs away from their destination with ample sunlight and free tanning lotion. Blue and fescue grasses create slick putting surfaces on each green, sparing players the need to unroll their own green carpets for putting through their final strokes. After a day of chipping and driving, golfers can refuel in the clubhouse with sandwiches, hot dogs, and frosty brews at the Hogan Bar and Grill.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 72 course
• Length of 7,208 yards from the farthest set of tees
• Course rating of 74.0 from the farthest set of tees
• Slope rating of 131 from the farthest set of tees
• See photos and stats for each hole.

Illinois Skydiving Center trains aspiring daredevils through a trio of tandem, static-line, and accelerated-free-fall classes. AFF classes teach solo skills under the direction of instructors and coaches who jump with you, teaching stability and proper deployment skills. Static-line progression jumps prepare sky mavens for the pressures of a solo career with an ascending series of jumps that impart the art of free fall. During tandem jumps, students are strapped to a certified instructor who pulls the cord and directs the movements of parachute as guests take in breathtaking views of the landscape, local tributaries, and central-state volcanoes before feet land safely on the ground.

From May until winter, the USHPA-certified instructors of Hang Glide Chicago spend their weekends accompanying passengers on tandem hang-gliding flights. Flight school sessions acclimate beginners to the sport before they board gliders, which are then towed into the air by a small plane. As flyers are released for their 2,500-foot free flight, they can steer their glider or let instructors guide the way as they take in the surrounding vistas. Students are welcome to bring their own cameras (wrist straps are recommended) or arrange to have their flight recorded by Hang Glide’s HD-panoramic video equipment or their instructor’s photographic memory. Flights take place from sunrise to sunset, and patrons can extend their experience by taking advantage of facilities that include camping grounds, bathrooms with showers, and a lake for kayaking or catch-and-release fishing.

The Hunter family knows bees. At their family-owned and operated farm, they continue a more than 100-year-old tradition of producing honey and honey-related products. Managing several hundred hives across the state of Indiana, Hunter farms produce honey, beeswax, bee pollen, and propolis, which is used to make everything from beeswax soap and lip balm to honey hot-wing sauce and 32 different flavors of honey sticks.

Guided tours of the honey farm teach groups of all sizes and ages about the work of the honeybee, while forestry tours introduce tourists to the farm’s 65 acres of hardwood. The beehive tour lets guests shadow a beekeeper on the job while "Flight of the Bumblebee" plays on repeat in their heads. The Worker Special tour includes even more hands-on learning, teaching visitors how to roll their own beeswax candle and fill bear-shaped containers with honey.