Golf in Greensburg

As a member of the U.S. Golf Association, both of GolfTEC's golf tech centers are staffed by experienced PGA golfing professionals and computers who’ve been programmed in compliance with the Three Laws of Golfing Robotics, particularly the First (a robot must not move the ball from where it lies or, through inaction, allow a ball to be moved). Motion sensors and high-speed cameras monitor your swing and break down your form on a high-definition video display. GolfTEC’s PGA specialists will then point out flaws, emphasize strengths, and coach you on how to permanently improve your game from tee to green. Their sensors will chirp with approval when you finally execute a perfect stroke or crack an especially witty putting pun.

Forest Hills Country Club invites golfers of all skill levels to drive, chip, and putt their way around its private nine-hole course, buttressed by the Great Miami River and native forestation. The course measures 2,267 yards from the back tees and boasts five par 3s and four par 4s. Though it may not have any par 5s, Forest Hills makes up for distance in scoring difficulty, with just one par 3 measuring fewer than 150 yards and cups that sneeze every time a ball comes near them. After a round, players can visit the concession stand to replenish calories lost from swinging clubs or cartwheeling from hole to hole.

Led by Golf Range’s Top 50 Golf Instructor Ralph Landrum, World of Golf’s staff of game-improvement gurus help players lower their golf scores with an array of golf-related activities. Private lessons conducted inside a climate-controlled swing room allow students to launch golf balls out onto the range while four cameras capture bad habits such as flat takeaways or saying “um” too much during their follow-through. Afterward, players can use their instructor’s pointers to build muscle memory on the rest of the complex’s practice facilities, which include an outdoor range with 24 mat tees and two sets of grass tees, indoor hitting nets with eight stalls, and an indoor putting and chipping green.

As soon as golfers feel they’ve practiced enough, they put their newfound knowledge to the test on the executive 18-hole golf course, with 14 par 3s and four par 4s, or the miniature golf course. When weather renders either course unplayable, thwackers move indoors to the golf simulator, which recreates the look and feel of more than 50 courses or a hodgepodge of 18 famous holes but without the extremely long between-hole travel times. World of Golf keeps a busy schedule of lessons, classes, and leagues, all of which can be found on the calendar.

The first 18-hole course ever designed by legendary architect Pete Dye, Maple Creek Golf and Country Club's challenging course layout unfurls across 6,633 yards of tree-lined, water-kissed topography. The club's driving range is an expansive tract that absorbs players' practice shots as they prepare for the fast-starting course where the second hole is the most difficult and most willing to throw a tantrum. Babbling streams and rippling ponds add to the scenery of the pristine par 72 course, threatening the life force of ill-struck orbs on as many as 11 holes. Class-A PGA pro Jim Grossi roams the verdant valley, shoring up swings in lessons, on a never-ending mission to appease his golf mentor, who was half golf cart.

Opening its first fairways in 1926, Hillview Country Club prides itself on a charming course that envelops golfers in an emerald ecosystem replete with L93 bentgrass fairways and smooth, fast-moving greens. Players must contend with tree lines along the fairways and several water hazards as they corral golf balls over the 6,495-yard Robert Simmons design. Before a round, players can warm up at the practice facilities, which include a driving range with natural-grass hitting stations and a short-game area. The chipping green allows for approaches from up to 75 yards away, precisely the distance of Jack Nicklaus’s bathroom putting green.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par-72 course
• Total length of 6,585 yards from the back tees
• Course rating of 71.4 from the back tees
• Course slope of 120 from the back tees

Opened in 1968 as a nine-hole course, Cardinal Hills added a back nine in 1996 to form a 5,614-yard excursion that challenges oncomers with undulating greens and tree-lined fairways. Though relatively short in overall length, the Harold England design presents its fair share of difficulties, forcing players to choose their clubs wisely and to carefully discern which flagsticks are actually remnants of failed moon landings.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 70 course
• Total length of 5,614 yards from the back tees
• Course rating of 70 from the back tees
• Course slope of 113 from the back tees