Things to Do in Northview

Susan Molnar’s world is made of glass. As the owner of Glass House Designs, she oversees the facility’s three divisions: the gallery, the classroom, and the artist’s studio. In the gallery, Susan showcases her work alongside the pieces of more than 50 other local, regional, and national artists. For visitors hoping to create glass masterpieces of their own, Susan offers classes in fusing, mosaics, lampworking, and stained glass, and guest instructors offer classes in other artistic disciplines.

At Double R Ranch, hikers, bikers, and horseback riders tromp across its trails, nestled next to a gentle, undulating river. Meanwhile elsewhere on the property, golfers take to a nine-hole course that sprawls alongside the ranch’s campgrounds. Families can spend an afternoon or several days taking in the verdant surroundings, where land activities such as hayrides and volleyball games meet water activities in the form of canoeing, tubing, and fishing. Overnight guests can set up camp in one of more than 100 campsites or stretch out in an A-frame chalet that boasts an electric stove, a coffeemaker, and nature’s alarm clock: a bird singing cheerily as it constructs a new split-level nest.

Nestled among oak trees and apple orchards, the 18-hole, par 72 course at Deer Run Golf Club hosts weeping willows that have been ducking golf balls for more than four decades. Golfers start out at the course’s second-hardest hole, navigating a dogleg left in the last fourth of the fairway and hitting past two bunkers that stand sentry just in front of the green. The second hole, a handicap 18, lets players catch their breath or show off by wearing a diamond-studded blindfold while driving, but the 13th hole—the course’s toughest—gives even the most gifted swingers a challenge with a dogleg right and a green guarded by a slither of fairway-bifurcating water.

Before hitting the course, players warm up at one of the driving range’s 25 hitting stations or by bench-pressing a golf cart. After, they generally decamp to Deer Run's clubhouse, which complete with a hardwood dance floor and fireplace ready for hosting special occasions. Here, up to 250 guests can party away the night, celebrate weddings and other occasions, or host a conference on turning the state of Indiana into a 1,800-hole championship course.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 72 course

• Total length of 6,964 yards from the back tees

• Course rating of 74.1 from the back tees

• Course slope of 134 from the back tees

• Four sets of tees per hole