Golf in Olive Branch

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.

Tucked northwest of Sardis Lake just above John W. Kyle State Park, Mallard Pointe Golf Course showcases undulating bermuda-grass fairways that offer sweeping views of the area's towering trees. Designed by Bob Cupp, the course’s layout challenges players with back-to-back par 5s on the lengthy 6th and 7th holes, as well as on the 10th and 16th holes, requiring players to break at least once for s’mores while trekking from tee to green. Before hitting the fairways, swingers can take advantage of an extensive practice area consisting of a 350-yard driving range with six target greens and 100 hitting stations, a 10-acre grass-tee area, and a practice fairway bunker.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par-72 course
• Length of 7,004 yards
• Course rating of 73.8
• Slope rating of 131
• Four tee options
• Scorecard

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.

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