Kendallville golf courses...Noblehawk, Cobblestone and Glendarin Hills

[Tarantula18t]

Which to play 36 at?

Some buddies and I picked Kendallville to meet halfway and play golf for a few days. We were wondering out of the 3 we are going to play....NobleHawk, Cobblestone, and Glendarin Hills, which of the 3 should we play 36 at one day. We are only able to play 36 one day, and aren't quite sure which to spend the full day at. Any suggestions? Also, please give me your opinion on the courses. I don't know much about them, save what is on the internet. Thanks for the help!

[twgolf]

Definitely Noblehawk if you can play just one. It is a really nice course with a links style front nine and more of a classic design on the back. It has some really challenging holes and the greens have a lot of break to them. Some of the holes you really have to place your tee shots and some you can just bomb away. I know that they used to run a Monday special that was like $30 for unlimted play. I even think they have a two play deal for 18 on Noblehawk and 18 on Cobblestone. I live in the just east of there in Elkhart, and I really love playing Noblehawk, so that would be my choice if I could only play one of them. The bonus is that it is really cheap to play for such a good golf course. I think it is better than the Warren Course at Notre Dame and it's $80 to play a round there.

[Openwater22]

I drove down from Northern Mi. this past October and played Noblehawk and Cobblestone, did not play Glendarin. I give Cobblestone a slight edge over Noblehawk. Both were nice, reasonably well conditioned, friendly staff and all, I just preferred the more classic feel of Cobblestone over the faux' links feel of Noblehawk. I just don't buy into the " take a former farm field, sculpt in some mounding and call it a links course". Don't get me wrong, there isn't a lot you can do with a flat essentaily treeless piece of land and Nobelhawk pulled it off as well as or better than most, but it's not a links golf course.

Cobblestone has some natural elevation changes, more trees, and isn't contrived like Noblehawk. Due to the wide open treeless front nine at Noblehawk, tee shots are definately BOMB and GOUGE fun!

My 2 cents. Enjoy!

[twgolf]

[quote name='openwater32' date='26 January 2010 - 04:37 PM' timestamp='1264541825' post='2205773']
I drove down from Northern Mi. this past October and played Noblehawk and Cobblestone, did not play Glendarin. I give Cobblestone a slight edge over Noblehawk. Both were nice, reasonably well conditioned, friendly staff and all, I just preferred the more classic feel of Cobblestone over the faux' links feel of Noblehawk. I just don't buy into the " take a former farm field, sculpt in some mounding and call it a links course". Don't get me wrong, there isn't a lot you can do with a flat essentaily treeless piece of land and Nobelhawk pulled it off as well as or better than most, but it's not a links golf course.

Cobblestone has some natural elevation changes, more trees, and isn't contrived like Noblehawk. Due to the wide open treeless front nine at Noblehawk, tee shots are definately BOMB and GOUGE fun!

My 2 cents. Enjoy!
[/quote]

Believe it or not with all the flat farm land we have here in Northern Indiana, we have very few links style courses, with Noblehawk being one of them. It is a great change of pace for me to play this style of course and the course is challenging. Wind can be a huge factor on Noblehawk because of it being so open. I like Cobblestone as well, but it's nice to play a links style for a change. It's not a true links course, but more than worth the price of admission to play it! Again, both courses are very close to each other and I think last year they were running a 36 hole deal with playing 18 on each. They are probably less than 10 minutes apart from each other, so technically you could play both for your 36 and get to play two courses.

[Openwater22]

[quote name='twgolf' date='26 January 2010 - 05:02 PM' timestamp='1264543358' post='2205837']
[quote name='openwater32' date='26 January 2010 - 04:37 PM' timestamp='1264541825' post='2205773']
I drove down from Northern Mi. this past October and played Noblehawk and Cobblestone, did not play Glendarin. I give Cobblestone a slight edge over Noblehawk. Both were nice, reasonably well conditioned, friendly staff and all, I just preferred the more classic feel of Cobblestone over the faux' links feel of Noblehawk. I just don't buy into the " take a former farm field, sculpt in some mounding and call it a links course". Don't get me wrong, there isn't a lot you can do with a flat essentaily treeless piece of land and Nobelhawk pulled it off as well as or better than most, but it's not a links golf course.

Cobblestone has some natural elevation changes, more trees, and isn't contrived like Noblehawk. Due to the wide open treeless front nine at Noblehawk, tee shots are definately BOMB and GOUGE fun!

My 2 cents. Enjoy!
[/quote]

Believe it or not with all the flat farm land we have here in Northern Indiana, we have very few links style courses, with Noblehawk being one of them. It is a great change of pace for me to play this style of course and the course is challenging. Wind can be a huge factor on Noblehawk because of it being so open. I like Cobblestone as well, but it's nice to play a links style for a change. It's not a true links course, but more than worth the price of admission to play it! Again, both courses are very close to each other and I think last year they were running a 36 hole deal with playing 18 on each. They are probably less than 10 minutes apart from each other, so technically you could play both for your 36 and get to play two courses.
[/quote]



Agreed.

[mrjrs]

I have played Noblehawk and really like it. I like links courses, though. I've never played Cobblestone, but everyone I know that's played both generally like Cobblestone better because it's a more traditional style course.

[RMS29]

I have played all three courses listed in the original post. Noble Hawk, Cobblestone and Glendarin Hills. So I'll give you my honest assessment of each of these courses.

1. Glendarin Hills - easily the nicest of the three courses. Glendarin Hills is a relatively new course and when Golf Digest finally rates this course it will be 4.5 or 5 stars...with potential to make GD top 100. I've played several top 100 courses and Glendarin Hills beats them all. It is truly one of the nicest public courses in the midwest. Clubhouse is elegant, modern and very large. The layout and conditioning are incredible. It has a very rolling terrain and very tough greens...and some very tight shots. Hard to believe that this course doesn't get more notoriety. Its as nice as it gets for a public course.

2. Noble Hawk - a very neat and differnet layout. The back nine is the best part of this course, but the front 9 has some very neat holes as well. Yes, it is a links course, but the back is loaded with wooded/tree lined holes. Several holes have water and very difficult greens. Noble Hawk has some of the most challenging lag putts you'll encounter. Great course. Only negative to Noble Hawk is that is has become so popular that it is getting a lot of play...and pace of play is very slow on weekends. Also, a local told me that Noble Hawk has a new superintendent and that the course has suffered some for that reason. But still you won't play a nicer course for the price.

3. Cobblestone - several posters have mentioned that this is a very traditional course. I would have to agree, that the layout of Cobblestone is nothing spectacular but still a very nice course. The conditioning and grooming of this course is outsanding...and maybe a notch above Noble Hawk. Definitely a worthy course to play with nice greens and a gently rolling landscape. Definitely more scenic than NH. The greens are much flatter and normal than Noble Hawk's greens. A lot of people like to compare/contrast Noble Hawk and Cobblestone, because they are both of the same grade of course and are so close to each other...but they have very different layouts. So I guess its personal preference. Although, most of the experienced golfers that I speak with like Noble Hawk better as it is a little more challenging

Just my two cents on the matter.

[Tarantula18t]

[quote name='RMS29' timestamp='1326946337' post='4114743']
I have played all three courses listed in the original post. Noble Hawk, Cobblestone and Glendarin Hills. So I'll give you my honest assessment of each of these courses.

1. Glendarin Hills - easily the nicest of the three courses. Glendarin Hills is a relatively new course and when Golf Digest finally rates this course it will be 4.5 or 5 stars...with potential to make GD top 100. I've played several top 100 courses and Glendarin Hills beats them all. It is truly one of the nicest public courses in the midwest. Clubhouse is elegant, modern and very large. The layout and conditioning are incredible. It has a very rolling terrain and very tough greens...and some very tight shots. Hard to believe that this course doesn't get more notoriety. Its as nice as it gets for a public course.

2. Noble Hawk - a very neat and differnet layout. The back nine is the best part of this course, but the front 9 has some very neat holes as well. Yes, it is a links course, but the back is loaded with wooded/tree lined holes. Several holes have water and very difficult greens. Noble Hawk has some of the most challenging lag putts you'll encounter. Great course. Only negative to Noble Hawk is that is has become so popular that it is getting a lot of play...and pace of play is very slow on weekends. Also, a local told me that Noble Hawk has a new superintendent and that the course has suffered some for that reason. But still you won't play a nicer course for the price.

3. Cobblestone - several posters have mentioned that this is a very traditional course. I would have to agree, that the layout of Cobblestone is nothing spectacular but still a very nice course. The conditioning and grooming of this course is outsanding...and maybe a notch above Noble Hawk. Definitely a worthy course to play with nice greens and a gently rolling landscape. Definitely more scenic than NH. The greens are much flatter and normal than Noble Hawk's greens. A lot of people like to compare/contrast Noble Hawk and Cobblestone, because they are both of the same grade of course and are so close to each other...but they have very different layouts. So I guess its personal preference. Although, most of the experienced golfers that I speak with like Noble Hawk better as it is a little more challenging

Just my two cents on the matter.
[/quote]

This post is quite old, but I never commented on it after I played. I would agree with basically everything you said. Particularly about Glendarin Hills. It's a fantastic course. Here is what I wrote back then:

Saturday morning we made the 30 mile drive to Glendarin Hills in Angola Indiana. Everything I could find about this course on the internet was praise to the course. Well, it appears that everyone was right, including the guy at Noble hawk who couldn't stop talking about the course. We were told the course was built by a guy who has all sorts of money, and doesn't care if he makes a nickel off of it. They charge a good amount, about $69 a round I believe, but unlike most courses, profit isn't the first objective. Sort of like Stonelick Hills in Cincinnati. Anyway, the clubhouse is huge, at about 32,000 sq ft. It definitely has a country club atmosphere in there. The course is built on 450 acres, so you can imagine it's nice and spread out. The carts have GPS, and they have bottles of water on about 3 or 4 holes on the course. They go by the honor system. Take a water leave a buck. When we loaded up our bags, and headed to the range, which was very nice, we heard some classic rock music playing. We were looking around for a second trying to figure out where the hell that is coming from. Well, they have about 4 ground Bose speakers near the practice green/driving range. That was something I have never seen before, and it was pretty cool we thought. Very laid back place it seemed. The course itself is outstanding. Good elevation change, fantastic conditions, and a good mix of holes. A few are tightly cut thru the trees. Others are pretty open, and some good water holes. Probably the most scenic hole is the 4th that plays about 205 or so. It is slightly uphill, and surrounded by huge trees. There are only a few houses on the course. Mainly down the left side of 11 and you can see others on 13. That's it. All around this course are big ornamental rocks that they moved to certain spots. One #8 they were all down the right hand side near the cart path. On #18, they were surrounding the front of each tee box. Behind #9's green there is a huge landscaping area full of these rocks. It was very nice looking, aesthetically. They must have spent a lot of time moving rocks at this place. We ended up playing 36 here, and we were very glad we did. I would play here quite often if it were anywhere near my house. The price is a bit high for the area, but its first class all around. It is definitely worth playing 36 at if you're on a short trip. Plenty of length here at about 7050, and with a rating of 74.6, and 142, it presents plenty of challenge. I can't say enough about Glendarin Hills. It was just first class all around. I have played both French Lick courses, The Fort, Purgatory, Bear Slide, Belterra, Otter Creek and The Brickyard, which are all in the top 10 publics in Indiana I believe. Glendarin is every bit as good or better then any of those, with the exception of the Pete Dye course. I would recommend this trip to anyone.

[adamjstl]

Wow! What praise for Glendarin Hills! I was bored last night and saw this post, and what fantastic reviews for an unknown course.... Might be worth the trip if you made it a long weekend and included Cobblestone and Noble Hawk....

[RMS29]

Holes #10-15 at Noble Hawk are one of my favorite stretches of holes anywhere. I would like to see Noble Hawk improve their cart path's...a few of them look a little beat up on the front.

[mark092974]

I played glendarin last week and liked it a lot. I met the owner and chatted with him for a while. Fantastic guy, the course has a great story as to how it was developed. The practice area was as nice as any I've seen outside of Quintero in Phoenix. The course is visually very cool, it's also difficult but fair. I think we played it from about 6600. I'm sure from the tips it could be a nightmare. The course was in excellent shape. They have a great beer selection and really good food. Here is my only complaint....If i were a good putter maybe i would feel differently, but the greens were gimmicky. No one hit a putt longer than 8 feet and 2 of the guys were single digit handicaps. I'd highly suggest if in the area you should check it out.

[RMS29]

Played Noble Hawk on Sun... course was in fairly good shape. Doesn't seem to be in as good of shape as it once was, but still pretty good. Sand traps need new sand added to them and the cart paths need repaved big time. Still a worthy value but seems to be lagging behind Cobblestone and Glendarin these days. Greens were in very good shape for the most part and they had the pins in the front on the majority of the holes (need to move pins around a little more and move more of them to the middle of the green.

[Chrismydawg]

That Glendarin Hills sounds and looks fabulous. I gotta say this has to be on my list of courses to play in Indiana.