Purgatory Golf Club
About
Spread across 218 acres, the Ron Kern-designed Purgatory Golf Club is the longest par-72 course east of the Mississippi River. Nevertheless, the course is set up to be enjoyed by all, with six different sets of tees ranging from more than 7,700 yards all the way down to just under 4,600 yards. Bunkering is one of the club's defining features, with more than 130 coming into play. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the par-3 17th, where eight massive bunkers almost completely surround the putting surface.
| Tee | Par | Length | Rating | Slope |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Purgatory | 72 | 7754 yards | 78.1 | 142 |
| Black | 72 | 7268 yards | 76.1 | 137 |
| Blue | 72 | 6796 yards | 73.8 | 131 |
| White | 72 | 6422 yards | 72.0 | 128 |
| Green | 72 | 5683 yards | 68.5 | 121 |
| Green (W) | 72 | 5683 yards | 73.4 | 126 |
| Yellow (W) | 72 | 4562 yards | 66.9 | 115 |
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Purgatory M: 78.3/148 | 373 | 462 | 197 | 473 | 551 | 434 | 231 | 487 | 579 | 3787 | 473 | 406 | 235 | 741 | 469 | 453 | 474 | 173 | 543 | 3967 | 7754 |
| Black M: 76.4/144 | 361 | 442 | 173 | 445 | 533 | 417 | 212 | 481 | 561 | 3625 | 449 | 390 | 202 | 590 | 454 | 434 | 441 | 159 | 524 | 3643 | 7268 |
| Blue M: 74.3/138 | 332 | 409 | 156 | 421 | 508 | 395 | 183 | 455 | 544 | 3403 | 424 | 356 | 184 | 558 | 436 | 397 | 409 | 145 | 484 | 3393 | 6796 |
| White M: 72.0/135 | 328 | 394 | 142 | 408 | 489 | 372 | 156 | 423 | 519 | 3231 | 396 | 328 | 170 | 528 | 430 | 378 | 384 | 120 | 457 | 3191 | 6422 |
| Hybrid M: 70.6/134 | 332 | 338 | 142 | 380 | 454 | 372 | 136 | 338 | 519 | 3011 | 339 | 328 | 120 | 528 | 331 | 326 | 380 | 145 | 457 | 2954 | 5965 |
| Green M: 68.5/130 W: 73.8/131 | 260 | 338 | 109 | 380 | 454 | 313 | 136 | 338 | 450 | 2778 | 339 | 291 | 120 | 490 | 331 | 326 | 380 | 115 | 417 | 2809 | 5587 |
| Yellow W: 67.3/114 | 206 | 295 | 91 | 292 | 367 | 241 | 96 | 336 | 372 | 2296 | 289 | 251 | 89 | 357 | 250 | 298 | 293 | 54 | 385 | 2266 | 4562 |
| Handicap | 18 | 8 | 16 | 2 | 6 | 10 | 12 | 4 | 14 | 7 | 15 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 17 | 13 | |||
| Par | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 36 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 36 | 72 |
| Handicap (W) | 14 | 8 | 18 | 6 | 4 | 12 | 16 | 10 | 2 | 11 | 13 | 15 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 1 | 17 | 7 |
Course Details
Rentals/Services
Practice/Instruction
Policies
Available Facilities
Clubhouse, Banquet FacilitiesReviews
Reviewer Photos
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Photo submitted by u950185714 on 10/12/2025
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Photo submitted by u950185714 on 10/12/2025
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Photo submitted by Outflying1 on 07/01/2025
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Photo submitted by drewsimone on 06/02/2025
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Photo submitted by matthes2 on 06/18/2024
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Photo submitted by Bhop0402 on 06/09/2023
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Photo submitted by leb on 08/11/2019
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Photo submitted by leb on 08/11/2019
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Photo submitted by leb on 08/11/2019
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Par 3, 17th Hole Photo submitted by TravisCedzidlo19 on 10/09/2014
Great Course
Great course. Great shape. Links style. If your in Indy area and you want to play must put on your list.
Gem. Complete Gem
Purgatory is the place to play! I’ve played here 4 times. Played in the sun, in the rain and in the wind and it has been a blast each time!
Many tee options including the tips called “purgatory” which will challenge the best player.
In my opinion, this course is the premier public course in the Indianapolis area.
Greens run true and QUICK
Velvet fairways
Manicures bunkers ( a lot of them!!)
Beautiful fescue separating holes
Water in play that just adds to the beauty.
Staff are all great, accommodating clubhouse and great replay options.
Play this course!
Thank you for the 5 star review! We are very happy that you enjoyed the course. Hope to see you soon.
Great Challenge
Course has a great layout. Good condition. Multiple tee boxes to be as challenging as you want. I played it at 7300 yards and was a great test!
Happy you enjoyed the golf course. Thank you for the 5 star review
Worth the drive
Layout and design suburb. Club house is amazing and the staff were very helpful to me being that I had traveled a fair distance to visit.
Only down fall was cart paths and lack there of. I can accept the fact they receive have a lot of out of town visitors but the course conditions should be a top priority. It was very rough entering and exiting the fairways.
James, Thank you for the 5 star review we are happy you enjoyed the course. Please come and see us again when you are in town. The maintenance staff is in the process of addressing several problem areas of the cart paths.
Nice track but missing amenities
This is a very nice course that has not maintained the quality I am use to on this course. For such a long course with many blind shots it is sad that the carts do not have GPS or at least the sprinkler heads should have distances. I played this course before when they had both. Unfortunately now nearly every sprinkler head was missing the distance. This is very disconcerting especially on par 3s. This also adds substantially to the speed of play.
Rmaethner, We are sorry that you did not have a 5 star experience. We hope you give us another try in the near future. Purgatory is currently in discussions with a GPS company and if everything goes well we will have GPS units on the carts in the near future. The staff can recommend several free apps that work extremely well at Purgatory.
I’m not sure you looked hard enough? When I played the course 2 days after you, every tee box (par 3s included) had a yardage marker as well as multiple markers in the fairways. You may have to pace your yardage, but that’s acceptable in golf, right?
Where do I start. First bag drop and check in, where I have no idea!!!! Walked all over before I found pro shop. Signs would be nice. Staff friendly no question. However their starter friendly as he was, could not keep his mouth shut at all during our tee off. Never seen anything like this before. Nice guy but honestly I’m not paying to have him ramble on. Having set the tone, thank you Bob, the course is well maintained and very difficult, very very difficult. Oh and thanks Bob for the 6 hole interruption while hitting our second shots. Look I have no problem with pace of play. However when Bob comes to us and explains how he’s handling speed of play with the forward group and then actually slows everything down by his stories, well that’s not helpful when their was no reason to interject himself. Pace was fine.
Look course is way to hard for us mere mortals and the slope ratings are just a tad lowwwww.
Price was fine course was nuts and Bob needs to shut the heck up.
Thank you for the 5 star review. We are very happy you enjoyed the golf course. Hope you get out to play soon.
Fathers Day Weekend
Great course in great condition. Staff was excellent and very helpful. Will definitely play again.
Thank you for the excellent review. We are very happy that you enjoyed the day, hope to see you soon.
Risk Reward
Mental preparation is rewarded for each shot, from tee to green. If you don't properly set up your shots you'll get beat up. Pace of play excellent. 18 holes under 4 hours. Tee boxes immaculate. Staff superb. Would recommend bag pick up from car or more convenient bag drop-off,
Thank you for the 5-star review. We are very happy that you enjoyed your round. Sorry, we did not have outside operations personnel available when you played, they may have been performing other duties when you arrived.
Challenging Layout
Had a hot deal during the week. Pace of play was fast. Staff was good. Course was in good shape. Greens are tough to read. Cool and challenging layout. Only negative was there was no way to know pin location.
Bring your A game
Recommend that you do not play this course for your first round of the year. I will be back to take it on later in the summer.
Love the layout, greens, and challenges it presents. Course offers multiple tees so utilize the one that matches your handicap - indicated on the scorecard.
One drawback is the carts do not have gps so ensure you bring your own.
Thank you for the recommendation. Hope to see you soon,
Highly recommend
Great layout and condition. My son and I had lot of fun. Challenging, but open with immaculate and fast greens. We’ll come back for sure.
Thank you for the 5 star review. We are very happy you enjoyed the course and the day, hope to see you soon,
Lightning Greens and Tall Rough
Purgatory is in the best shape I've seen it since moving to the Indy area 3 years ago, with the exception of parts of the 5th and 6th greens which are being patched. But everything else is in great shape.
While it's cliche to say anywhere, especially here, do not spray the ball into the tall stuff. It is extremely thick and tall right now. In some spots you can find your ball in the tall stuff, but in others (such as on 16) kiss it goodbye.
Greens are their usual fast speed, and combine that with the undulation and stay under the hole.
As always it's one of the best plays around, and well worth the cost, especially in its current condition.
DrOldSchool, thank you for the great review. Glad you enjoyed the day, hope to see you soon.
Always enjoy this course
The course was in pretty good shape for being early in the season. The sand traps were in mid season shape. The greens were slow but that was to be expected.
Expected more...
I had heard about how difficult this course was and how it would "eat your lunch", so I had actually avoided it due to its reputation. Well my son & I were in the area and got a great rate on GN so we decided to give it a shot.
Arrived at course and the pro shop guy was very nice but informed me the GPS on the carts wasn't working, so I bought a yardage book.
Don't get me wrong-- it's a nice course with huge greens, nicely filled bunkers and very wide fairways but not nearly as intimidating as I'd heard or expected. We are bogey golfers and had no problem shooting our handicap or better (played white tees, with little to no roll on tee shots)
I guess I just expected a more challenging track.
The fact that the GPS wasn't working made it very difficult to figure yardages as the course was very poorly marked and the yardage book wasn't much help either.
All in all it was an average experience, which is fine but when you are playing one of the Top 10 courses in the state I guess you expect more...Kinda surprised they play so many state events there.
I would return, but I wouldn't go out of my way to play it-- too many other nice choices in the NE Indy market.
The staff was extremely friendly. Greens are true and extremely difficult at the same time. What a challenge and a great time. I would highly recommend this course and will be sure to play again. Well deserving of the name.
Thank you for the great review! We are very happy that you enjoyed the course. Please come back and see us again.