Our Comments

While many private clubs have fancy restaurants, tennis courts, swimming pools, banquet facilities and social memberships, Wolf Run is strictly for golf and golfers. Serious golfers. At a 143 slope it is the most difficult course in the Indianapolis area. Greens at 10+ speeds. Heather at foot+ height.

This is not a residential course. No houses. Just scenery.

Immaculately manicured.

Stan Burton has come full circle after starting at Wolf Run as an assistant pro. Locally, he's also been the pro at Heartland Crossing and then designed Buffer Park GC. That's a nice upwardly mobile career.

Many members live outside the Indianapolis area and fly in on weekend jaunts with their friends. Limo service available from IND or Terry Airport.

6/23/04 - In excellent shape of course. They rebuilt the 13th green over the winter (the 210 yard across-the-valley up-the-sand-wall slope-off-the-back monster). They also added returned the original sand traps on #1, partly to protect the green and partly to add visual impact from the clubhouse. This is a first-rate organization that treats its members and guest They have also added a 4th set of tees - Reds to the back that stretch 7090 yds with a new Rating that will be higher than the Black 74.2 and Slope of 143.

5/23/03 - Wow. The front side is technical and requires precise thinking and placement. The back side seems more open but is just as strict - if you let down it's tough to get back into the discipline. Just 2 days after Eagle Creek covered much of the lower part, they have manicured every inch and the only trace of water is a gray dusting on some spots of the rough.

4/13/03 - Wolf Run will entertain sponsorships for women members and will, for the first time, allow women guests to play. This is one of the very first changes Stan Burton made since taking over last week. And no, Martha Burk had nothing to do with this decision although she is right now using Augusta National as a publicity source. No women's tees will be built - play from the 6090 yd tees or stay home. The USGA has not included the Wolf on the tournament schedule but it may now be considered for one or two IGA events each year.

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4/23/02 - The course was in perfect shape and was a treat from 1 to 18. The par 3's, while not long from the front tees, are picturesque. Coupled with the par 5's, the course demands that you bring every club in the bag and know how to use them. Stay out of the rough, where the high fescue will sentence you to bogey; if you're lucky. Best course in Indy, hands down!

10/9/01 - Hardest course I have ever played. Beautiful condition. Nice layout. The staff made you feel like you were at home. Tees, fairways, rough, and greens it perfect condition. Expensive, but well worth every swing. I really enjoyed the 18 holes of golf I played and would like to return. One needs to play at least two times before one is able to score a good round. - Les Hemingway

10/6/99 - Yikes! I was treated to a day out at the course. Wow! I don't know if I enjoyed the round, I am still a little shell shocked, and that was 4 weeks ago.

6/14/99 - The Wolf was in perfect shape, playing real mean and nasty as the fescue was about belt high and the greens quite quick at about 10 on the stimp.

Dr. Jack Leer

Founder of Wolf Run Golf Course

When Wolf Run opened in 1989, It's genesis was the culmination of Jack Leer's lifelong dream. He had many callings, from his early career as a dentist, to later in life the care and breeding of his beloved wolves. But it is to the game of golf that he will forever be linked. Champion player, Hall of Fame inductee, course builder, legendary storyteller - Jack loved golf, yet he may have loved golfers more. He knew that the camaraderie shared with friends both during and after the round was as important as the game itself. By way of golf he formed friendships all across this country, and it can be easily said that golfers everywhere loved "Doc". This magnificent golf course is his legacy.

Article from Cybergolf Great Lakes

Wolf Run Golf Club recently received a bump up near the top of the national course ratings, but new owner Stan Burton nevertheless has changes in mind for a track that has been described as "golf in its classic strategic guise."

"The whole intent of Wolf Run, when Jack Leer first had it built, is that it is all about golf," said Burton, referring to the man who was a dentist by trade and one of Indiana's great amateur golfers. "It is comfortable for golfers to come, entertain their guests and be proud to call it home. Jack's vision was to build a difficult course that demanded the best out of the best players. Our vision is the same."

Shortly after Wolf Run Golf Club was rated 16th among the 100 Best Modern Golf Courses in America, Burton and his parents, Lee and Paula, bought the course along with Steve Smyers, the golf course architect who designed the 18-hole track. The word was that previous owners Jack Trudeau and Bob Lyon, who purchased the course from Leer's estate after he died in 1995, and Burton and Smyers were intent on preserving its legacy. Burton was an assistant pro at Wolf Run when it opened and head pro another four years before leaving in 1993, and Smyers maintained a close personal friendship with Leer.

"We had no intention of buying a golf course. We had all the intention in the world in owning Wolf Run," said Burton. "I like how Steve challenges the golfer with every shot. His greatest attribute is that, no matter how many Smyers courses you play, you're playing a different course each time. I've played six of Steve's courses and no two holes are similar."

Despite its high ranking, Burton said Smyers will address some course issues late this summer or next year. Among them, he said, is restoring "a tremendous complex of bunkers on the 1st hole" that had been removed after a 1991 flood from Eagle Creek washed through them.

"There are all these stunning Steve Smyers bunkers around the course, but at the first hole we have one pedestrian bunker," said Burton. "Steve and I agree, we will restore that complex, which was five or six small bunkers that stretched back into the fairway toward the landing area. Only one or two were in play; it was more of a visual voodoo, which Steve likes to do to people."

Also, the 9th green, which has settled, will be lifted back to its original contour, while the 13th green will be slightly expanded to add hole locations.

For his part, Smyers' goal is to maintain Wolf Run as "a very, very friendly place for people who love golf to enjoy camaraderie and the challenge of the game. As long as you make quality golf first, don't deviate from what the game is truly about, and provide value commiserate with the price, people will embrace it and congregate to your facility."

Burton, who built The Links at Heartland Crossing in nearby Indianapolis with Smyers as well as the nine-hole Buffer Park Golf Course, will operate Wolf Run. Lee Burton was a 35-year employee of United Parcel Service (UPS).

Smyers has designed two other courses besides Wolf Run that are listed among the top 100 modern layouts in America – Old Memorial in Tampa, Fla., and Southern Dunes Golf & Country Club in Haines City, Fla. His Chart Hills Golf Club in London has been ranked the No. 1 Inland Golf Course in the British Isles. He has been designing golf courses for 20 years, 13 with his own firm.