Kampen Course #18

Getting To Know: Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex - Kampen Course

An Insightful Interview With Daniel Ross, PGA Head Professional and Director of Instruction

By Brian Weis

Whether you have played a course 20+ times a year or looking to play the course for the first time, insights from an insider can help enhance your golf experience. Below is an interview with Daniel Ross who shares some valuable tidbits about the course, memorable holes and must eats and treats at the 19th.

Give Our Readers An Overview of the Golf Course/Property A Pete Dye jewel, and a pleasure to play.
Purdue University offers a unique golf experience in the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex.

The Kampen Course, a Pete Dye design, is an 18-hole, links-style, par-72 championship golf course featuring large bent-grass greens, fairways and tees. The layout presents a challenge for golfers of all abilities with vast sand bunkers, native grasslands, ponds and a natural celery bog. Kampen offers five sets of tees with the championship tees playing over 7,400 yards and the forward tees playing at 5,300 yards.

Kampen is rated one of the top collegiate courses in the nation and has been awarded 4.5 stars on Golf Digest's "Places to Play." Kampen receives high marks as it is ranked as one of the most difficult golf courses in Indiana. The course has also played host to a number of prestigious collegiate and public tournaments such as the 2000 Men's Big Ten Championship, the 2003 Women's NCAA Championship, the 2004 Indiana Open, the 2005 Women's Western Amateur, and the 2008 Men's NCAA Championship. The course is named in honor of Emerson Kampen and his support of Purdue Athletics. Mr. Kampen's statue overlooks the first tee.

If Someone Was Looking To Golf In The Area, Why Should They Play Your Course?
The Kampen Course has the reputation of being in the best condition of any courses in the area. While Kampen is challenging, you have the options of playing 5 different sets of tees, as well as using the PGA Junior Tees for a 4,000 and 3,000 yard course. If golfers take the time to choose the proper set of tees, they will enjoy one of Pete Dye's finest.

What Tips or Local Knowledge Would You Provide To Help Them Score Better At Your Course?
Look for the bail out areas that Pete has designed for the course. Often times the tee shots will tempt you to aim for a shortcut, but there always is a safe way to play the hole. Once you understand where to place the tee shot, the rest of the round will be more enjoyable.

Recent Awards or What You Are Most Proud About The Course?
Host of the 2008 NCAA National Championship Ranked in the top 10 collegiate courses in the country
41/2 star rating by Golf Digest

What Is The Signature, Most Talked About, or Most Photographed Hole?
The signature hole is most likely #18. We have a lot of holes to choose from for toughest. #18 is a 484-yard, par-4 where you're generally hitting into the wind. You have an intimidating tee shot because trees surround the box creating somewhat of a chute-shot. Down the fairway, there's a tree to the right, with a large bunker to the left. You're hitting to a large, elevated green, protected by bunkers and Out-of-Bounds to the left.

>From a looks standpoint, #5 is a beautiful par 3 that hits towards the celery bog, and #6 is a par 5 that plays into the wind most of the time, periodically making it tough to even reach the fairway from the Championship Tees. It can be a bit daunting with water to the right and bunkers along the water's edge, but is a beautiful hole. If you go left, you'll be in tall rough. You're hitting from an elevated tee to a fairway that curves right around the Celery Bog so shot placement is critical. A good tee shot allows you to have a fairly easy second shot to a very wide fairway.

What Is Your Favorite Hole? Any Tips to Play It?
My favorite hole on the golf course is the 7th hole. A short par 4 that is the ultimate in risk and reward. The golfers can try to drive the green or play an iron off the tee and have a split fairway. One can make anything from an eagle to a double bogey very easily. It all depends on where the tee shot is placed.

Must Have Dish or Drink after the round at the 19th Hole?
Our snack shop is fairly simple, and we only grill on the weekends, but when we do, the burgers are a must have.

Who Holds Course Record and What Was Their Score?
The Course Record is a 63 by multiple golfers. Johan Edin from Purdue University and Jorge Campillo from Indiana University and Cain Weber from Colorado, have tied with the course record. All three rounds were shot in different Boilermaker Invitationals.

Back Tee Stats
Par: 72
Yardage: 7465
Slope: 143
Rating: 75.9

More Information
Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex - Kampen Course
1300 Cherry Lane
West Lafayette, IN, 47907
765-494-3139
www.purduegolf.com

Revised: 04/14/2014 - Article Viewed 33,749 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.