LOUISVILLE, KY - The Kentucky Golf Association has announced that Indian Hills Country Club in Bowling Green, Ky. has been selected as the host for the 2022 Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Kentucky Amateur Championship. Along with the Kentucky Amateur, the club will also host all four KGA major championships in the next ten years, including the 2025 Kentucky Mid-Amateur, 2028 KGA Match Play Championship and 2030 Kentucky Senior Amateur Championship.

“The Kentucky Golf Association is truly excited to bring the 2022 Kentucky Amateur to Indian Hills Country Club, along with each of our major events over the next ten years,” said Dave Nicholas, president of the Kentucky Golf Association. “We are truly grateful for their support of our association and are privileged to have them as a Member Club. It is a tremendous facility and one that our players will undoubtedly enjoy.”

Indian Hills Country Club was established in 1956, with the original nine-hole layout built on an old apple orchard. During construction, numerous Indian artifacts were found scattered across the property, which gave the club its name. Nine more holes were added in the 1960s with William Langford completing what was now an eighteen-hole layout. Bob Cupp, who assisted with Jack Nicklaus in the design of Valhalla Golf Club, would come to Indian Hills in 1996 to lead a renovation project giving shape to the golf course’s current layout.

“We are thrilled to bring four KGA major championships to Indian Hills Country Club, beginning with the 2022 Kentucky Amateur Championship,” said Brent Paladino, Executive Director of Golf House Kentucky. “The golf course and facility will be an excellent venue and we are confident the course will provide a great test of golf for the state’s top amateur golfers.”

2022 will mark the first time that the state’s most prestigious amateur championship will visit Indian Hills Country Club. The club recently hosted the Kentucky PGA Professional Championship this past August and proved to be a stern test of golf for the state’s top professionals, with just four players breaking par over the two-day championship. The course measures 6,676 yards from the back tees, but demands accuracy off the tee and precise distance control into the green complexes.

“Indian Hills Country Club is honored to host the 2022 Kentucky State Amateur Championship,” said John Mullendore, Head PGA Professional. “We are excited to partner with the KGA and host the best players in the state at our beautiful facility. Our board of directors, members, and staff are looking forward to showing Kentucky what Indian Hills has to offer.”

Mullendore has been the Head Golf Professional at Indian Hills Country Club since 2006, and has been an employee of the facility since 1998. He was a member of the Bowling Green High School boy’s golf teams that claimed the 1996 and 1997 KHSAA State Championship, and was the captain of the men’s golf team at Western Kentucky University.

The club recently underwent a conversion from Bentgrass greens to Tif Eagle Bermuda greens, a variety of turf that produces top quality putting conditions during the hot summer season. Despite near record-high temperatures during the Kentucky PGA Professional Championship in August, the greens measured nearly twelve feet on the stimpmeter.

“Before the renovation, at some point every summer the grass on the greens would die,” said Mullendore. “It was a hot topic at the club and people had many wide-ranging ideas on what to do to counteract the issue. Some private clubs in Nashville started putting Bermuda on their greens, and if they could make that work, we knew we could. Ever since the change, we have been really impressed.”

Indian Hills Country Club has produced several top amateur golfers, including Kevin Proctor who captured three Kentucky Amateur Championships in a four-year span from 1973-76. The course is also a frequent stop for the men’s and women’s golf teams at Western Kentucky University.

The Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Kentucky Amateur Championship is contested over 54 holes of stroke play and consists of 156 of the top amateur golfers who reside in the state of Kentucky. Players advance to the championship by virtue of a sectional qualifier, with a limited number of players earning exemptions based on prior accomplishments.

The 2020 Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Kentucky Amateur will be played June 16-18 at Lexington Country Club in Lexington, Ky. Full coverage throughout the tournament will be available at KYGolf.org.

About the Kentucky Golf Association

The Kentucky Golf Association (KGA) is recognized by the USGA as the governing body for amateur golf in the Commonwealth.  Founded in 1911, the KGA is comprised of over 180 member golf courses and conducts over 50 Championships, Qualifiers and Amateur Series Tournaments throughout the year, in addition to administering handicaps and course rating services.  The KGA is a founding member of Golf House Kentucky, the organization that manages Kentucky’s Family of Golf Organizations.