The Battle Ground Golf Club is an 18-hole, parkland-style course. All holes, except the par 3s, have tree-lined fairways. There are five standard tee options, plus three mixed tee options on the scorecard, offering eight different overall playing lengths. Fairways are generous; however, several holes are tight in the landing area. Three holes have water hazards. Greens are elevated and have at least one greenside bunker, many of which are deep, thus playing away from bunkers key to a good round. Greens may look big, though many play small, as most have false fronts and there is runoff on the sides of several. Greens slope from back to front and do not have undulations. Most greens will have closely mown areas in the front and to one side or the other, therefore allowing the "Texas wedge" to be a good choice when scrambling. The rough is fair, with ten holes that have fairway bunkers. The course maintenance staff does a good job in keeping weeds and crabgrass to a minimum. For the amount of play the course gets, the fairways and greens are kept in fine shape.
Golf carts have comfortable seats and good pep. They are equipped with a GPS screen that depicts the hole layout in color and provides accurate distances to pin locations and bunkers. The greens are divided into three sections. So, when the pin is located in the #2 position on each hole, for example, the GPS assumes the pin is located in the middle of section #2; thus, the distance to the pin shown on the screen is within three yards.
The club is managed by O’Neal Golf Management. Memberships are limited, whereas public play is quite extensive. Therefore, the club attracts many novice and other high-handicap players, which negatively influences the pace of play. Purdue student play is high when classes are in session from mid-August to mid-May. With a major focus on high volume play, it is not uncommon to have a tee time filled with players who do not know each other. The pro shop staff and other customer-facing people are friendly and helpful.
The established acceptable pace-of-play is four and a half hours due to the type of golfers the club attracts. This is the same acceptable pace-of-play for Purdue Birck Boilermaker's two courses, Ackerman-Allen and Kampen Course, which are more demanding and difficult. Coyote Crossing, another very challenging course in the area, has an acceptable pace-of-play of four hours. As a result, golfers expecting to play within three and a half hours during peak times may be extremely disappointed in the pace-of-play. I am fortunate to have the flexibility to avoid playing during peak times.
This is the first year I have been a member and thus played the course on a regular basis, at least twice per week. Previously, I disliked the course because of the green runoffs and many bunkers. Once I was able to understand how to manage the holes and avoid trouble, I now enjoy playing the course. The club is going through a major clubhouse renovation which will improve the experience off the course. Renovation should be complete by the mid 2026 season.