Every year I take a buddy trip to northern Indiana to play golf for the weekend. This year we picked Briar Leaf in Laporte. The layout is good, some challenging holes for sure. The greens were as good as I've seen in the surrounding area (Laporte to Elkhart), and the driving range is average. The putting green was true to the actual greens. The clubhouse and Pro Shop were nice. My biggest concern is that the fairways were very dry, and the ground on the tee boxes were as well. The fairways that did have grass were cut a bit long for my liking. Overall, for the price we paid it wasn't a bad day. Although we did get behind some VERY slow groups, we completed 18 in under 4 hours. For the price, I recommend this course. The best thing is the chance to complete holes 3-6 without penalty, as they call this "Escaping Alcatraz". Hole #3 is a par 3 with an Island green, a very small one I might add. It takes a very skilled shot to stick this green (I failed, but this was my only Alcatraz flub). The sign explaining this experience needs to be updated, as it looks to be about 30 years old. We had a good experience, may return in the coming years. Recommended for the casual golfer/weekend warrior. We did not get a chance to eat at the restaurant but it looked like a quality place. I would give 3.5 stars if I could, but I'm upgrading to 4 due to the condition of the greens and the Alcatraz challenge. read more