The toughest course in the Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN metro area is Persimmon Ridge Golf Club, at slope 148 — ahead of Valhalla Golf Club at slope 148 and Bobby Nichols Golf Course at slope 142.
All 42 courses in the area with a USGA slope rating for its men’s tees are ranked below, along with 5 more lists: hardest from the tips, longest, widest tee spread, oldest, highest above sea level.
Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN is a metro area as the U.S. Office of Management and Budget delineates it, crossing Indiana and Kentucky — the boundary is theirs, not ours. Each list counts only the courses in the area that publish that figure, so the totals differ between them. Slope and course rating measure difficulty, not quality — nothing here ranks how good a course is.
Toughest test
— the top 25 of 42 courses with a USGA slope rating for its men’s tees
The highest USGA slope rating published for any of the men’s tee sets. Slope rates difficulty for a bogey golfer relative to a scratch golfer — a rated figure issued by the golf association, not an opinion about the course. Men’s ratings only, because a tee is rated separately for men and for women and the two scales do not compare; a course rated only for women is not in the running rather than converted.
Hardest from the tips
— the top 25 of 36 courses with a USGA course rating for its men’s tees
The highest USGA course rating published for any of the men’s tee sets — the score a scratch golfer is expected to shoot. Men’s ratings only, for the same reason as slope: the men’s and women’s ratings of one tee are different measurements. It measures difficulty and nothing else; it is not a quality score and never orders these pages by how good a course is.
Longest
— the top 25 of 49 courses with a published scorecard
The longest tee set the course publishes, in yards from the tips. Compared against every course that publishes a scorecard — length is a measurement, not a verdict on the golf.
Widest tee spread
— the top 25 of 48 courses with two or more tee sets of different lengths
| # | Course | State | Widest tee spread |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seneca Golf Course | KY | 3,196 yds between tees |
| 2 | Charlie Vettner Golf Course | KY | 3,045 yds between tees |
| 3 | Covered Bridge Golf Club | IN | 2,942 yds between tees |
| 4 | Shawnee Golf Course | KY | 2,819 yds between tees |
| 5 | Sun Valley Golf Course | KY | 2,811 yds between tees |
| 6 | Iroquois Golf Course | KY | 2,669 yds between tees |
| 7 | Valhalla Golf Club | KY | 2,305 yds between tees |
| 8 | Chariot Run | IN | 2,138 yds between tees |
| 9 | University of Louisville Golf Club | KY | 2,096 yds between tees |
| 10 | Polo Fields Golf and Country Club | KY | 2,026 yds between tees |
| 11 | Hunting Creek Golf Course | KY | 2,009 yds between tees |
| 12 | Eagle Creek Golf Course | KY | 2,003 yds between tees |
| 13 | Champions Pointe Golf Club | IN | 1,990 yds between tees |
| 14 | Glen Oaks Country Club | KY | 1,975 yds between tees |
| 15 | Persimmon Ridge Golf Club | KY | 1,964 yds between tees |
| 16 | Heritage Hill Golf Course | KY | 1,960 yds between tees |
| 17 | Harmony Landing | KY | 1,928 yds between tees |
| 18 | Old Capital Golf Club | IN | 1,771 yds between tees |
| 19 | Midland Trail Golf Club | KY | 1,672 yds between tees |
| 20 | Valley View Golf Course | IN | 1,630 yds between tees |
| 21 | Oxmoor Country Club | KY | 1,566 yds between tees |
| 22 | Standard Country Club | KY | 1,565 yds between tees |
| 23 | Louisville Country Club | KY | 1,560 yds between tees |
| 23 | Thunderbolt Pass Golf Course | IN | 1,560 yds between tees |
| 25 | Elk Run Golf Club | IN | 1,559 yds between tees |
Yards between the longest and shortest published tee sets — how far the course moves to fit a different player. Courses publishing a single tee set are not in the running, because one set is an unmeasured spread rather than a narrow one.
Oldest
— the top 25 of 49 courses with an opening year
The year the course opened, as published. Ranked oldest first. An opening year is not a design credit and not a renovation date — a course that opened in 1921 and was rebuilt in 1998 still opened in 1921.
Highest above sea level
— the top 25 of 51 courses with a coordinate we could sample
| # | Course | State | Highest above sea level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cherry Valley Golf Course | MO | 885 ft |
| 2 | Eagle Creek Golf Course | KY | 870 ft |
| 3 | Western Hills Country Club | IN | 825 ft |
| 4 | University of Louisville Golf Club | KY | 813 ft |
| 5 | Weissinger Hills Golf Course | KY | 807 ft |
| 6 | Oldham County Country Club | KY | 803 ft |
| 7 | Valley View Golf Course | IN | 788 ft |
| 8 | Chariot Run | IN | 771 ft |
| 9 | Hunting Creek Golf Course | KY | 761 ft |
| 10 | Shelbyville Country Club | KY | 740 ft |
| 11 | Clear Creek Golf Center | KY | 739 ft |
| 12 | Owl Creek Country Club | KY | 732 ft |
| 13 | New Salisbury Golf Course | IN | 713 ft |
| 14 | Harmony Landing | KY | 683 ft |
| 15 | Polo Fields Golf and Country Club | KY | 679 ft |
| 16 | Nevel Meade Golf Course | KY | 675 ft |
| 17 | Persimmon Ridge Golf Club | KY | 661 ft |
| 18 | Glen Oaks Country Club | KY | 655 ft |
| 19 | Valhalla Golf Club | KY | 648 ft |
| 20 | Glenmary Country Club | KY | 642 ft |
| 21 | Standard Country Club | KY | 632 ft |
| 22 | Hurstbourne Country Club | KY | 622 ft |
| 23 | Oxmoor Country Club | KY | 614 ft |
| 24 | Charlie Vettner Golf Course | KY | 604 ft |
| 25 | Midland Trail Golf Club | KY | 592 ft |
Height above sea level at the course’s own published coordinate, sampled from the USGS 3DEP elevation model. THIS IS A FIGURE WE DERIVED, not one the course publishes — anybody can re-query the same public dataset at the same coordinate and get the same number, but no scorecard states it. Because every course carries a coordinate, this is the only board here whose field is nearly the whole database rather than the courses that publish a particular figure. Elevation changes how far a ball carries; it says nothing about whether a course is good.