All-new Pete Dye Golf Clubhouse is the latest gem at Purdue
Dreams. Vision. Planning. Execution.
Such is the progression that has led to the newest shining star on Purdue’s northwest corner of campus: the sparkling Pete Dye Clubhouse, which opened this spring as the crown jewel of the Birck-Boilermaker Golf Complex.
And when the facility hosts the prestigious Junior PGA event July 29 to Aug. 1, it will mark a moment when dreams truly come true for those in the Boilermakers’ golf community.
But like any great story of progress, there is some history that bears explanation.
The dream turned into a shared vision 30 years ago when Dye, a world-renowned golf course designer who passed away in 2020, met with former Purdue athletics director Morgan Burke to plan the transformation of the old North Course from a flat, pedestrian golf course into the present-day championship-level Kampen-Cosler layout. Two decades later, a renovation of the South Golf Course produced the challenging Ackerman-Allen layout that golfers love today.
So, Purdue, which has won national championships in men’s golf (1961) and women’s golf (2010), had its two championship-caliber courses. However, there was still something missing in that vision for those involved with the programs: a state-of-the-art clubhouse that could transform two of college golf’s premier course layouts into a complex suitable for hosting national and international golf events.
Enter Sam Allen. The former Purdue golfer and CEO of John Deere had been generous to Purdue, supporting the Mitch Daniels School of Business in addition to the renovation of the course that bears his name. When Purdue officials shared their vision of the final piece of the puzzle — a clubhouse commensurate with the two 18-hole courses — Allen and his wife, Marsha, not only didn’t blink, but they took the project to another level.
Al Capitos, Purdue’s associate athletics director for facilities and event management, remembers it well.
“We showed him three options for where the clubhouse could be placed, and a fourth ‘dream’ option, where the clubhouse sits today,” Capitos says. “Sam is in it to win it, and proved that by providing the funds that made the extra costs of the Cherry Lane roundabout and other infrastructure necessities possible.”
In all, the gift from Allen and family was $25 million. Yet showing humility that is synonymous with Allen, he demanded that the clubhouse be named after Dye.
The final upgrade to the project was the decision to partner with White Lodging, which had renovated the Union Club Hotel in 2020, to install a world-class steakhouse in the facility, Boilerhouse Prime. The restaurant has made an immediate impact not just on the golf community but on anyone visiting campus.
“In just four months, we are seeing it on the faces of everyone that enters the facility,” says Andy Elliott, the Birck-Boilermaker Complex general manager, who joined the Purdue team earlier this year, bringing his 16 years of golf facility experience from his previous stop in the Las Vegas area. “People are walking around here and seeing not only the restaurant on the upper level, but the pro shop, and saying, ‘Wow.’
“Our support from the community has been fantastic.”
The increased kitchen capacity also plays an important role.
“We used to struggle to feed 75 people when they came here for tournaments, and it caused us coaches to have to focus on that in addition to our teams,” says Zach Byrd, the Boilermakers’ women’s golf coach. “Now we have a kitchen at Boilerhouse Prime, so it is no problem. It is a game changer.”
Attracting top talent
But it doesn’t stop there. The Pete Dye Clubhouse is expected to have a profoundly positive impact on recruiting for the Boilermaker golf teams, enabling them to compete for more national championships in the future.
“We can show recruits what we’re investing in here,” Byrd says. “There aren’t a lot of places in this current climate of college athletics that are investing in golf, but we can not only tell but show prospects that they can be a part of something special, because at Purdue, we actually care about golf and not just the big sports.
“We have had the bones (with the two great golf layouts), but with this clubhouse, we are at a whole new level in the eyes of prospects.”
And having events like the Junior PGA on campus doesn’t hurt when trying to convince talent to play golf at a northern school.
“You’re going to have the best young players in the country on campus, and that couldn’t be a better recruiting tool,” says Byrd, who came to Purdue from Ole Miss, a perennial top golf program. “I’ve got opposing coaches that are going to be here thinking I have to recruit against that facility, that golf complex. We may be in cold weather, but we have a golf facility that is as good as any.”
The sky is the limit
It was surprising to Purdue officials how quickly the impact of hosting the Junior PGA has had on interest in future events.
“We have been approached by the Western Golf Association to potentially do the Western Women’s Amateur in a couple of years, and that is a huge event,” Byrd says. “We would love to work it up to get a high-level USGA event, or some (pro) Tour event here. Without this clubhouse, we don’t have that opportunity. It’s that simple.”
Nationally televised golf events at Purdue aren’t just a dream anymore.
There is some work to be done on the old clubhouse and the Voinoff Pavilion, but it is something that can be justified when the big-time golf events descend on campus. Purdue also has the advantage of having plenty of event parking in the north lot of Ross-Ade Stadium, typically during a time of year when it is not in use.
“With the Pete Dye Clubhouse, all the pieces are in place here,” Elliott says. “We just can’t wait to see where it goes. It is going to be very special.”
Written by Alan Karpick, publisher of GoldandBlack.com
