Chicago to Columbus drive: 23 ranked stops, break in Fair Oaks

Jonathan Brooks's intimate chef-driven counterpart offering a refined, frequently rotating menu of technically precise small plates in an artful dining room. Order: Chef's rotating plates.

Liddy reimagined this historic Indy Parks muni in 1995, raising fairways and framing the White River with more than fifty bunkers. A genuine bargain that plays above its city-course price.

Unfussy fine dining and wine bar with an oft-changing seasonal menu sourced from local farms and artisan makers in a casual house setting. Order: Seasonal farm menu.

An open, links-inspired layout northwest of Indianapolis with deep bunkers and prairie grasses. Affordable, walkable, and a fun change of pace.

The acclaimed brunch diner formerly Milktooth, inventive scratch cooking. (Fletcher Place)

Pete Dye routed four holes inside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval, so you literally play where the Indy 500 runs. The only golf course like it on earth.

Two links courses on reclaimed land near the city.

One block from the track, a go-to for steaks and the local tenderloin. (Speedway)

A rare chance to play genuine Dye design at public, state-park prices in the wooded hills of Fort Harrison. Proof Dye could build something fair and fun without the championship teeth.

a "Little Niagara" preserve near Dayton

Bison occupy two enclosed pastures amid more than 1,600 acres of restored prairie and wetland, while the Nature Center holds a 53-foot living stream stocked with Big Darby Creek organisms. The pairing makes the diversion more than a generic metro-park walk.

Logan Square neighborhood pioneer since 1999 serving seasonal market-to-table cooking that earned a James Beard hospitality award. Order: Farmer's breakfast.

Illinois’s largest independent brewery, with a lively Logan Square brewpub

three steep dunes over Lake Michigan

Beloved soul-food destination for Southern comfort classics. (Northeast Side)

a dramatic dolomite gorge on the Little Miami

Liddy and Pete Dye built this approachable Carmel layout with five tee sets and minimal forced carries. Tournament pedigree without the intimidation, and priced for the everyday golfer.

Craft beer, burgers, and pub plates minutes from the park entrances, giving Indiana Dunes a proper casual dinner option beyond beach snacks.

The signature 2.3-mile trail crosses ravines and forest to a deck 100 feet above the Olentangy River. Shorter accessible river paths and a nature center provide alternatives, but the bluff overlook is not drive-up.

Liddy built this Irish links-style original just south of Indianapolis, all rumpled fairways and breezy openness. An honest, characterful round that won't ask for a country-club budget.

A strong, affordable forest-preserve course.