When the first golf course opens in the 'new' English, Ind., there will be no reason for players to hurry and finish play before dark.

A spooky aura is evident in downtown English, especially as twilight settles. East Fifth Street, once a major artery in a town of 614, is desolate. There are no cars, parked or moving. Basketball goals go unattended -- a rarity in Indiana.

The Crawford County Public Library, once the centerpiece of a bustling downtown, has been boarded up. Most of the homes and businesses on Fifth Street have broken windows and fallen shingles. They now are accompanied by signs of warning: No Trespassing, or Keep Out.

English, Ind., is a ghost town without tumbleweeds, reminiscent of an Old West habitat where everyone just picked up and moved. Which is exactly what happened.

One mile east of the desolation, a new community has sprung forth. Located on significantly higher ground, the new town site features modern offices and roomy lots. An apartment complex, public buildings and new homes have been built on Indiana Avenue, now English's main thoroughfare. The reason for this dramatic relocation is simple. The evacuation from the lowlands resulted from decades of major flooding from Little Blue River, which encountered a bottleneck caused by three creeks. After the last big flood almost 10 years ago, steps were taken to relocate the town uphill from the flood plain. When razing of the lowland buildings is complete, the area that once was English, Ind., will be transformed into, of all things, a golf course.

First mention of the facility probably sounded foolish to many natives because Crawford is the only one of Indiana's 92 counties without a course. Not many English residents play the game, which is why installing lights over nine holes of a full-length course doesn't strike them as bizarre.

By 1999, Sterling Development Co., formed by Cary Hammond and Mark Megenity, hope to have a 7,000-yard course in play. The second nine of the still-to-be-named course -- Old English is the leader in the clubhouse -- would be lighted for night play.

Hammond, an electric utility employee, claims after vast research that this will be the only full-length course in America featuring artificial lighting. "Several times people have sworn up and down that they had one," Hammond said, "and I would dig in and make phone calls or even travel there. And it turned out to be a par-3 course."

Hammond said the course in English will enable golfers, some of whom may drive 45 minutes from Louisville, to start a round around dinner time and still finish 18 holes. "They can play nine holes in

the twilight and finish their 18 in the lighted portion of the course," he explained. "We're after the Monday through Friday golfer, someone who gets off

work at 3 or 4 in the afternoon. Their previous choice has been to play nine holes. They probably never had time for a full 18, or at least they had to rush through it."

Hammond insists the finished product will be far more than a pitch-and-putt course, even in the lighted portion. "The lease calls for 6,800 to 7,200 yards. It is going to be a very long course. One of the par 3s is going to have an island green. A couple of other par 3s probably will be 200 yards or so."

Hammond, member services director of the Orange County Rural Electric Membership Corporation, has thoroughly researched the lighting project and deems it workable and affordable. "The electric distribution lines are already in place," he notes. "They were feeding the residences and businesses there. All we have to come up with are poles and lights, and I already have a commitment from Hoosier Energy, which is committed to giving us all the poles we need. For goodwill."

The research to determine the number of poles and type of lighting has been completed. If the plans are followed, there will be no resemblance between the Sterling Development course and many par 3s, where poles are stuck up randomly and contribute to a poor golfing atmosphere.

"On a 400-yard par-4 hole we're looking at two light poles behind the tee box," Hammond explains. "Midway down the fairway there will be two additional poles. Once you get to the green there will be four poles. You're looking at approximately eight poles per hole and most of the poles will have two lights each. There'll be 16 lights per hole, about 72 poles, and some 150 lights total."

Sterling Development Corp. has promised 1,500-watt bulbs on the cutting edge of technology. Estimates for the lighting project range from $250,000 to $300,000, a cost reduced by donated equipment and labor.

Even without artificial lighting, the project breaks ground in many areas. The course is the aftermath of a state and federally subsidized program to re-establish the city on higher ground. As spring arrived , the relocation of about a dozen businesses had been completed and about half of the 90 families had relocated.

Most of the homes are to be demolished and rebuilt, but one commercial structure and a home were physically transferred to higher ground. Attempts to move others were impractical because of flood-damaged foundations. Still remaining this spring were an old service station, an auto parts building and another two-story business structure. The houses still standing will most likely be demolished later this year.

Although a few residents elected to move to neighboring communities, most families stayed in the "new" English. One of the requirements for the town's relocation was that the old city property be maintained in a manicured state.

"If you're going to have to mow it anyway, let's mow it and turn it into a golf course," Hammond rationalized. "The town of English will actually own the course, and we will have a long-term lease to operate and manage it." Hammond and Megenity have received numerous letters of support, ranging from Indiana Gov. Frank O'Bannon, who is a resident of nearby Croydon, to 1984 U.S. Open winner Fuzzy Zoeller, another Southern Indiana native. Sterling Development added 200 surrounding acres to the original 100-acre tract.

The vanishing town of English is located at the intersection of two highways, State Roads 64 and 37. Nine holes are expected to be on the north side of Route 64, linked to the other nine by an existing bridge over the Little Blue. The second nine will be located on the site of now-vacated homes and businesses.

The course also will be one of the more visible facilities in southern Indiana. "There are something like 5,000 to 6,000 cars that go through that intersection every day," Hammond said. "You will see golf course for more than one mile along State Road 37."

Whatever the particulars of the new layout, one thing is already certain: It will be affordable. "One of the things that my company has agreed to is that anybody who lives within the city limits of the town of English will have free access to the golf course," said Hammond, who added that such play would probably be instituted with some restrictions. "But with only 600 residents," he added, "it's not that big a thing. There are very few who play golf."

That number probably will increase because the developers have an unusual concept in community development built around free golf. "One thing the town of English needs is for people to move there," Hammond said. "We hope that if someone in Louisville, or elsewhere, is retiring and looking to build a retirement home, that they will build it in English and we can get some economic development out of it."

Many facets of the 18-hole facility remain undetermined, including the hiring of an architect. But Hammond emphasized he and Megenity will seek an experienced course development and management firm to complete the project. Details of the plan have been sent to several design companies, and one architect has already visited the site, walked the terrain and claims he envisions a course featuring several scenic holes built around creeks and rock ledges.

Megenity lives in English and Hammond is a native. Neither has ever constructed a golf course but is making good use of advisers. "Purdue University and Ball State University's agronomy departments are working with us," Hammond explained. "We have had several architects look at it, but it's not settled what will be where."

The first movement of soil is expected to take place late this year, and some seeding could be done as early as the spring of 1998. Hammond's expectations are that play would commence around July 1999.

Little Blue River, which was responsible for the flooding problems in the first place, will be one of the course's primary assets. While it takes a municipality many months and considerable money to recover from a flood, the course in English should bounce back quickly. "All the floods have deposited topsoil down there," Hammond said. "On top of the drainage it is just unbelievable. It's a real porous soil that lets the water down through it."

Most have been flash floods that have little lingering effect on the land. In some cases, the waters rise and subside in a day. It is no secret that experts consider a golf course to be one of the best land-use options on a floodplain. "The reason this place is flooding is the three creeks that come together to form Little Blue River," explained Hammond.

A town memorial probably will be located somewhere on the second nine, perhaps featuring tee boxes that fittingly honor the town's distinguished citizens.

The development company pointed out another aftereffect of the flooding: Its waters have carried fertile topsoil to the area that will be ideal for growing turf. It should also require less fertilization or aeration than other sites. The firm also said the area features several large springs that provide a gravity feed watering system.

Those springs once made neighboring French Link one of the Midwest's top tourist attractions, which certainly was a factor in the 1924 PGA Championship being played at French Link Country Club. It was there Walter Hagen won the first major tournament played on Indiana soil. It was there basketball's Larry Bird became famous as the "Hick from French Lick."

To the 9,914 residents of Crawford County, French Lick is an upper-crust neighbor. "We're really a depressed area," said Megenity. "We really don't have any industry."

They also don't have any night life. But give them two years and they will.