Audobon Golf Trail

The courses with the better conditions will be (no specific order): TPC, Gray Plantation, Wetlands, Bayou Oaks South, Tamahka Trails, Latour, Carter Plantation, Koasati Pines, and Santa Maria. Santa Maria may still be recovering from the May Flood.

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Santa Maria may still be recovering from the May Flood.

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I played Santa a couple weeks ago. There were a couple holes, 3&7, with visible damage from the flood.
Outside of that course was in excellent shape.

Cypress Bend is a joke. The only reason it’s on the Trail is because the state put so much money into building it. It is very close to goat ranch status. There is also no desire by the staff to make it better. It’s truly a shame. It could have been the best course in the state. The natural beauty is amazing. But the layout is garbage. When you can only hit driver on 1 of 4 par 5s, that ain’t good.

Gray & Koasati have always been really good. I have not played either this year, though. There is a thread on the board about Oakwing & it’s current issues.

It was never built right. It is a beautiful piece of property with a lot of elevation changes (for LA) and the golf course was designed long before the hotel & private homes were on the property. I wish they had used more lakefront property for the course.

The sand traps & greens have been bad pretty much from day 1.
The tee boxes & fairways are ok.
The cart path is so bad, I really think they should tear it out & just have you drive in the rough where possible.

There appears to be a lack of money from the state (Sabine River Authority) or the owner of the hotel. I’m not sure who is contractually obligated to keep the course operational.
There is also a lack of money in the area. So the membership costs like $100/month. They can’t go up because the course is so bad & they members would revolt.
The employees are lazy & don’t seem to care about the course.
Many of the members have never cared about the course & will drive carts on tee boxes & as close to the greens as the can so they don’t have to walk up some pretty steep hills.

Again the layout is terrible. You can really hit driver on 1 of the par 5s. Members hit driver on #10, but you have to hit a left to right shot over fully grown pine trees to cut the 90 degree dogleg. And then hope the ball doesn’t run out or you’ll be in the trees or lake on the other side of the fairway.

The font 9 is nice but not many views of Toledo Bend.
The back 9 has 2 par 5s that dogleg left, 2 par 4s that dogleg right with your 2nd shot over a cove in the lake, 2 par 4s that go away from the lake (one is 18 going toward the hotel). They are the same holes.
To be fair, the back has 2 nice par 3s (17 is a short par 3 on the lake & is their signature hole). And # 11 was a beautiful par 4 that went straight out to the lake. The green was surrounded by Toledo Bend & sand, but they screwed it up & took the sand out.

Most of the folks that have camps on Toledo Bend come for fishing, not golf. The golf course was built as an enticement for the hotel. And by all accounts the hotel is doing everything in its power to keep guests from wanting to come back.

But other than that it’s a fantastic weekend getaway.

Played 12 out of the 17. I also need to finish it out since I didn't think I had played that many.
Didn't the Island used to be on there?