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I'm thinking of heading down to the New Orleans area to visit some friends and have heard they have great courses down there. It seems like a good time to do some responsible tourism and give some money to their economy as well as see my friends!

Any first hand suggestion on courses for a decent, female player?

Most courses are still closed and under repair, because of the storm. Audubon is open, and probably the nicest available right now. The rest are mostly on the Northshore, but are in bad shape.

Thanks for the info! I'm trying to track down Audubon's site, do you have a link?

In my search I found a website called Big Easy Golf that listed these courses as open as well: English Turn, Money Hill, Beau Chene, Carter Plantation, Chateau, Oak Harbor, Stonebridge, Belle Terre, Covington and Timberlane.

Any experience on any of these courses? Is Audobon still the one to shoot for?

PS - It also listed info on: The Golf Club of New Orleans (closed until at least 2007), TCP of Louisiana (reopening Sept. 1), Bayou Oaks (reopening in May?). :)

Let me see if I can help... Don't think Audubon has a website. It's a locals' type place - show up and play. For more info or tee times you can call them at (504) 212-5290. It's a nice track, used to be a par 68, then renovated in '01 and made an executive course, par 62. It sports some of the nicest greens in the area. It's in the uptown area of the city and wasn't damaged much by Katrina; they lost some trees but got no flooding. Inexpensive and convenient.
Many of the courses you listed are either private or not really in the city. The city itself had few public courses, with the lion's share of rounds played at the 3 Bayou Oaks/City Park courses. They are closed, with no reopening in sight - in fact, no work had been done at all, except at the driving range which is now open, and this past weekend, a grassroots effort to get at least one course playable took off, with a group of concerned golfers going out to clean up the north course there.
English Turn, Beau Chene, Money Hill, and Timberlane are all private courses, though they do entertain a smattering of outside play. English Turn is where the Zurich Classic of New Orleans (PGA Tour) was held this year and had been for years before the TPC took it last year. Money Hill is fantastic if you can get on. It's located about 1 hour north of the city in Abita Springs.
Stonebridge is my home course, about 15 minutes from downtown. It is usually in good shape, and reasonably priced. Wedged into a subdivision, it's sometimes tight and windy course. Belle Terre is west of the city, about 30 minutes away. Nice layout, flat (as are most courses here) and affordable. Carter Plantation is a great course, if a bit pricey, and is the farthest of the courses you listed; about 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 1/2 hours from the city. Very nice though. Oak Harbor was inundated by Katrina's storm surge and just reopened about a month ago. Haven't been to play it yet, but heard it's still coming back, not great. It's history though is being a tough course just off Lake Pontchartrain, so wind is always a factor. Played it many times - it can eat your lunch. Never played Chateau, but most people enjoy it; nondescript course in Kenner, where the airport is so overhead traffic could be a factor. Covington CC is nice, but not worth getting out of town for by itself. Golf Club of N.O. at Eastover was very nice, and a bit pricey, but was devastated by the storm, as was the TPC.
Depending on your time situation and transportation, as well as the type golf you want to play, my suggestions would be Audubon, Stonebridge, Belle Terre, or Carter Plantation. If you are just looking to get out and knock them around, you'll enjoy Audubon. If you are serious and looking for the challenge, figure out a way to get to Carter Plantation, or look into Money Hill. Stonebridge and Belle Terre are those in the middle, just good golf places.
Sorry to go so long... Hope this helps. PM me if you'd like more info.

Thank you so much for all that info and the phone # for Audebon. :D

Nice to hear that some of the golfers are being pro-active in helping out rebuliding the courses. I know that a lot of the tourist areas in NOLA are back up and running, but it seems like it's going to take a lot of initiative and love on everyone's behalf to get the other areas rebuilt. Was the golfer story mentioned in a local paper? I have a friend from down there who would like to read it.

Fortunately, it has been a major story here. The cleanup call was on the local news and in the newspapers, and in yesterday's sports section, one of the lead stories was about the progress, or lack thereof, at the city park complex. City Park encompasses a large area of the city, stretching from near mid-city to the Lakeview area, now famous for the failure of the canal walls. There were 4 golf courses here, but one of them closed last year, so that more money could be directed towards the three larger and more heavily trafficked courses. Several hundred thousand rounds were played here annually, and the golf courses were the main source of income for all of City Park. Currently, FEMA has reimbursed only $65,000 to City Park as a whole, which also includes two football stadiums, a tennis complex, a museum, a children's park, botanical gardens and several other recreational things. Estimates are about $2.5 million in damages for the golf courses, and $40 million for the entire park. The Pre-Katrina budget was $10.8 million, and the Post-Katrina budget is $2.4 million, so there is plenty of ground to be made up. There is also a proposal to completely redo one of the three courses, so it would be PGA Tour ready, and have the New Orleans stop on the tour held there. That is a lot of politicians away though...

Thanks so much for these posts, they are very enlightening, with the media's short attention span it's important to keep hearing first hand accounts of what's going on down there and keep our minds on it.

Which paper was the story in? I'd love to read it.

Despite the fact that the whole process is woefully underfunded, it seems like the best is being done with what's available for the time being. Making a course PGA ready is a great idea - the faster that major attractions like that get back up and running the more tourist dollars will pour in and help the local economy. Did you go to Jazz Fest this year? The line up was great, I would have killed to get down there!

Here are links to the articles Twilldog was referring to from The Times-Picayune.

http://www.nola.com/golf/t-p/index.s...0796153730.xml

http://www.nola.com/golf/t-p/index.s...1713200120.xml

We are all "Katrina weary" here, but we're having to live in our Post-Katrina world. Unless you see the devastation first hand, it is really difficult to comprehend the scope and magnitude of it all.

Thanks, Pings, for the assist on the Times-Picayune articles. We are definitely all worn on the Hurricane Katrina thing, but we are all surviving. It's important for everyone nationwide to understand the scope of this storm's destruction. While the city itself is up and running, there are several areas of town that are still completely destroyed, and even the heart of the city has problems with water pressure and the like. And the new hurricane season is officially underway...
No, I didn't get to JazzFest this year; too much to do at work. I normally go, but just didn't have as much free time this year. That's the story for many of us post-Katrina.

Thank you for sharing those articles, I forwarded them to a few friends I have that are also keeping an eye on how you all are doing down in NOLA.

I have not been down since the storm but have heard from others that it is somethign you really have to see to believe. I understand your frustration that a year later there has not been a lot of progress that affects individuals who live and work there. It makes sense to get the tourist areas up and running for revenue, but there is so much more left to do.

Saw this article in the NY Times, kind of sums up what we've been saying in how NOLA is a tale of two cities right now and offers some ideas, I'd be curious to know what you guys think of it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/08/op...30400&emc=eta1

If you dont mind heading north you can check out David Toms Course Carter Plantation(www.carterplantation.com) in Springfield.its a great course very nicely laid out.
On the West bank on New Orleans there is StoneBridge. Also a nice course. (www.thelinksatstonebridge.com) Hope this helps

Great, thank you all for your tips - hopefully I'll be down there soon and can let you know how it goes, it just seems like an important time to get down to NOLA, and you never have to ask me twice about the food down there! :D

I'm definitely getting up to Northern Michigan in the next few weeks for the fourth, so hopefully will get out on the links up there - there are some great courses.

Saw this article on the dichotomy between the tourist areas being up and running and people saying that there is still a lot to be done, thought you all might find it interesting - seems to kind of summarize a lot of the points we all made. Off on my vacation on Friday, thank god. :D
http://www.2theadvocate.com/opinion/3232796.html

Good article, and, unfortunately, so true. Crime was an issue here pre-Katrina and has remained such after, though it has been slow in returning. Then all of a sudden, it's really ramped up in the last few weeks. Once again, not in the tourist areas of town. The crime is basically turf wars among rival drug dealers, and the crime is centralized in several "hot spots" in the city. You wouldn't go through certain areas of DC at night, and as such you wouldn't venture to certain areas of N.O. or any other city at night. The reporter made a great statement though in saying the best way to make New Orleans a better place to visit is to make it a better place to live. So true...