Louisiana
Links Life Lovely Lake Charles, La., brings so much together for the golfer with gaming, gourmet food and history at every turn.
Blue bayous and Cajun culture make Pelican State golf red hot
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et’s just assume you want to visit Louisiana at some point in your life. Everybody does. You’ve heard so much about this fascinating place and are intrigued by what you might find. A melting pot of French, Canadian, African and American backgrounds, the Pelican State, named ‘La Louisianne’ by a French explorer in honor of King Louis XIV in 1683, is known primarily for its Creole (West African, French, Spanish, Native American ancestry) and Cajun (descendants of Roman Catholic French Canadians) culture, its delicious food and distinctive music. But there’s so much more. The land of the NFL’s New Orleans Saints, an alligator population said to number in excess of two million, and a world-famous street festival whose
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BY TONY DEAR name (Mardi Gras) means ‘Fat Tuesday’ to signify a day of consuming fatty foods before a period of fasting, is also home to very highly rated fishing both on the Gulf of Mexico and inland. There’s a sizable gaming industry, an impressive selection of craft breweries and, of course, the reason we’re all here — golf. Though the state can’t boast a terribly high number of courses, there are more than enough good ones — like, nationally-ranked good – to satisfy the golf traveler looking to mix some quality links-time with the sort of activities golfers might not get at home. Enjoying golf in Louisiana really isn’t hard to do. The average daytime temperature during the winter months hovers around the low-mid 60s. There’s none of the snow you see up north, and the number of days that are ‘predominantly sunny’ is well above the national average. “Last I checked you do not shovel sunshine in Louisiana,” jokes Mary Williams, coordinator of the state’s Audubon Golf Trail, a network of 16 courses chosen for their high level of design, maintenance and hospitality. “We’re usually playing 12 months out of the year.” But you don’t have 12 months to enjoy Louisiana, obviously. Your time, much like that of any 21st Century human, is short. And because you’re not a travel expert or frequent visitor to this part of the country, you can’t be sure how you’re going to see and do everything you want to.
Which is why the clever people at the Louisiana Office of Tourism have put together a number of three-day, themed itineraries for golfers who want to play some great courses but don’t want to come all this way and spend the entire time playing golf but taking in as much of what Louisiana has to offer as possible in the short time they have. There are four suggested trips for those looking to mix golf with some time at the gaming tables or slots. The first of them begins in the city of Lake Charles, three hours west of New Orleans but only two and a bit east of Houston, Texas. Originally named Charleston, Lake Charles is a city of almost 80,000 people and was founded in 1861. Now a major industrial center an hour north of the Gulf of Mexico, it is home to a number of Petro-chemical companies and has become a popular gaming destination with four gaming options of which L’Auberge Casino Resort and the Golden Nugget are the largest. Over the last decade or so, Lake Charles has also developed into a stand-alone golf destination whose list of venues includes Tom Fazio’s Contraband Bayou at L’Auberge Casino Resort, the National Golf Club of Louisiana, the newly built, municipal Mallard Golf Club and the excellent Rocky Roquemoredesigned Gray Plantation, which opened in 1999 and is one of eight Audubon Golf Trail courses that score a 95 percent or better approval rating on GolfPass.com.
