TPC Louisiana

The verdict

TPC Louisiana is the most accessible great round in the New Orleans area, because it is genuinely public. Pete Dye laid it out in 2004 on low, watery ground in Avondale on the west bank of the Mississippi, with Tour players Steve Elkington and Kelly Gibson advising, and from 2005 it has hosted the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. That means a visitor can book a tee time and play the same course the world's best tackle each spring, an experience that on most Tour venues is closed off behind membership.

For the traveling golfer, that combination is the appeal: a championship Pete Dye design, kept in Tour condition, that you can simply turn up and play, twenty minutes from the French Quarter. Dye's courses reward thought and punish carelessness, and this one is full of his signatures, water down the sides, sand in awkward places, and greens that demand the right shot rather than the long one. Pair it with everything New Orleans offers off the course and it is the obvious anchor for a Louisiana golf trip, the public counterpart to the private championship golf at English Turn across the river.

The holes worth the trip

TPC Louisiana is pure Pete Dye on low, water rich land. Dye and his crew moved earth to lift the course out of swamp and bayou, edging the holes with lakes, marsh and sand so that the eye is constantly drawn to trouble, and the strategy is set by how boldly you take on the water rather than by elevation. The cypress and live oaks frame the corridors and give the course a distinctly Louisiana feel, but the test underneath is the classic Dye examination of nerve: choose your line, commit to it, and accept that a half hearted swing toward the safe side often leaves the harder next shot.

The par 5s are the heart of the round and the reason the Tour event so often turns on the back nine. They tempt the long hitter to go for the green in two across water, with a low score on offer and a wet ball the price of a poor strike, while the cautious player lays up to a precise wedge. The greens are firm, contoured and well defended, so distance control matters more than length, and Dye's bunkering punishes the lazy angle. With the wind moving across the open, low ground, a card that looks gettable can quickly add up.

What makes it worth the trip is that you get to make those decisions yourself, on a course set up to professional standards. From the championship tees, with the water and the wind, it is a serious test that has identified plenty of Tour winners; from the forward markers it is fair, scenic and a great deal of fun, the par 5s still offering the same risk and reward in miniature. It is the round that turns a New Orleans visit into a real golf trip without needing a member to get you on.

Where to stay nearby

The natural base is New Orleans, around twenty minutes east, where the French Quarter, the Garden District and the Warehouse District offer hotels for every budget and a food and music scene that is reason enough to visit. Staying in the city lets you play a Tour course by day and enjoy New Orleans after, with TPC Louisiana an easy morning drive across the river.

For a fuller trip, pair the public Tour golf here with the private Jack Nicklaus championship test at English Turn south of the city, which hosted the New Orleans event before it moved here. From New Orleans you can also run east along the Gulf to the secluded Tom Fazio golf at Fallen Oak near Biloxi for a coast and city week.

Looking for a base? See our recommended hotels and resorts in and around New Orleans.