Golf Greens Flourish Throughout Ouachita Parish
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The golf courses situated through out Ouachita Parish are way above par – and that’s a good thing.
Nearly a dozen grassy venues grace the parish and surrounding area to offer golfing options for everyone from the occasional duffer to the avid accomplished amateur. Tom Nicholson is in the latter category.
Nicholson is a former chamber of commerce board member with both the Monroe and West Monroe chambers and today sports an impressive 7 handicap whenever he hits the links – which is as often as possible.
“We have everything around here from challenging 70-year-old courses to scenic‚ reasonably priced nine-hole setups that can be played in under two hours‚” Nicholson says. “There are courses nestled in nice subdivisions‚ and there are hilly venues such as Pine Hills that gets a lot of play because the terrain is so unusual – and the owners there make improvements on an ongoing basis. Plus there are somewhat unusual places like Frenchman’s Bend that was built about 20 years ago out of a cotton field.”
An increasingly popular golf desti nation in Ouachita Parish is Calvert Crossing‚ which is on the Audubon Golf Trail. The trail is a distinct group of courses that Louisiana tourism officials have earmarked for out-of-state golfers to play whenever they visit the state.
“The Audubon Golf Trail was actually put together to mimic the wildly popular Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail that the state of Alabama has had in place for several years now‚” Nicholson says. “As for Calvert Crossing itself‚ it is a fairly hilly‚ demanding‚ tight course where you have to be a reasonably good player to shoot a good score.”
For nine-hole destinations‚ Nicholson says venues such as Trenton Street and Monroe Municipal are all challenging little tracks that are well designed.
As for courses that host a number of tournaments‚ Chennault Park is an 18-hole layout that plays reasonably long and is a good challenge for any golfer.
“Probably the pearl of the parish is Bayou Desiard‚ which is a private club that has been around for more than 75 years‚” Nicholson says. “A number of prestigious tournaments have been held there‚ including state amateur championships and senior amateur championships. If you get the chance to golf there‚ do it. If not‚ there are plenty of other great courses in and around Ouachita Parish.”
Story by Kevin Litwin
