Got a chance to play golf Friday at Atchafalaya at Idlewild in Morgan City. The golf course is about a one-hour and thirty-minute drive from New Orleans and part of Louisiana's Audubon Golf Trail.
Atchafalaya is one of the toughest, yet fun golf courses you can play in south Louisiana. The course stretches just love 7500 yards with five sets of tees. Each tee marker is a mini sculpture (pictured below) of the tee name (Gator, Bear, Eagle, Owl, and Otter). The golf course is also designed well. There is a good mix of length between holes, doglegs, and blind shots. You can even see a good amount of wildlife from birds to alligators.
With a full driving range, chipping green, and large putting green you have plenty of options when you are warming up for your round. The clubhouse is a large, southern, cajun country-style building with a large patio overlooking the 9th and 18th greens. The staff is very friendly and shows that true southern hospitality. Although I did not eat in the grill this time the food is always mentioned as one of the best.
The course itself was not in the best I have ever seen it but it was still very playable. The grass on the tee boxes and fairways was a little long but not much of an issue except on the par 3 holes. Even though the fairway grass was a bit long it did not affect the ball rolling out on tee shots or affect your approach shots. As with many golf courses in the area, the golf course was still on the soft side from all the weather last month. You wouldn't notice except a few holes that you can clearly see tires marks through the grass with a little mud. That also made it very clear they are doing lots of work to the golf course to get it back to its usual top-notch shape.
The greens looked slower than were rolling but at the same time, they were slower than what golfers expect at Atchafalaya. Even with the softer conditions, the greens were firm enough the ball would still take a good bounce once landing on the green. Sometimes finding pitch marks was a search and rescue mission. With all the course has been through since Hurricane Ida and all the rain in September the greens look really healthy. They are slightly discolored as if they had too much water and not enough sun but hopefully, the beautiful weather we have had lately will help that.
The only bad thing of the day was the bunkering. Every bunker on the golf course, even though not marked as such, should be considered ground under repair. Some had grass growing through them, others had sand washouts, while others just simply had not been raked in a long time. This was not just bad from a playability standpoint but from an aesthetic standpoint, it makes the golf course look bad.
Bottom line is, the golf course is very playable, with the exception of a few minor things and the bunkers it is still a beautiful golf course and worth the $50 green fee.
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