I drove up to Carencro, LA to meet a friend halfway from Alexandria. It had been almost 10 years since I had last been to this property and was excited to get back. Farm d'Allie as I remembered it was a good golf course.
Upon arriving the staff was very welcoming and very friendly just as I expected. The practice green and the driving range were in great condition and there was a TaylorMade Golf Fitting/Demo day going all. The weather was beautiful and you couldn't ask for a better day. However, that is where our excitement ended.
Once on the first tee, it was apparent that the conditions may not be like the practice areas were. The golf course was not horrible. The fairways were in great shape and the rough wasn't too bad either. Even the bunkers were good and you could tell maintenance had not touched them since the rain Wednesday.
As good as the practice putting green was rolling and how smooth it was we thought the entire course may be like that. Imagine our disappointment when we get to the first green only to see it covered in weeds. We were hoping maybe it was just the first green but as we continued on this was the case for every green on the golf course. Be it crabgrass or poana grass it is considered a weed on bermuda greens. Every green had it and it made putting a guessing game. Some were better than others and they did try and manage to put the flag in the good areas.
The tee boxes also were bad. Some had no grass and only dirt while others had unevenly cut grass. Many of the tee boxes were not level as well with a few even having a good 4"-6" dip in the middle. However for the most part all tee boxes were playable with the exception of the ones that had no grass. Without grass, it doesn't matter how good your spikes are if they have nothing to grip your feet can slip and affect your shot. This happened to us a few times. The par 3-holes probably had the most grass on them, which is good, but those also had weeds in them making finding a level spot to tee the ball up where the weeds wouldn't be in the way a challenge.
All in all the course was playable and it is a fun golf course to play with a good mix of holes to challenge all golfers. Where the main disappointment comes in is in the cost of the green fee. The golf course was not worth the near $70 rate. I would say it was worth about $40 given the conditions, especially considering there are two other public courses within 30min of Farm d'Allie that are asking $30 - $40 less with smoother greens.
I am hoping this is only a temporary issue going on and that maintenance will get it worked out. I will go back one day. Like I said I like the golf course design. The routing is a bit funny but the golf course has some really good holes and can be a fun yet challenging golf course.
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