Cypress Bend Resort is a golf course I have wanted to play ever since it originally opened some 20+ years ago. The property is situated right on Toledo Bend Lake, a man-made reservoir, that borders Louisiana and Texas. It is about 70 miles south of Shreveport and only 20-25 min from Many, LA.
Although Cypress Bend Resort has a hotel on the property, we drove in from Alexandria, LA for the day, which is about a 90-minute drive. The resort is part of Wyndham Hotels and the golf course is one of the many courses that are a part of the Louisiana Golf Trail. The resort hotel used to be a Best Western, although I am not sure when they sold it to Wyndham
In the past, Cypress Bend has been ranked as one of the best golf courses in Louisiana and I believe has received many awards. From what I have heard the golf course was not doing well for years and was really struggling. After a $6.5 million renovation and now operated by Sterling Golf Management, out of Houston, TX, they are looking to change that. However, I am puzzled why Sterling does not list Cypress Bend in their portfolio of golf courses on their website. Maybe they just have not updated it yet.
Before I get into things at Cypress Bend, I just have to say sometimes you forget how beautiful Louisiana is until you have to take some "back roads" to get somewhere. The entire drive from Alexandria reminds you Louisiana is a beautiful state and even some of our small towns like Many, LA are places we should all go check out every once in a while. That beautiful scenery was even more apparent as we entered the main road into Cypress Bend Resort. Tall pine trees and rolling hills greet you with a preview of the golf course before you get to the clubhouse.
Once we arrived at the clubhouse you truly get a feel of what to expect as the clubhouse sits above the driving range with a dramatic elevation drop. Elevation that is even noticeable in our video below. The practice green sits next to the clubhouse above the range as well and it gives you a good feel of just how hilly the golf course will be.
There is no bag drop so you can go check in, get a golf cart, and bring it out to your car to get your clubs. The staff was excellent, very friendly, welcoming, and professional. This was beyond the golf shop as well. The beverage cart and grill staff were great as well. Not to mention they have a really good hot dog and fries that I had while Maurice had the hamburger and said it was delicious.
The renovation was finished earlier this year so we were aware of some minor things they were still dealing with on the golf course. Too much shade in some areas where they moved a green to that caused the grass to not grow, or areas some areas on one or two greens that had issues with growth for other reasons. Sometimes these are things that happen after a major renovation but they are managing them extremely well and fixing those issues so they do not happen again in the future. With that said the golf course was still near perfect and even with those minor imperfections on the golf course, it may be my new favorite golf course in all of Louisiana.
There are some things I would personally like to see added for the benefit of golfers, especially for those playing the course for the first time, but mainly everything is pretty great. The only thing I did not like is there is no yardage books or GPS. Had we not had the superintendent join us we would have had no idea how holes played. Especially the 16th that has two separate fairways to play down. Yes, there are many apps on phones that can show you, but the one I use did not have the renovation updates. This means I would not have known where some bunkers were or how the holes that were completely rerouted played. I know GPS on golf carts are an expensive cost to golf courses, however, I feel they are needed on a golf course like this as it lets you know what to expect. Especially when you can not really see some of the landing areas or doglegs because a hole plays that much uphill. Yardage books would work just as well and for golfers like me, it is a souvenir as I try to collect them from every golf course I play. They area also cheaper and can be given as part of the green fee or sold as an additional revenue source.
Before I get into the full rating I did notice while playing that the course does not dry out from the morning dew as quickly as many other golf courses. This is due to the number of trees and the temperature being below 80°, even though we teed off at 9am. I am not sure if this is the case all year but you just have to keep in mind that the golf ball will not roll out as much in the fairways as a result. You also have to know how to factor in elevation changes or if you have a range finder have the slope function turned on. If you are not used to hitting a 150-yard club 130 yards because of the elevation you will have to figure it out quickly at Cypress Bend. The general rule of thumb is about a 10-yard difference for every 10ft of elevation change.
Overall: 4.5 out of 5
Tee Boxes: 4 out of 5
The tee boxes were very level and cut to a good height. Personally, I like them tighter and cut lower like the fairways but I did notice they were only slightly longer on the back tees that I played. Where Maurice played from, one tee up, they were all cut lower. This could be due to the shade issue they had in some areas and they are allowing the grass to fill in more on those back tees more before cutting them tighter. I also noticed some of the back tee boxes the grass was a tab bit thinner than all the other tee boxes. This is something i have experienced before from golf courses that have done a renovation and sometimes it may take a full year to get the roots of the grass fuller allowing it to be cut lower and tighter.
Fairways: 4 out of 5
The fairways were really great. They were all cut to a good height and once the dew finally burned off gave you a good bounce and roll from your tee shots. They were not super tight but that kept the golf ball from rolling off the slopes into the rough. There were only a few fairways that had some blemishes in them but those have been attended to and I expect will disappear soon. None of them were a playability issue at all. They were either at the beginning of a fairway or another area that you'd hit over to lay up on a par 5. The fairways around the collars of the greens were good enough it gave you options to putt or play a chip/pitch shot even if you were 10 yards off the green.
Greens: 4.5 out of 5
The greens were superb. They were not super fast nor were they slow. They possibly could roll faster but with some of the slopes on the greens they really do not need to be any faster. All but one green, where they had to put some plugs down were, rolling true and smooth. Once you hit a putt it hugged the ground and rolled right where you hit it. The biggest challenge is to know how the greens break. If you do not pay attention to the surrounding slopes you will misread putts. Some that looked downhill played uphill and others that looked uphill played downhill. The greens rolled so well that if you mistook a putt that looked uphill but rolled downhill the ball would get away from you and roll well past the hole. Sadly I had fa few 3-putts as a result and I even had someone helping me know which way the greens actually sloped.
The rough was thick and could keep a ball from rolling down a steep hill. It really adds to the challenge of the golf course while also not being too unfair to play out of. The bunkers were also well-maintained and very consistent around the golf course. I was in a few greenside bunkers and one fairway bunker and they all had the consistency you want and expect when playing a top-tier golf course.
All in all Cypress Bend is a great golf course. The overall design and routing coupled with the views of Toledo Bend Lake can not be beat in Louisiana. With the addition of a friendly staff and a well-maintained golf course, Cypress Bend is a must play. I left wondering why I had not been here sooner and wanting to go back very soon. Cypress Bend is the type of golf course i could play often and not get tired of. Actually, with the exception of a beach nearby, it is the type of place that has the lifestyle I would love. Great golf, water sports, and fishing all in one area. I will be back soon and perhaps next time I will stay at the resort and review what Wyndham has to offer while staying on the property.
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