Golf Course Review: Stonebridge Golf Club of New Orleans

I have been struggling all week with whether or not I should actually publish this review. Even after talking with a friend, I still wasn't sure. His words kept resonating with me, and he was right. I started Golf Nola with the purpose of doing golf course reviews to give golfers information about golf courses so they can make an informed decision on where to play golf. My friend reminded me that this includes the bad.

Sometimes, I feel it is better to say nothing than to be negative about a golf course. Although I have had negative things to say in some reviews, none of them have been like this experience at Stonebridge Golf Club on Tuesday, November 5th. I was so frustrated with the course conditions I was ready to quit after 9-holes. I even mentioned it in the video but decided to try the back 9. However, another issue, I'll mention later, when making the turn that added to my frustration, by the 11th green, I had enough and quit.

To pay $50 and have the experience I had was not worth sticking around. The conditions alone, I will tell you about in a bit, were not worth sticking it out but I also had groups cut in front of me making the turn. It took me 1hr 30min to play the front 9 and 40 min to play holes 10 and 11. Not sure if the golf shop allowed this or not but that was unacceptable. I could have gone to English Turn or TPC for $20 more and had a much better experience, or I could have paid far less to play Bayou Oaks North course and still had better conditions.

To be clear the issues I had that day have nothing to do with the staff. They were very nice to me in the golf shop and the bar. However, I was not told about the driving range being closed for overseeding or the golf course conditions I would encounter.

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Upon first look at the chipping and putting practice greens everything looked pretty good. The practice greens were a little thin like the grass was going dormant already, even though we haven't had temperatures below 60° yet, but they were ok. Once I learned about the range being overseeded I thought maybe it was just the practice green and the greens on the course would be fuller.

Before I break down the rating I will say not every hole was horrible. Holes 4 and 5 were probably the best overall from tee to green. The grass was fuller on the tee boxes and the fairway of 4 had more grass on it than any other. Actually, it was too fluffy. From the middle of the fairway, I caught a flier on my approach shot. In other words, my 160-yard club flew 175 yards over the green into a 10mph wind due to the amount of grass that caught between my club and the ball at impact. These were also the only two holes where I did not notice any St. Augustine grass around the collars of the greens like on many other holes. This is not to say it wasn't there I just didn't see any or it wasn't as noticeable as other holes.

The St. Augustine is a huge problem. For some reason, Stonebridge is trying to cut it down to a low height for many of the tee boxes and the fringes. Unlike Bermuda grass which can be cut to a low height, you can not do that with St. Augustine grass, especially on a golf course. This is for two reasons. One, instead of roots that grow deep into the soil, St. Augustine grows on top of the soil. This means no matter how low you cut it, the grass is still anywhere between 1/2 to 1 inch above the top of the soil. This makes teeing up a driver a challenge unless you have the super-long tees. Two St. Augustine grass is a long blade type of grass that should never be cut below 3 inches or it can die very fast. Even though St. Augustine is a native grass in the New Orleans area there are reasons why it is not used on golf courses. it be ok if it was only the second cut of rough but anywhere the grass needs to be cut lower than 3 inches it should never be used.

Overall Rating: 2 out of 5

Tee Boxes: 1.5 out of 5

All the tee boxes I played from were horrible. The ground was uneven on most of them, as you can see in some of the pictures above, and the grass height was also uneven. Most of the tee boxes were St. Augustine grass cut down or a mix with some Bermuda. A few of the teeing areas were mostly dirt. As I mentioned before though holes 4 and 5 were the exception with decent tee boxes that at least were full of grass even though it was fluffy. When I say fluffy the grass was thick like a tightly woven blanket but with air underneath it.

Fairways: 1 out of 5

The fairways were the worst part of the golf course. So much of them were mostly dirt and black like they spread gardening soil on them. In the areas that did have grass, the grass was cut inconsistently and had various heights from plain dirt to over 1 inch. They were damp in some areas which I can understand why they were softer in areas but that should have nothing to do with being able to mow them a consistent height with the grass that was there. The fairways also had St. Augustine in areas as well as weeds. On top of that, I saw two sprinkler heads that were broken and only had half a head. The collars around the greens were decent but inconsistent. Some were Bermuda grass, some were St, Augustine grass and some had weeds. They were all cut to fringe height and could be considered the best part of the fairways.

Greens 2.5 out of 5

The greens were the best part of the golf course but far from being what I would consider good. The grass was very thin and played like rolled dirt. It played like conditions we normally get in January when Bermuda goes dormant and a course doesn't overseed to a winter grass. The ground was soft as well. When you went to fix a ball mark the ground nearly fell apart it was so soft. The lack of grass gave the greens a bit of speed but they were also bumpy. Not horribly bumpy but putts would hop some and not stay online. Some of the greens also had some weeds growing in them but this was also not a huge issue as it was mainly around the edges of the greens. The other issue with the greens was how deep every cup was cut. Usually, the liner of the cup sits about 1/2 inch before the green surface. All the cups were cut almost 2 inches deep. If you missed it, there is a picture of this in the gallery above.

I have never been so disappointed in the conditions of a golf course. To be honest, it wouldn't have been that bad had I been told what to expect or if the rate was less than $25. The rate being $50 after 12pm on a Tuesday coupled with the conditions is really what disappointed me. I've been frustrated with my own game before wanting to quit after 9-holes but this is the first time the course conditions have ever pushed me to leave a property. I will go back out to Stonebridge in a few months to see if things improve but as of now, if I was a consultant, I would recommend the course needs to close and fix whatever issue they are having.