October is the best time of year to play golf in Louisiana. It is still warm, but not so warm that you sweat. This past Sunday, October 20th, was one of those days, and I decided to get out and enjoy a round of golf. So, I chose to go to Audubon Park for a semi-quick round and do a review and video (below).
The only thing I wish I had known before going was that the Audubon Zoo was hosting their Boo at the Zoo. Traffic on Magazine Street getting to and from the golf course was a little slow. Plus you had a lot of cars trying to park by the clubhouse to go to the Zoo. There was security trying to stop people from this but they were not 100% effective. When I arrived and upon leaving I saw several families getting out of or into their cars that were not there for golf or the restaurant. I got lucky and found a spot that security was blocking but I saw several other golfers that were not so lucky. Parking has become bad enough with the new restaurant but this was on another level. When the Zoo does an event they really should consider blocking the entire parking area on that side of Magazine solely for restaurant guests and golfers.
The Golf Club at Audubon Park has been making some changes since the restaurant clubhouse is under new ownership so there is a temporary trailer, which is also in the parking lot leaving fewer parking spaces. There will be a new golf shop, that is currently being built, attached to the cart shed. So far it looks really nice but I do not know of any expected finish date. Hopefully, they will get it all done soon and the parking issues will take care of themselves.
It had been a while since I had played at Audubon. The last time I was there they were cutting areas for temporary greens. That was back in March, and although I am not sure when they went back to full greens, it wasn't until a few weeks ago I heard they no longer had temporary greens. As I thoroughly enjoy the layout and it is a good place to work on your iron game, it was time to go check it out.
Everyone at the club is nice and a pleasure to speak with. The only issue I had before my round was trying to get a drink. I asked if the window by the old golf shop was still where to get a drink and the person I spoke with said yes. However, when I walked over to it there was a curtain over the window making it look closed. Good thing there was a beverage cart. Not only that the girl on the cart, was on her way to go down 18 and went out of her way to come ask me if I wanted anything before I started. She was great the entire round. I think she passed by four times in total which is very good for any golf course.
There is no driving range at Audubon so I stretched with my GolfFOREVER swing trainer and used the practice putting green. From a distance that green looked great, however, once I stepped foot on it I immediately noticed some weeds growing in it. It was mainly on one side of the green but it was also around where one of the holes was cut. Surprisingly it did not affect the roll as much as I thought when I putted over it to see if it affected playability. The rest of the green was good and had a good roll with a decent amount of speed. Faster than the course but I'll mention that under the greens rating.
Overall: 3 out of 5
Tee Boxes: 2 out of 5
The tee boxes were the worst part of the golf course. You kind of expect this when 12 of the holes are all par 3's but I think they could do better. As I have mentioned in other reviews the tee markers are so far apart the entire width of the tee box is being shredded. If they followed the USGA recommendation of 6 yards they could save areas by giving the grass more time to heal. This also happens due to a lack of golfers filling in divots with sand or not having sand boxes on the teeing areas. Sand-filled divots will heal much faster than a divot that gets no sand. Still, there were enough good areas I did not need to use a tee except on two of the par 3 holes, and using a higher tee on the par 4 and 5 holes was not an issue. Some of the tee areas could use some leveling and maintenance could help out golfers by not putting tee markers on slopes or close enough that you have barely a foot to move back and get a level lie.
Fairways: 3.5 out of 5
There are only six true fairways on the entire golf course but each of them was pretty good. There were some minor areas on holes 9 and 18 where there was some bare areas or soft areas but 90% of those fairways were still good. The cut height of the grass was good and they were smooth when driving the cart on them. I personally think they were a little better when the entire course was cart path only but they are still pretty good.
Greens 3.5 out of 5
The greens for the most part were good. They were much slower than the practice green was but they also looked better. The grass looked healthier and had no weeds like the practice green did. The biggest struggle with the greens was a result of golfers not fixing pitch marks. The greens were covered with them. I probably fixed about 10 per hole and probably missed another 10 every hole. The grass also seemed slightly longer on the course than on the practice green. There were a lot of spike marks, or really marks where golfers dragged their feet, on a lot of the greens as well. This would explain why they were slower but surprisingly even with all the pitch marks and foot marks the greens were actually smooth otherwise. As long as you repaired a pitch mark or tapped down spike marks that were in your line the ball had very little to no wobble. The only other bad areas were from maintenance not replacing old cup holes properly. The image below is one of 5 I noticed where the cup plug was set too deep or where it appeared part of that plug broke and they just left it alone instead of filling it with greens mix or trying to level/smooth it out.
The rough was not much of an issue. Just long enough to give you a tricky lie depending on if the grass was growing towards or away from you but not too long where the ball would sit all the way down in it giving you trouble. The approach areas were good like the fairways but the bunkers were very hard. I was not actually in a bunker but I had time waiting on the group ahead of me to drop a ball in a bunker to test them out. That bunker was very hard like the sand had just been getting packed down over time and had not been raked in a while. Most of the bunkers looked like this but I only tested the one so I am not certain they all played the same way.
Overall I was pleased with the efforts the course is making. Hopefully, they will get it back to being really good again soon. The rate, at $55 with a cart, might be slightly overpriced right now but considering you can walk for $40 on a Sunday it really isn't bad either. I will go back with everything as is and enjoy another round at Audubon again soon. Of course, it doesn't hurt that I also shot a 4 under par 58 for this round.
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