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Lakewood New Orleans, Consider elsewhere


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I came on here last weekend looking for courses around the New Orleans area. One of the threads had Lakewood as a recommendation.

 

I called to make a tee time early Saturday for late that afternoon. The person who answered said they were not particularly busy and to come any time around 2 and I'd be fine. I asked about rental clubs and he said he could do $40. I called an uber.

 

I showed up and it was pretty much a ghost town. I was hoping to jump on with some locals or anyone to be honest. I like playing golf with new people. I took 2 sleeves of balls with me in case I played golf so that was covered. I said I guess I need tee's (my home course they give you tee's free) so he pointed me to these zero friction plastic tees in fancy packaging, they were $7. Whatever, I have to tee the ball up. After I paid he took me into the rental club room. I told him I use extra stiff but figured they wouldn't have that so stiff would work. In this room were 15 bags of some of the worst cared for clubs I've ever seen. Not a single wood had a cover. It took him about 10 minutes to piece me together a bag that has half stiff shaft irons and half regular. I got 4-P in Nike vapors that were beat to death. Nike vapor driver and 3w. A single Maxfli wedge, 56* with the shaft rusted so bad about 50% of the chrome plating was gone. And a off brand putter that when I got to the first green realized the neck was bent pretty badly.

 

Somewhere in the midst I said this is all you have? He said we do have some new Titleist bags but they are $60. I just grabbed the hodgepodge back and kept going.

 

I get to the starter on my way out and he giggles and said "so you're going to brave it?" I said well I didn't know I was until you said that. Whats the matter? He says "oh, you'll have fun. Its just been raining for 6 days straight." I said oh thats great. Am I alone or can I play with someone? "Nope, just you. Only a couple people out there." I asked if I could hit some range balls. "Sorry sir, the range is close." They put my bag in the cart and I notice there are tee's in the cart. The guy let me buy them knowing there were free tees.

 

I was never told the course was wet, I was never told the range was closed. I get in the cart and he tells me cart path only. I paid for tees I didn't need. I have terrible clubs.

 

The course was nothing special but overall ok. Some of the tee boxes had weeds and there were at least 2 bunkers that had not been maintained in a year at least. They were fairway bunkers half covered in grass and weeds, maybe they were planning on removing them? IDK. The course was soaked. I lost 3 balls during the round, 2 in the fairway from driver that plugged and I couldn't find in the puddles, mush.

 

Any one of the things above would not be enough to bother me. But all totaled up at the same time and I was pretty pissed playing the round after paying $130. These people just didn't seem to care much about anything. And definitely weren't in any rush to tell me over the phone the condition of the course before I paid $20 to get there.

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Not sure why you wouldn't have known it had rained just by checking the weather. I have never played a course with free tees.

 

Go check the weather forecast real quick it won’t show you past rain. I packed a few sleeves of balls the night before in case I had time after my flight to play. I traveled for business. This happened quick. If your course normally has a range, isn’t flooded, isn’t normally cart path only and someone calls and starts with “I’m from out of town” you should tell them. Free tees are not the issue. You’re missing the point.

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Overall, that sounds fairly typical for New Orleans. It is a terrible place to play golf.

Definitely not a golf town

Interesting, I was hoping to go play Audubon park or Bayou Oaks (old City Park) some day. I used to live there a for 3 years. Didn't play golf then, but would fish the ponds at City park.

Woods: Callaway Rogue ST Max LS 9*, Ventus Blue 6S / TM Stealth Plus+, 15*, MCA Diamana Thump 75S
Hybrid: PXG 0317 X Proto 3H & 4H, Ventus Blue 7S

Irons: Takomo IRON 101, 5-PW, Accra T90i S
Wedges: Cleveland CBX ZipCore  48* Accra T90i S, 53* & 58*, Accra T100i S
Putter: Evnroll ER 1.2, Tour KBS GPS, 33",
 SuperStroke MidSlim 2.0
Ball: Maxfli Tour
Bag/Cart: '20 Nike Air Hybrid 2 / Clicgear 4.0 / Alphard Club Booster V2 / V2 Swivel Kit
Accessories: Arccos 360 / Garmin G80 / Nikon Coolshot Pro Stabilized

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Living here, I wouldn't call NOLA a golf town either. That said, if anyone is sending you somewhere other than TPC Louisiana, Bayou Oaks (South), English Turn, or Audubon then you very well may get the treatment you just described. I wouldn't send anyone anywhere other than the four courses I just mentioned. Those courses are far and above the best in this area in terms of layout, upkeep, amenities, and customer service and while it's not a golf town, those four are more than adequate and I'd put them above many courses I've played in my life in so-called golf towns.

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.......Bayou Oaks (South), English Turn, or Audubon........ Those courses are far and above the best in this area in terms of layout, upkeep, amenities, and customer service.......

 

Thanks for that info very helpful. As I mentioned I was planning on Bayou Oaks or Audubon. Good to know that South is better. I just read that it was remodeled in 2018. Missed that before.

Woods: Callaway Rogue ST Max LS 9*, Ventus Blue 6S / TM Stealth Plus+, 15*, MCA Diamana Thump 75S
Hybrid: PXG 0317 X Proto 3H & 4H, Ventus Blue 7S

Irons: Takomo IRON 101, 5-PW, Accra T90i S
Wedges: Cleveland CBX ZipCore  48* Accra T90i S, 53* & 58*, Accra T100i S
Putter: Evnroll ER 1.2, Tour KBS GPS, 33",
 SuperStroke MidSlim 2.0
Ball: Maxfli Tour
Bag/Cart: '20 Nike Air Hybrid 2 / Clicgear 4.0 / Alphard Club Booster V2 / V2 Swivel Kit
Accessories: Arccos 360 / Garmin G80 / Nikon Coolshot Pro Stabilized

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I don't know why I picked that course as some of the ones mentioned above were also recommended but I just did. I don't think you need to live in golf town to get treated with some professionalism. I'm not a member at my one local course although I'm there very often and I call the landline and they don't know who I am in or around inclement weather and when asking for tee time availability they have told me numerous times the course is damp, there is puddling, cart path only, etc. to let me decide if paying for a round is worth the cost. That is all I expect.

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.......Bayou Oaks (South), English Turn, or Audubon........ Those courses are far and above the best in this area in terms of layout, upkeep, amenities, and customer service.......

 

Thanks for that info very helpful. As I mentioned I was planning on Bayou Oaks or Audubon. Good to know that South is better. I just read that it was remodeled in 2018. Missed that before.

 

Yeah, don't play the North (not if you're looking for anything decent anyway). There's a reason it costs about $15 to play! The South course renovation opened in early 2017 (Rees Jones) and the North and the South course aren't even close to being similar in terms of quality, layout, etc. TPC (Dye) and English Turn (Niklaus), personally, are my two favorite tracks in town followed by the South course at Bayou Oaks.

 

I don't know why I picked that course as some of the ones mentioned above were also recommended but I just did. I don't think you need to live in golf town to get treated with some professionalism. I'm not a member at my one local course although I'm there very often and I call the landline and they don't know who I am in or around inclement weather and when asking for tee time availability they have told me numerous times the course is damp, there is puddling, cart path only, etc. to let me decide if paying for a round is worth the cost. That is all I expect.

 

I hear ya. I'm not excusing it or condoning it. Just saying there's a reason I don't play Lakewood with any kind of regularity and it has to do with a lot of what you described - a bit in disrepair, underwhelming facilities, a general feeling that it isn't a very tightly run ship, etc. I'm not surprised to hear it was a ghost town. If you were hoping to play with someone, I think Audubon would have been your best bet as it gets the most play. TPC and English Turn are top notch as far as amenities and facilities and you won't get anything but a solid rental set.

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Living here, I wouldn't call NOLA a golf town either. That said, if anyone is sending you somewhere other than TPC Louisiana, Bayou Oaks (South), English Turn, or Audubon then you very well may get the treatment you just described. I wouldn't send anyone anywhere other than the four courses I just mentioned. Those courses are far and above the best in this area in terms of layout, upkeep, amenities, and customer service and while it's not a golf town, those four are more than adequate and I'd put them above many courses I've played in my life in so-called golf towns.

 

I REALLY need to make it back down to NOLA one day and see the redesigns of Audubon and Bayou Oaks. Back in grad school (many moons ago), I spent a TON of time at Audubon and the old City Park courses. Audubon was a goat ranch at the time, but I lived close and I could play all the golf I could walk for only 40 bucks a month. Perfect for a poor grad student, and some of my best golf memories were there ...

Titleist TSR3 (10) - Project X HZRDUS 4G 6.0
Titleist 917 F2 16.5 at C1 (15.75) - Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black 70 5.5
Titleist TSR2 21 at C3 (22) - Project X HZRDUS Red CB  70 6.0
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Ping Glide 3.0  58 ES - ZZ-115 - Black Dot

Callaway MD5 64 S Grind - TT-115 
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I carry a small bag with a dozen balls, tees, ball mark repair tool, and a couple quarters whenever I travel and might golf.

 

All the times I've rented clubs, they were OEM supplied. Every club and the bag were from the same OEM. Sometimes they throw in a sleeve or two of a balls and a few tees and sometimes you're on your own for the balls and tees.

 

I keep my expectations low for rentals. Cosmetic imperfections don't affect play. Don't worry about them.

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New Orleans is definitely not a golf town. Quite shocking the a PGA Tour event even comes here. Sucks to hear about your experience so hopefully you got to enjoy some of the other things this town has to offer. I think audubon is the best executive course i've ever played. Hit every club in the bag and the setting in the park is awesome. Most of the time its in good shape for what it is as well.

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New Orleans is definitely not a golf town. Quite shocking the a PGA Tour event even comes here. Sucks to hear about your experience so hopefully you got to enjoy some of the other things this town has to offer. I think audubon is the best executive course i've ever played. Hit every club in the bag and the setting in the park is awesome. Most of the time its in good shape for what it is as well.

 

NOLA is definitely a bit lacking when it comes to golf. But I wouldn't say its shocking that a professional sporting event would come to NOLA. The Zurich is a great tournament and it's always well-attended.....despite the fact that its timing each year often makes it compete with Jazz Fest for attendance.

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I don't know why I picked that course as some of the ones mentioned above were also recommended but I just did. I don't think you need to live in golf town to get treated with some professionalism. I'm not a member at my one local course although I'm there very often and I call the landline and they don't know who I am in or around inclement weather and when asking for tee time availability they have told me numerous times the course is damp, there is puddling, cart path only, etc. to let me decide if paying for a round is worth the cost. That is all I expect.

 

I lived in Key West for years.......made many a trip to Stock Island to play Key West Golf Club. For 2 years I lived in a condo at Sunset Marina and could just walk across the street to play a round. Oh the days!!!

 

Sorry you had such a bad experience playing in NOLA.....as luck would have it, I lived there for years as well so I can give you a few pointers for next time. Lakewood is one of those courses that has so much potential bc the layout is quite nice. Sadly, it does get inundated with water from the heavy rains that are frequent in NOLA. I never experienced bad customer service like that, but maybe I was just lucky. The course definitely has a very nice short game practice area......not that it helps you in this case bc the range was closed. Next time you are there, assuming you're staying on the East Bank, check out Bayou Oaks (South), English Turn, and TPC Louisiana in that order. TPC is great, but it's about 20 minutes OUTSIDE of town, and English Turn is on the West Bank practically in Plaquemines Parish....you really need to commit if you're going to either of those places. If you're staying on the West Bank, get out to English Turn....it's my favorite of the three. Word of caution with respect to Bayou Oaks.....it doesn't drain as well as envisioned.....so if it's cart path only, just walk or choose another course....the paths often feel like they are a mile away from the middle of the fairway, so you'll be walking a ton anyway; not worth the cost. Good luck, and I hope your next NOLA golf experience is better than your last.

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Living here, I wouldn't call NOLA a golf town either. That said, if anyone is sending you somewhere other than TPC Louisiana, Bayou Oaks (South), English Turn, or Audubon then you very well may get the treatment you just described. I wouldn't send anyone anywhere other than the four courses I just mentioned. Those courses are far and above the best in this area in terms of layout, upkeep, amenities, and customer service and while it's not a golf town, those four are more than adequate and I'd put them above many courses I've played in my life in so-called golf towns.

As someone who also lives here in New Orleans I agree with everything said here. There's only one other course that I play regularly and if you're coming from out of town it's not up to snuff to warrant playing it.
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