400 Cotten Rd,
Patterson, Louisiana LA 70392
Office
+1 (985) 395 4653Pro shop
+1 (985) 395 4653Fax
+1 (985) 399 4444Website
Visit websiteGolf pro
Ed Selser (Director of Golf)The Course:
18 holes. Open parkland. Relatively flat terrain - easy to walk.
Surroundings:
Wetlands and woodland
Designer:
Robert von Hagge, Michael Smelek & Richard Baril
29.666837
-91.294091
85 miles SW of New Orleans
Atchafalaya
The Atchafalaya at Idlewild: Located on flattish terrain on the edge of the USA's largest area of river swamp, the Atchafalaya at Idlewild is one of the newest additions to the Audubon Golf Trail. Native flora surrounds much of this excellent Von Hagge layout, with the front-nine loop pushing into a swampy forest of cypress trees (which once made this area the world's largest exporter of cypress wood).
Despite its woodland perimeter, most of the course, and especially the back-nine, is characterised by an open, almost linksy environment. Plenty of earthmounding, excellent bunkering and no shortage of water hazards create an enjoyably challenging layout.
On this quiet, former dairy farm (with a former silo built into the clubhouse), holes like the long par-4 4th, 9th and 18th holes are played to greens which dangerously hang out over the side of small lakes. A large, lakeside double-green awaits at the 9th and 18th.
Among the snaking par-5s, the 635-yard 6th and 594-yard 16th will test the length of anyone ambitious enough to play this 7500-yard layout from the back-tees. If you do opt for the tips, all the par-3s will play well over 200 yards.
Several bunker-festooned holes use a mix of grass-bunker clusters, small pot bunkers (a mere 20 of them on the 18th alone) and larger more expansive sand traps. The tee-box markers: bears, eagles, 'gators, otters and turtles, indicate something of the abundant wildlife that occupies this natural habitat, while "cypress knees" provide the 150 yard markers.
Visitors welcome on weekdays and weekends.
Must book in advance.
Contact club for full details, discounts, packages. [Last updated: 2024].
Walking permitted at all times. Golf carts are fitted with GPS.
Excellent
The Atchafalaya at Idlewild is a member of Louisiana's Audubon Golf Trail. The Trail was established in 2001, and includes 18 of the best public-access courses in the state. [See our entry for Audubon Park (Did You Know section) for a list of the Audubon Golf Trail courses].
The golf course at Atchafalaya is located less than 3 miles from the Atchafalaya river, the name of which derives from the Native American Choctaw language, hacha (river) and falaia (long). Flowing through south central Louisiana, the Atchafalaya is a 170-mile long distributary of the Mississippi river.
The river creates the Atchafalaya Basin, the USA's largest river swamp, which contains almost a million acres of swamps, bayous and backwater lakes. The Atchfalaya river is navigable, providing a significant industrial shipping channel for the state of Louisiana, as well as the cultural heart of the Cajun Country.
The Masters: The 88th Masters Tournament at Augusta National sees LIV golfer Jon Rahm defend his title against the world’s best. Pressing hard will be world No.1 and 2022 champion Scottie Scheffler and world No.2 Rory McIlroy (April 11-14).
Chevron Championship: the women’s major championship season gets underway for the second year at its new Carlton Woods home outside Houston, Texas. World No.2 Lilia Vu defends (April 18-21).
Nelly Korda: records a perfect start to 2024 with four wins out of her last four appearances on the LPGA Tour, a feat last achieved by Lorena Ochoa in 2008. Korda's win at the T-Mobile Match Play brought up her 12th LPGA Tour victory.
Scottie Scheffler: narrowly missed out on matching Nelly Korda’s three-in-three, when he placed second at the Houston Open. This followed back-to-back wins at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players. Like Korda, he remains comfortably ahead in the official world golf rankings.
Marco Simone Golf & Country Club: With a clubhouse that might befit a Roman Emperor, and a golf course to match, you can be sure of a memorable outing at Rome's most talked about golf facility.
Jim Fazio's original layout was much changed to create a modern Ryder Cup course ... now one of the Eternal City's (and Italy's) most revered.
Here at Prince’s Golf Club you'll find 27 excellent holes of links golf. Just over the fence and sharing similar terrain is Royal St George’s; but Prince’s is far from overshadowed by its venerable neighbour. The three nine-hole loops at Prince's, laid out over gently undulating terrain, are sure to bring a smile of satisfaction to all lovers of links golf.
Stay&Play at Prince's: excellent onsite Lodge accommodation available
You can subscribe to the Where2Golf channel on YT if you like to see more video content. You'll find a "Subscribe" button on any of our YouTube videos. Or if you want a quick and direct access subscribe here. Once done, any new published videos will show up in your Subscriptions feed.
