Gray Plantation Golf Club

Gray Plantation Golf Club: journey south-east from the centre of Lake Charles and you'll discover one of the top rated courses on Louisiana's Audubon Golf Trail. Just past Lake Prien and two miles beyond Lake Charles Country Club, the Gray Plantation layout at Graywood retains a predominantly natural feel, even though residential housing is also beginning to make its presence felt.

The front-nine offers views out onto a bend in the Calcasieu River, while the back-nine is played in a clockwise loop around Lake Matilda. Many of the excellently crafted holes are threatened by lakes and ponds, while the Calcasieu waterway presents its own challenges at the well-bunkered par-4 5th, the signature island-green par-3 6th, and the very testing par-5 7th. Even with petro-chemical plants on the other side of the river, this middle front-nine stretch of holes is both wonderfully scenic and dramatic to play.

Added to the not infrequent water hazards, a veritable mass of stylish bunkering is also deployed to give excellent definition to the fairways and serious defences to the large and testing greens. Although relatively flat, the predominantly quite open, at times more tree-lined, layout possesses an excellent variety of holes.

With generally good-width fairways, big-hitters will often be tempted to "go for it" from the tee, as at the risk-reward par-4 11th and drivable, but dangerously water-flanked par-4 16th. Most of the time careful course management and a less gung-ho approach may better serve your cause.