The best golf courses in Louisiana

Metairie Country Club, opened in 1925, was the jewel of New Orleans golf through the first decade of its existence. It was designed by Seth Raynor and possessed variations of his much-studied template holes originally introduced by his mentor, C.B. Macdonald at National Golf Links of America and other courses. A land swap in 1928 fundamentally altered the second nine routing of holes 14-18, and hard economic conditions and infrastructure challenges in the late 1930s prompted further renovations that compromised Raynor's design, a trend that continued for decades. The club never retained Raynor's blueprints for the course and were not sure precisely what the archtiect had left behind, so in 2021 they hired Brian Silva to reimagine a pure Raynor course on the property. Drawing on as much experience studying and reviving Raynor's designs throughout the country as anyone over the last 30 years, Silva reproduced vivid versions of the Bottle, Biarritz, Redan, Leven, Road, Eden and others. Though not a historical restoration, Metairie has been completely and imaginitively transformed.

Home of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans since 2007, this Pete Dye design exudes a flair of TPC Sawgrass with some more low-profile design features like hidden bunkers and green complexes that offer options on approach. Dye had help from fellow tour pros Steve Elkington and New Orleans native Kelly Gibson on this 7,400 yard par-72 layout. Consistently ranked in the top 10 of Golf Digest’s Best in State, TPC Lousiana offers a nice mix of challenging short and long holes.

This 7,000 yard, par-72 features beautifully manicured Bermuda greens, and minimal trees that make room for open and forgiving fairways. The course can become quite challenging as the winds pick up from the Gulf of Mexico just a few miles away. With multiple tee options and an eclectic mix of long and short par 3s, 4s and 5s, the Golden Nugget course is an intriguing feat for golfers of all handicap levels.