Our Sunday round was at Tamahka Trails Golf Club, which is about a half hour from Alexandria. Back in January my friend and I had a round booked here but ended up cancelling because of a winter storm. I got us an early morning tee time for Sunday but had to move that back at the last minute because of some hotel drama on Saturday night.

My friend and I golfed yesterday in Mobile, AL and then burned up the road to get to Louisiana. I’m not exactly sure what was going on in the region but most hotels were all booked up. We found something in Alexandria (farther north than where we were looking) and got in around 1am. Needless to say we weren’t in the mood for that early tee time and moved it to later in the morning.

Thankfully, the course accommodated our change in plans and we teed off around 10am on a beautiful spring morning! We played through a foursome on the 1st hole and then mostly had the course to ourselves until the end of the round, when a twosome caught up to us. When we finished up the place was packed with golfers so it was nice not to have to deal with that madness.

Tamahka Trails is associated with the Paragon Casino Resort (right around the corner from the course) and the course periodically finds its way into the top public courses in Louisiana. The course is part of Louisiana’s Audubon Golf Trail, a twist on Alabama’s famous RTJ Golf Trail. Tamahka Trails is the fifth course on the Audubon Golf Trail that I’ve played. I’ve enjoyed the courses that I’ve played, but so far have found the RTJ Trail courses to be better on all levels. Still, I like the idea of trying to “play them all” and have twelve courses left on my Audubon Trail list.

As for Tamahka Trails, it turned out to be a solid layout. It is a Steve Smyers design that opened in 2000 and recently went through a bunker renovation (early 2021) – which looks great. The grass surrounding the edges of the bunkers is still new and needs time to grow, but the bunkers have a bit of a gnarly, rugged vibe to them. The course sits on a nice piece of property – without any homes – and has a casino/parkland look to it.

We played the blue tees which are 71.3/126/6495 (par-71) and there are some good golf holes, considering the flat landscape in this part of the country. From tee to green Tamahka Trails is friendly and has plenty of width. The only tee shot that might be troublesome is the 4th, which is on a short and narrow par-5. However, once you get to the greens then you’ll have your hands full. The green complexes are quite difficult and don’t allow for many aggressive chips or putts.

I thought the shorter holes at Tamahka Trails were its best. For example, the 2nd is a 130 yard par-3 that plays over water. The green curls around a bunker and turned out to be even smaller than it looked from the tee box. Then, the 17th is a 285 yard par-4 that offers a chance to drive the green. If you go for it you can play out to the right for a good angle or try to carry a cross bunker to catch the right edge of the green.

We paid the rack rate of $75 each, which was steep for the early season conditions and considering the course was recently out of its renovation (with many re-grassed areas). It turned out to be a play-all-day rate but I’m not sure if that was a special or an every day thing. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time for more than one round to take advantage. But, for the price to only play 18 holes I was a bit disappointed.

For whatever reason, the ground was very firm and the course played like a Texas course in the summer – plenty of roll. The fairways were starting to green up but most lies were tight. The greens were pure and super slick. The tees were crusty and looked like they could use some rain.

As things stand right now Tamahka Trails had an unfinished feel about it to me. I couldn’t help but think if I played here during peak season when everything was lush and the bunker renovation had time to mature that the experience would have been noticeably better. There is not a bunch of golf in the area, so no doubt Tamahka Trails is one of the best courses around. Ultimately, I think it is worth the detour off the I-49, but probably not until it is fully out of winter dormancy.

Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):