Louisiana, USA
New Orleans Country Club has occupied the same Uptown property since 1914, making it one of Louisiana's most enduring private golf institutions. Originally designed by George Turpie, the par-71 parkland layout stretches to 6,655 yards across terrain framed by ancient live oaks and was comprehensively renovated by Bobby Weed in 2003 and again in 2024.
New Orleans Country Club has occupied the same Uptown property since 1914, making it one of Louisiana's most enduring private golf institutions. Originally designed by George Turpie, the par-71 parkland layout stretches to 6,655 yards across terrain framed by ancient live oaks and was comprehensively renovated by Bobby Weed in 2003 and again in 2024.
New Orleans Country Club delivers over a century of uninterrupted golfing history on a compact parkland layout shaped by ancient live oaks and two major Bobby Weed renovations, with the most recent completed in late 2024. As one of Louisiana's oldest private clubs, it occupies a unique position in Crescent City golf that no newer venue can replicate.
New Orleans Country Club opened in 1914 on a property in the city's Uptown neighbourhood, where it has remained continuously without ever relocating. The original layout was designed by George Turpie and established an 18-hole routing across what would become some of the most revered golfing ground in Louisiana.
In 1982, a further phase of redesign work was undertaken by MacCurrach Golf and Kirby Griffith, addressing course infrastructure and layout adjustments that had become necessary after nearly seven decades of play. The routing remained fundamentally intact through this period, preserving the core structure Turpie had established.
The club's most transformative modern chapter began in 2003, when Bobby Weed Golf Design undertook a comprehensive renovation. Poor soils, inadequate drainage and increasing maintenance demands had accumulated in a region that receives more than 1,525mm (60 inches) of annual rainfall. Weed's team installed over 15-plus miles of drainage pipe.
In 2024, Weed returned for a second full renovation, the most substantial since 2003. The project employed a three-pronged approach covering design, infrastructure and re-grassing, completed over ten months while members retained access to practice facilities throughout.
Over 12,000 linear feet of herringbone drainage was installed, greens were re-grassed with TifEagle bermudagrass and restored to their original dimensions, recovering 13% of lost surface area. Fairways and roughs were re-grassed wall-to-wall with TifTuf bermudagrass. The 2024 renovation was completed on schedule and on budget.
New Orleans Country Club plays to par 71 from a maximum of 6,655 yards (6,085 metres). The layout is core-routed and compact, a characteristic that Weed's team preserved deliberately throughout both renovations, accepting the constraints of the Uptown site and working within them rather than against them.
Live oak trees define the visual and strategic character of the course. Ancient specimens frame narrow corridors on multiple holes, placing a premium on accuracy rather than length. Eight holes involve water, distributed throughout the routing rather than concentrated in any single section of the course.
The opening two holes are both par fives, creating an unusual opening sequence that establishes the course's relatively flat terrain before the layout tightens through the middle holes. The first hole plays to 611 yards (559 metres).
The 17th green is a Biarritz-style putting surface, oriented sideways to the line of play, incorporating a central swale between two elevated plateaux.
The 2024 renovation refined the bunker strategy throughout. Capes, bays and flashed faces were introduced to improve sightlines from tees and fairways.
Expanded short-cut areas around greens and bunkers increase shot variety around the putting surfaces, and all par-3 tee complexes were enlarged with additional forward tees added for flexibility.
TifEagle bermudagrass on the greens and TifTuf on the fairways reflect current best practice for low-maintenance, firm-and-fast playing conditions in the Gulf South climate.
Few private clubs in the American South can claim over 110 years of continuous presence on a single property. At New Orleans Country Club, that longevity is matched by a commitment to infrastructure investment: two comprehensive overhauls within 21 years, the most recent delivered in late 2024, leave the course in the most technically sound condition of its history.
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