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Golf, Gumbo and Gambling: Southwest Louisiana
by Karen Misuraca
A two-hour drive or a short flight from Houston, Louisiana's Cajun Country makes a great weekend getaway. A plethora of sexy golf courses are exotic sanctuaries shaded by mossy oaks, palms and weeping willows, and watered by lagoons and spooky marshes where exotic birds display their vivid plumage. If you're sort of lucky, alligators will make their appearances, too.
The historic and welcoming towns of Lake Charles, Lafayette and Morgan City are headquarters for golf and for sightseeing on the bayous, and for that legendary Cajun cuisine. September through May is the best part of the year for golf.
Looking down from the plane over Lake Charles, a wavery watercolor of many greens is a soft background for red barges, a seaplane or two, pleasure yachts and ramshackle houses standing in the water. About half the weekenders and vacationers at Lake Charles are residents of the Houston area. They come for the gambling in several nice casinos, for Mardi Gras (second biggest in the country) and for a quartet of beautiful golf courses.
In Lake Charles, Contraband Bayou Golf Club is the only public Tom Fazio golf course in Louisiana. Black-eyed Susans nod in the thatch beneath tall pines on fairways that wind through lovely lowland marshes. Eight lakes and dense patches of high grasses and reeds create the challenge along with Fazio's tricky approaches, while wide landing zones make it playable for everyone. Fish are jumping, turtles are dozing, and rocking chairs are rocking on the porch of the pro shop.
 The fairways are never far from the mother ship, L'auberge du Lac Hotel and Casino, which is located right on the banks of the wide Contraband Bayou. Huge stone fireplaces are cozy gathering places in the soaring, timbered lobby at the 26-story, 750-room hotel complex that also incorporates the largest single-level riverboat in the country. Private air-conditioned cabanas are cool oases around the elaborate pool terrace; one media outlet calls it one of the top ten pools in the U.S. Hang out at the palapa bar, cruise the "lazy river", come back in the evenings to sit by the river and hear live music under the stars.
When you can tear yourself away from the gaming tables and 1,600 slot machines, head for the theater to hear Merle Haggard, the Neville Brothers, Julio Iglesias or Paul Anka, among others who perform here regularly. Several restaurants include the Snake River Grill, Asia and Jack Daniel's Bar and Grill. This is an upscale, sophisticated place that caters to wealthy Texans and laid-back golfers (http://www.ldlcasino.com).
The back porch of the raised plantation-style clubhouse at Gray Plantation Golf Course is a nice perch from which to contemplate the canopy of live oaks and tall pines and a lovely marsh along the fairways of a course that Golf Digest designated as one of America's 100 Greatest in 2005. Sixty acres of lakes and ponds and the Calcasieu River come into play on 12 holes--'gators have been known to come into play on 3, 5 and 8. As on many lowland courses, birds are much in evidence, such as osprey, gorgeous roseate spoonbills and three varieties of herons. As they say here, "a lot of little bitty bunkers"--about 95 of them--add to the fun.
 The par-3 sixth amounts to an island hole, nearly surrounded by river. Number 9 is the prettiest, backed by skyscraper pines, and with a 30-yard-wide green protected by seven bunkers and a water hazard across the front. A new teaching studio is available; university golf teams practice here. Don't fail to settle into the clubhouse for jambalaya and gumbo (http://www.audubongolf.com).
It's water, water on every hole but the first and third, and surrounding the 19th betting hole at Koasati Pines at Coushatta near Lake Charles. Owned by the Coushatta tribe, the course is impeccably maintained and has all the latest bells and whistles including GPS and a PGA staff. Within sight of the towering Grand Casino Coushatta, the rather flat track lies in dense stands of maples, pines, magnolias and aspen. The absence of residential development is a plus--you can see and hear beautiful birds and waterfowl among the cattails and the water lilies in the ponds and lakes. At 7,617, this is a whopper, the longest course in the state; six sets of tees make it a great resort course for all abilities. Lots of mounding, the ever-present water hazards, banks of flowers and a few split fairways make this an interesting layout.
After golf, head into the casino to 3,200 slots, nearly a hundred table games and six restaurants. Big name entertainers hold forth in the concert pavilion, and a huge annual Pow Wow gathering of tribes occurs in October (http://www.koasatipines.com).
 The newest track on Louisiana's Audubon Golf Trail, The Atchafalaya at Idlewild was designed by Robert von Hagge, who is known for Doral, LaCosta, and TPC at the Woodlands. Camouflage-painted golf carts cruise 7,533-yards of mounded, ridged fairways snaking through a forest of palmettos, pines, careening vines, and pin oaks hanging with Spanish moss--a lush flora indigenous to the Atchafalaya Basin. Vast wetlands, five lakes and 118 sand traps add to the challenge of super-fast greens--with no residential development in sight!
An Acadian-style mansion with a metal roof in keeping with the vernacular, the clubhouse was built of 130,000 board feet of dramatically charactered cypress lumber. Rocking chairs on the verandas are irresistible after golf, especially with a JD neat on the side (http://www.audubongolf.com).
Après Golf
An old town on the Atchafalaya River, Morgan City has been the magical setting for several movies (Déjà Vu, The King's Men, Tarzan). More than 400 restored historic buildings are gracious homes, boutiques, top notch restaurants, and nightspots where you can get in on a Fais Do Do--a sort of Cajun hoedown. The Cypress Manor and Mardi Gras Museum here is a must-see, and take a peek at activity on the river from the 21-foot seawall. A short drive alongside Bayou Teche leads to Oaklawn Manor, a perfectly restored plantation home.
Take Cajun Jack's Swamp Tours out of Patterson for a once-in-a-lifetime slow cruise in a canopied, comfortable flat boat on a maze of bayous, lakes and narrow channels in the Great Atchafalaya Basin. Guaranteed you will see alligators, stately herons, egrets and cranes and more water birds, and you'll hear tall tales and history of the swampers' lives.
 In Lafayette, tour the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, the Acadian Cultural Center, and Vermilionville, where Cajun/Creole heritage folk life, in the era between 1765 and 1890, are recreated on the banks of the Bayou Vermilion. Don's Seafood and Steakhouse downtown has been serving gumbo, fried catfish, crawfish and shrimp dinners since 1934; Sunday lunch is a good time to meet locals, who bring their families.
Avery Island is a fun stop to see where Tabasco Sauce is made. The privately owned island is a paradise of gardens and greenery, where you can take a walk, picnic or bike ride. The Tabasco factory has a neato gift shop.
In Lake Charles, the Historic Charpentier District is 20 blocks of restored Victorians, and five museums. The "Festival Capital of Louisiana", the city hosts 80 or so fairs and festivals annually.
Birdwatchers, 'gator watchers and photographers love the Creole Nature Trail, a 186-mile National Scenic Byway between Sulphur and Lake Charles, through Calcasieu and Cameron parishes; highlights are several wildlife refuges and a walk on a 1.5 mile boardwalk through gorgeous marshes.
Tip: don't leave home without a gallon or two of mosquito repellent.
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