Bayou Oaks at City Park — North Course

City Park has had golf since the end of the nineteenth century, on ground a few minutes north of the French Quarter. What is played today dates from after Hurricane Katrina: the storm destroyed the courses in 2005, and the North Course was rebuilt and reopened in 2009. The complex now trades as Bayou Oaks and holds two eighteens, a double-decker driving range and a practice green.

The North is the older idiom of the two. The South, a Rees Jones design, is the championship course; the North is the one the city plays.

What it asks of you

Par 67 over about 5,740 yards. That is a short course with a tight par, which is a specific and increasingly rare combination: there are more par threes than usual and few chances to get a shot back, so the round is decided by wedges and putting rather than by driving.

Water is in play on eight of the eighteen holes, which on a flat New Orleans site means it is visible, lateral and difficult to ignore. Combined with the bunkering, it makes the course far more demanding than the yardage suggests, and it is why a player who leaves the driver in the bag usually scores better here.

The ground sits below sea level, as most of the city does, and it drains slowly. After heavy rain the course plays long and soft, and the ball does not run.

What players say about it

Opinion on this course is divided, more than on most. The points below summarise what recurs in public reviews on course sites and booking platforms. These are other people’s opinions, not ours: we have not played the course, and we name and quote no one.

What comes up in its favor

• The location is the argument: eighteen holes inside the city, minutes from the French Quarter, in a park full of live oaks.
• The layout is described as entertaining and playable for every level, which is what a city course should be.
• The practice facilities, and the double-decker range in particular, are unusual for a municipal complex.
• Staff are repeatedly described as helpful.

What comes up against

• Conditioning is the point on which reviews split: several mention ruts and uneven fairways, others find the course in good order. It is worth checking recent opinion before booking.
• Par 67 gives a low handicap little to work with.
• The water costs balls to a high handicap.
• Drainage is a real constraint on a site below sea level, and a wet week changes the course.

Getting there and when to go

The course is on Filmore Avenue in City Park, about fifteen minutes from the French Quarter and half an hour from Louis Armstrong airport.

The season is year-round. October to April is the comfortable window; the summer is hot, humid and prone to afternoon storms. Tee times are booked online.

Green fees

Rates and tee times are set by the operator. See the operator’s own site.

How this page was made

The factual frame comes from public sources: OpenStreetMap for the location, encyclopaedic entries and the operator’s own history for the park’s golf and the rebuild after 2005, and public course records for the par, the yardage and the water. The opinion section summarises public reviews read in September 2026; the unfavourable ones on conditioning are here because they recur, not because we share them. We report recurring themes rather than individual voices, and we reproduce no quotations.

We have not played this course, and this page is no substitute for a round. Nobody has paid for this page, and no one saw it before publication. If you know the course and something here is wrong or out of date, write to us and we will correct it.