Contraband Bayou Golf Club, Lake Charles, LA

I played in the heat of July, course was in good shape, not 6 groups went off all day. Hadn't played in while so I liked the open nature of course, forgiving. The alligator in the pond was a new one for me. I let that ball go. Descent course if you don't have to pay full price. They have a good "casino guest" price, GolfLink price was better.

I'm a local bogey golfer. For a guy like me, playing here is a nice treat compared to other public courses. I can play here for less in the slow season with a far far better overall experience. Not overwhelmingly difficult for a golfer like me trying to get better. I can have a great experience on a nice course that wont make me want to give up! For the more seasoned golfer this course will be VERY underwhelming. The beverage cart prices are very reasonable, but the busy season green fees are NOT! Way too high for a course that is nice yes, but not nearly on the level of some other ones I've played for a lot less, especially since there is a lot of construction going on around the property. I can deal with some dead winter grass to get the cheaper rates. So in the end, I have great fun with my buddies here. But if you are looking for a really challenging round, Check out Gray Plantation or Koasati Pines.

I live in the area and have played once before and overall it was in pretty good shape. Construction in and around course and kind of noisy but enjoyed a nice round with my son. I give the course a fairly high rating except the fees for an afternoon round and were not exactly in line with what I prefer to pay. A little steep for me but staff was friendly and I like the in cart yardage console. I will be back :)

This course is fairly similar to an over-priced tourist trap. The course itself is straight forward, long, and for the most part boring. There aren't really any unique holes to remember. I guess what I liked least about it, however, is the type of grass the course rests upon exception being the fairways. I guess it's fesque or the really soft grass that your ball will rest up on, but when you go to hit the ball it's very difficult to make clean contact. Your club kind of sinks into the grass on your swing thus providing to much of a divot causing you to lose distance control and distance altogether on your iron shots. Very hard to pick it clean. I'd almost rather be using my irons from a concrete surface. The greens played fair and somewhat fast, but because of this grass/rough, which really bordered most greens, chipping close to the hole seemed impossible. The course was lacking in 2nd cut grass approaching most greens. The price of $39 to ride weekday twilight (they didn't permit us to walk) seemed definatley pricey for the quality of the course. Bayou's greatest attribute was that they have alligators on the course, which being from New Jersey, was a first for me playing with them. That, I admit, was really cool. We saw 2 in the pond on the first hole and 2 more sunning themselves up on the bank bordering the 9th fairway. But if your a local, even this probably isn't as thrilling to see as it was for me. They do have logo balls for the collector like myself, a definate plus, but overall for the course itself, I wasn't impressed and actually pretty disappointed. Overall rating, mainly because of seeing the gators alone B+