TPC of Louisiana
Designed by Pete Dye
History
The reclaimed swampland of Avondale, Louisiana, gave rise to TPC of Louisiana in 2004, the product of a partnership between the PGA Tour and local interests eager to bring a Tour-caliber venue to the New Orleans area. This was no incidental addition to the region’s golf landscape — the course was built with tournament golf in mind from the outset, joining the TPC network as a purpose-built stadium course designed to host professional competition while remaining open to the public.
Pete Dye took on the design, and the assignment suited him. Dye had spent decades reshaping flat, unremarkable ground into courses of consequence, and the low-lying terrain outside New Orleans gave him familiar raw material to work with. His signature touch — the willingness to demand precision and punish carelessness — found a home here, and the layout became one of the few Dye designs in the Deep South built explicitly for tournament use rather than resort or residential play.
The course’s tournament pedigree solidified quickly. TPC of Louisiana became the home of the PGA Tour’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans, a role it has held since Hurricane Katrina forced the event’s relocation from English Turn in 2005. That partnership has endured for nearly two decades, with the course undergoing periodic refinements to its turf and infrastructure to keep pace with Tour standards, all while continuing to serve as a public course for Louisiana golfers the rest of the year.
Playing Notes
Water comes into play on the majority of holes here, so bring extra balls and a plan for laying up when the wind picks up off the flat Louisiana terrain — there's little to block gusts once they get moving. The course sits low and open, with few trees crowding the fairways, which means the wind is your primary opponent more often than the rough. Greens run fast and are built with enough contour to punish approach shots that come in from the wrong angle, so distance control matters more than raw length off the tee. It's cart-required, spread out enough that walking isn't practical, and the bunkering shows up most aggressively around the greens rather than the fairways, so your short game will get tested repeatedly. Pack sunscreen and rain gear regardless of forecast — the exposed layout offers no real shelter, and Louisiana weather can turn quickly on you mid-round.