Golf Guide: New Orleans - LA

Think Saints, Preseration Hall, Bourbon Street, gumbo, catfish and jazz and you've got New Orleans where the heart of the Crescent City beats with lively action as music spills out onto the streets lending a soulful mood to the city day and night. Located in southeastern Louisiana along the great Mississippi River and bordered by Lake Pontchartrain and the Gulf of Mexico, New Orleans enjoys a humid, subtropical climate.

Start the day with a stop at Caf￩ du Monde for a melt-in-you-mouth beignet drenched with powerdy sugar and for dinner order a hearty dish of gumbo and sweet potato pecan pie at K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen or another of the fine eateries in the French Quarter. Be sure to order a Sazerac, arguably the first cocktail ever served in the United States that made its debut in New Orleans in the early 1800's. This enticing concoction of brandy, absinthe and a dash of bitters has yo-yoed in and out of fashion. But now the word is out - the Sazerac is "in."

Catch the trolley and ride it past Tulen University to the end of the line. It's one of the best sightseeing deals in town along with a stroll along Riverwalk on the site of the 1984 Louisiana World's Fair with close to 150 stores, restaurants, and markets.

In and around New Orleans are several top public golf courses, some members of the Audubon Golf Trail, a selection of 12 excellent tracks including The Audubon Park Golf Course in historic uptown. It's the only course in America you can reach by cable car with roots back to 1898.

Another Audubon Trail track, the Pete Dye-designed TPC of Louisiana, located just across the Mississippi River. Home to the Zurich Classic, it was named "One of America's Top Five Best New Golf Courses" (Golf Digest, January 2005) and is open to the public.

Good muni bets include The Joseph M. Bartholomew Municipal Golf Course and Brechtel Memorial Park Municipal Golf Course while the Chateau Golf & Country Club is a popular semi-private country club in greater New Orleans.

Stay in one of the historic hotels, some operated by major chains like Omni and Royal Sonesta, on or near Bourbon Street with patios, French doors, gables windows and wrought-iron-lacy balconies. Or try a small inn or B&B in or nearby the city.