The Island Golf Course

The Island Country Club: Just outside the city of Plaquemine, sandwiched between historic Bayou Plaquemine on one side, and Bayou Jacob on the other, the "Sweet Spot of the South" (as the club suggests), is located on a former sugar cane plantation. The two nine-hole loops occupy relatively flat and open terrain, with plenty of water hazards along the way.

Although the larger bayou (Plaquemine) is rarely in play and often 100 yards or more from the course, Bayou Jacob threatens on several occasions. The entire stretch from the tee of the par-4 10th to the par-3 13th green is played with the bayou flanking the rightside of each hole.

On the front-nine, the opening three holes are also played alongside the bayou. Gentle mounding and a mix of pot bunkers and more expansive sand traps provide added defences to all but two holes: the bunkerless and sharply doglegging par-4 1st and the water defended 13th.

When bayous and wetlands are not present, single-storey housing could well be flanking the holes, including a replica of the original plantation home that once stood here (the replica, just after the par-4 17th tee, is apparently only 20 years old).

There's not too much to see beyond the course, with flat farmland stretching away to the north and the mainly tree-screened Bayou Plaquemine occasionally in view on the southside of the course. An enjoyably open and challenging layout, not least if the wind is blowing, although not necessarily one of the Audubon Golf Trail's most dramatic or overly scenic layouts.