Fallen Oak
Played Fallen Oak in 2016 with my buddy Pete. I actually came to crash another company’s conference golf event in New Orleans. I have a pretty low tolerance for New Orleans – at most three days there is more than enough. It’s dirty. It smells. Too many beggars. It’s dank. I hate their stupid accent, dahlin’. While the Quarter and Bourbon Street are fun, it gets old, really quick. There are also some great restaurants but again, a few days and you’re all good.
I say this because Mississippi makes for a nice escape while you’re down there. Biloxi is nothing to get all starched up over but it makes a nice respite from everything New Orleans and if you stay at the Beau Rivage, you can access their own version of Shadow Creek, Fallen Oak.
Fallen Oak is the top rated course in MS. It is a Tom Fazio course just like Shadow and this is exclusive to those staying at the Beau Rivage (an MGM property). Conditioning here is top notch. There are no houses or buildings to spoil the walk (or ride). Like Pine Valley, you can’t see one hole from the other. It’s a big property with nice rolling hills. While you have a few ponds and carries over some schmoogies here and there, it’s not in your face. It’s a fun course to play but is definitely not a push over.
The whites here measure about 6,500 yards. One (photo above) is a 516-yard par five from there and the 7the hardest hole on the course. It is tough! The creek above will eat up anything left. That creek turns into a pond for your approach. I found the card and the fact that I scrambled for a bogey here is surprising as I remember hitting from the creek bed into the bunker. Two is a 432-yard brute. I remember being in the linen on this one. Thirteen after two has all of the makings of a bad day but actually had a couple of birdies and navigated the rest of the course well enough to reach my perfectly mediocre round of 90.
Besides one, no other hole on the course really sticks out in my mind. Fallen Oaks is just one of those courses that as you’re playing and when you’re done you just have an overall positive feel. They have a great bar here and make some nice bloodies (in theory they are supposed to be award-winning).
I hear there are some other nice courses here, a Jack Nicklaus one also in the Mississippi woods and one or two on the bayou. I never played those but if you’re not a fan of New Orleans and have played the Trail already, this wouldn’t be a bad weekend trip. The steakhouse at the casino is nice (BR Prime) and I had been here many years before and ate at the others but don’t remember much. I’ll do a better write-up of New Orleans once I get to TPC New Orleans.
Golf Scrapbook 