July 19th Day 44 - Links On The Bayou, Alexandria, LA
                                                                    Drove 348 miles

In the Spring of 2020 when I was here in Alexandria, I was a day late to play Links On the Bayou as the parish (Louisianian for county) closed all it's public facilities due to Covid-19. This time I got to play the course and it IS a dandy. After shooting a "decent" round the day before in Mississippi, I shot one of my better rounds of this trip here in Louisiana, an 86 with 37 putts. 

The course is pretty flat and the greens, despite the recent deluge of rain, were fast, the way I like them. The ONLY negative thing was that the sand bunkers were all washed out from the rains and were unplayable, but I didn't hold that against this well maintained golf course, one of the best municipal courses I have ever golfed. Besides, I never hit one in a bunker until the 18th hole.

I played from the white tees, 5866 yards, with a slope of 118 and a rating of 68.8. The longest tees are 6767 yards with a slope of 132 and a rating of 72.8. Margaret would play the 5158 yard course, slope of 120 and rating of 70.1. There is a fair amount of water hazards on the golf course (I only hit into one of them) and quite a few interesting holes. I would recommend this course to anyone and the green fee with cart is was only $ 37, probably a senior rate, but I don't remember for sure.

After my round I was off to North Little Rock, Arkansas. There was considerable road construction on I-30, but I just sped along with the traffic and all the big rigs along the way.

North Little Rock is it's own city and is separated from Little Rock by the Arkansas River. I checked into my motel and went looking for a place to eat. There was literally NO place to park near a suggested restaurant, so on my way back towards the motel, I turned onto an OLD street in an old section of town and found a place to park. I decided to walk up the street and eat at wherever and whatever might be open. 

Boy, did I get lucky. I went into the "Four Quarters Bar", had an excellent meal, a couple of glasses of good local beer and and ended up talking to about four different people who were sitting at the bar. There was a sign on door advertising "The Reverend Horton Heat" (Jim Heath & band) were going to play in THIS bar on Thursday. I could hardly believe it and if I hadn't been on a schedule (I would've given up one day the see "The Rev", but not three) I certainly would have come to their show. There was just a tiny bandstand in the front corner of the bar, but since they're are a 3 piece band I guess they could make it work. The bartender told me they had played there a couple of times before. 

I wish my timing had been a few days better, but the whole golf/Four Quarters experience had made for one of my favorite days on the whole trip.


          Randy’s golf course             ratings          play again               could recommend           Price

Prairieview GC (Byron, IL)               5                  YES                           YES                           $

The Boulder Course (Winchester, VA)    5            YES                           YES                           $$

Wine Valley (Walla Walla, WA)         5                  YES                          YES                            $$$

The Walker Course (Clemson, SC)    5                  YES                          YES                            $$

Dakota Winds (Hankinson, ND)        5                   YES                          YES                           $$

The Links at Greystone (Walworth, NY)   4.5        YES                         YES                            $$

Slammer & Squire GC                      4.5                 YES                          YES                           $$$       (St. Augustine, FL)   

Links On The Bayou                       4.5                 YES                         YES                           $ (Alexandria, LA) 

Raccoon Creek (Littleton, CO)         4.5                 YES                          YES                           $$

Brooks Golf (Okoboji, IA)                 4                   YES                          YES                           $$

The Legacy (Springfield, TN)            4                   YES                          YES                           $

Awarii Dunes (Kearney, NE)              4                   YES                          YES                           $$

Chicopee CC (Chicopee, MA)           4                    YES                          YES                           $ 

The Architects Club (Phillipsburg, NJ)   4               YES                          YES                           $$

Lake Panorama Nat. (Panora, IA)      4                   no*1                           YES                          $$

Heritage Shores (Bridgeville, DE)      4                   YES                           YES                          $$

Houston Oaks (Paris, KY)                  4                   YES                           YES                           $  

Eagles Landing (Ocean City, MD)     4                   YES                            YES                          $$    

Brandon GC (Brandon, SD)               4                   YES                             YES                         $

Viroqua Hills GC (Viroqua, WI)        4                   YES                             YES                          $

Magnolia Grove Crossings GC          4                   YES                             YES                          $$$

Portland GC (Portland, CT)               4                    YES                             YES                         $

Green Valley CC (Portsmouth, RI)    4                    YES                             YES                         $$

Snow Hill CC (New Vienna, OH)      4                    YES                            YES                         $

Links at Union Vale (Lagrangeville, NY)   4           YES*2                         YES                        $$$

Bear Slide GC (Cicero, IN)                 4                    no                               YES                        $$

Pilgrim's Oak (Peach Bottom, PA)    3.5                  YES                             YES                        $

Lochmere G & CC (Tilton, NH)       3.5                  YES                             YES                        $$

Rivers Edge (Burley, ID)                  3.5                  YES ?                          YES                         $

Natchez Golf Club @ Duncan Park  3.5                  YES                             YES                        $                 (Natchez, MS)

Eastern Hills (Kalamazoo, MI)         3.5                  YES                              YES                        $

Brattleboro CC (Brattleboro, VT)     3.5                  YES  ?                          YES                        $$          

Monroe CC (Monroe, NC)                3.5                  YES                              YES                        $

Martindale CC (Auburn, ME)           3.5                  YES   ?                         YES                        $$$       

Birch Creek (Smithfield,UT)             3.5                    no                       good golfers only           $

Fort Myers CC (Fort Myers, FL)        3                    YES                             YES                        $

Kimball Golf Club (Kimball, MN)     3                      no                                 no                         $

Buffalo Golf Club (Buffalo, WY)       3                      no                                 no                         $$

Pryor Creek (Huntley, MT)                 3                      no                                 no                         $        Johnny Walker Course (there’s also a Country Club course, but you need to play with a member!)

The Brookside Club (Bourne, MA)    2                      no                                 no                         $$

Crosswinds Championship GC          1.5                    no                                 no                         $  (Savannah, GA)

Jones Course (Wheeling, WV)            1                      no                                 no                        $$$

Langston GC (Washington D.C.)        1                       no                                no                        $$

*1 = would play again if a different yardage was offered, with slope and course ratings

*2 = would move up a tee and NOT pay weekend green fee. M-Th fee is $ 77 and $ 61 after 2 p.m. 









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