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Golf FaGGolf
Mississippi
Wetlands, Gators and Golf
Playing the new Mississippi Magnolia Golf Trail
There are more than 145 golf courses in Mississippi; some of the best are part of Mississippi’s newly launched Magnolia Golf Trail. More than a dozen tracks, mainly clustered in the north and southern part of the state, deliver not just good golf, but with green fees including a cart typically running about $40, you can’t beat the value.
Many haven’t heard about the new trail yet which means you get tee times easily and play on uncrowded courses. And we’re not talking about rinky dink munis either: these are serious courses created by high profile designers like Arnold Palmer, Jerry Pate, Tom Fazio and Gary Roger Baird who have crafted arguably some of the best golf in the South.
And to talk about Mississippi golf and not mention the casino scene would be like going to Scotland and ignoring the Old Course. With casino resort complexes like Pearl River near Jackson where the two stellar Dancing Rabbit courses planted on Mississippi Choctaw ancestral land, have caught the attention of top golfers in the country and The Preserve, a Jerry Pate track and Palace Casino which opened last summer in Biloxi, certainly golf and gaming in Mississippi is on a roll.
The Dogwoods
It’s not just on Native American land where new golf courses are being built: think state parks where affordability is definitely a big hook. Take the Dogwoods (above), a Gary Roger Baird design which opened last spring six miles east of Grenada in the Piney Woods Area northern Hills Region of the state. Carved out of more than 200 acres in Hugh White State Park, there is a lot of land to play with accommodating behemoth undulating greens and fairways, sizable elevation changes and more than 80 bunkers — big ones. Still this is a straight forward course playing more than 7,000 yards with no odd quirks or gimmicks.
The 36,000 acre Grenada Lake is one of the scenic highlights of the course. You get your first glimpse of the water as you stand on the tee box above hole #8 and again on #9. From this point on, the lake can be seen off and on but the view is particularly stunning on #12 when you’re hitting to a green with the lake in the background.
The forth public course to open in a Mississippi state park, The Dogwoods is operated by the City of Grenada and is a welcome addition to the Mississippi golf scene as well as a departure from the more traditional rolling courses in the state. What we liked was the sense of place, fairways lined by things natural, not houses or condos.
Mallard Pointe Golf Course
In John Kyle State Park, you get a sneak preview at what you’re facing as you tee off on the first hole at Mallard Pointe, a par 72 Bob Cupp design playing 7004 yards from the tips. To your right, is the approach to the 9th green, a diabolical carry over a rolling treacherous gully — a place you don’t want to even think of entering to retrieve an errant ball. This par 4, 462 yard hole, the number 1 handicap hole, is a monster but the par 4, hole #18 — which shares the same diabolical terrain as #9 and is the #2 handicap hole — is even more insane.
Playing 457 yards, you have to dig deep to come up with a reasonable course management strategy of where to place your drive to allow for a good second shot into the green.
The land in front of you looks like a medieval upheaval left over from an earth plate slide. No level landing space in sight. Your best bet if you are a Bubba Watson is to go for the 457 yards to the green but if that shot’s not in your bag, keep left, hope your ball doesn’t slide down the slope into the scrubby stuff to the right and pray that you brought your A-game on downhill shots. Aside from these two tests of patience, the rest of the course flows up and over the hills quite nicely.
With elevated tee shots to narrow greens, the real possibility of wind and the terrain, Mallard Pointe’s slogan, “The bird has a bite” couldn’t be more true. And oh yes, s holes 9 and 18 are memorable.
Kirkwood National Golf Club
At the northern end of the trail in Holly Springs, the Bermuda fairways of Kirkwood National Golf Club, a 7129 yard, par 72 yard track, roll nicely over a pretty, hilly landscape. Although Kirkwood is part of a residential development, the buildings do not intrude.
There is plenty of water, moguls, deep waster bunkers and wetlands on the course along with changes in elevation and a handful of dog legs providing some risk and reward challenges. You start right out with such a test, a 383 yard dog right where water and bunkers can come into play on the right. Although long hitters can carry the 247 yards from the tips, and have an easy chip shot into the green, the left side is open but leaves more distance to the green.
The signature hole #9, a 453 yard par 4, requires a lofted shot to the elevated green protected by three bunkers while hole #11, a 435 yard par 4 has lots of double trouble with bunkers and water guarding the sloping green. Be sure to catch the view from the elevated back tee: it’s worth a stop.
And on hole #15 at just 132 yards (85 from the front), it ’s no slam dunk: you’ll need to carry a large pond to an undulating green — beware the sunning gators.
I really like the suggestions on the card for playing the five tee boxes. You are advised to play the tee that fits your handicap. So listen up you grip ems and rip’ems, the blacks are suggested for those with a 4 handicap or less.
We stayed in the comfortable cottages right on edge of the golf course. Each one has four bedrooms and you can rent one room or the entire cottage. One cottage sleeps eight, a good arrangement for groups. The cottages are spacious with a lofty great room with a fireplace, patio and well-equipped open kitchen.
Other Magnolia courses
Other courses on the trail include Tunica National, River Bend Links, Big Oaks, Timberton, Quail Hollow, The Bridges, Shell Landing and The Preserve. Ask about their play and stay packages which allow visitors to pre-book trips that include not only Trail, but non-Trail courses and accommodations as well.
Dancing Rabbit’s Azaleas and Oaks Courses
Both Tom Fazio-Jerry Pate designsm these graceful beauties are set on tribal lands of the Choctaw Indians where the Choctaws have recovered some of their ancestral lands, built two fabulous golf courses and Pearl River Resort complex with two casinos, a world class spa and two hotels with a Hilton Garden Inn.
The Azaleas course evokes a sense of Augusta National with its flowering shrubs tucked into the hills and under trees in exuberant profusion and wide lush fairways. Hole #3, a 453 yard par 4 with a split-level fairway gives you the choice of taking the longer route on the right with less carry over the wetlands or staying left giving you a shorter approach to the huge green..
The par 3s on this course are especially interesting. For example, hole #7, at 184 yards, plays over a valley from tee to a green surrounded by trees and protected by a large bunker and hole #13 is banked by a crescent of azaleas, especially brilliant in the spring.
Opening in 1999, two years after the Azalea course, The Oaks playing 7,076 yards from the tips, is graced by wetlands, ponds, many sprawling bunkers and rolling fairways. Aptly named — the course runs through tall stands of white oak trees — The Oaks ranks right up there with the best courses in the state.
Stats
(Yardage from the tips)
Kirkwood National Golf Club, Holly Springs: 800-461-4653; ; par 72; 135/73.6
The Dogwoods, Grenada: 662-226-4123; par 72; 7,015 yards; 131/72.3
Mallard Pointe Golf Course, Sardis 888-833-6477; par 72; 7,004 yards; 124/71.3; www.mallardpointegc.com
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