Cypress Bend Golf Course

Cypress Bend Resort is home to a very fun, scenic, and challenging course that plays up and down the rolling hills, through the tall dense hardwood forests, and along the shoreline of beautiful Toledo Bend Lake. Cypress Bend is one of Louisiana’s premier golf courses, a charter member of the Audubon Golf Trail, and was in Golf Digest’s “Best Places to Play” in 2004.

Cypress Bend Golf Course is a must play and here is why we love this course:

it is well maintained and landscaped with a lot of color

it offers unparalleled scenery as it meanders through thick forests and along the banks of Toledo Bend Lake

the conditions are normally very good

each hole is unique, fun, and challenging to play

it will test all of your skills and throw a little bit of everything at you

you’ll hate for your round to end and you’ll be anxious to play it again

it’s peaceful, serene, and beautiful

the stay and play package is outstanding

the service is good and the price is very affordable

the pace of play is excellent

Dave Bennett did a fantastic job of leveraging the natural terrain when he designed Cypress Bend Golf Course and created elevation changes with breathtaking views of the lake, rolling and sloping fairways through hardwood forests, and colorful landscaping – all of which contribute to a very memorable round that makes you feel like you’re in the California, Colorado, or Georgia foothills. Cypress Bend requires some strategic shot making, course management, and excellent club selection to handle everything that will test you on your way to a well deserved drink at the 19th hole. You’ll encounter elevated tee boxes and greens, strategically placed bunkers, small well guarded greens, swales, grass bunkers and berms, water on 11 holes, dog legs, blind shots, and more. And along the way are beautifully landscaped areas with a variety of colors (purple, white, green, red, pink, yellow) thanks to the crepe myrtles, blooming agapanthus, casual black-eyed Susans, hydrangeas, azaleas, fluffy monkey grass, and lilies on the shallow lake edge.

And there is plenty of wildlife: deer and box turtles crossing the fairways; hawks spiraling into view but much higher than you can fly your drive; early morning bunnies hopping across the greens; and spindly egrets swooping into the ponds around the course. Among the thick hardwoods, you’ll hear birds singing, wood peckers pecking, and golf balls ricocheting from tree to tree. And we heard stories about a resident alligator guarding his pond and most likely nesting on a lot of golf balls on the 9th hole. Which by the way is a fantastic hole and the #1 handicap – a 524 yard severe dog leg left that demands course management and accuracy all the way for the tee box to the green – you need to carry a pond, avoid the trees, and position yourself for a second shot that needs to fly over a 3 cart path wide fairway with water on both sides. If you make it through that in two, your third shot will need an extra club to get you up the hill and hold on a small (24 yards deep) green protected by 3 bunkers! If you survived #9, then at the turn, load up with some more golf balls and some courage, because the back nine will test you and just about everything you’ve got in your bag – and make sure your camera’s working because the scenery is awesome.

#10 will get the juices going – it’s a 491 downhill yard par 5 from an elevated tee box to a 90 degree dog right along a narrow fairway bordered by the lake leading to a small uphill green with large bunkers on each side. Risk takers can try a high fade over the trees for a potential eagle and the rest of us need a precise drive to avoid two strategically placed bunkers, stay out of the trees, and position us with a view of the green for the next shot. On the back nine the views of Toledo Bend are magnificent with several Kodak moments. The lake is both beautiful and menacing when you need to carry it on three different holes.

When we played in May 2010, Cypress Bend was still trying to recover from a harsh winter which impacted the greens and fairways. The greens were about 90% of normal (which we think would be an 8.5 to 9), were small to medium sized, well guarded, average speed, true, held well, and had minor slope. The fairways were in above average condition, a little tight, rolling, and sloping. It had rained the day before we played which impacted the bunkers, but normally they have soft thick sand, and could use some TLC around the fringe.

We can’t wait to get back and play this course again. Make it a weekend and take advantage of everything Cypress Bend Resort has to offer – good accommodations including golf villas, indoor-outdoor pool, sauna, spa, exercise room, fun bar, good food, and excellent service. And all at a very reasonable and affordable price. In fact, one of the golf packages includes unlimited golf (you’ll want to play this course twice), lodging, and food. Read our Cypress Bend Resort Stay & Play Review to learn more.