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acre course became a hub for joggers and park-goers over the last several years as well , furthering its already-positive standing within the surrounding community .
After Stopa led the $ 6 million reconstruction of the course in 2001 , the layout dropped from a Par 68 to a Par 62 , adding 12 Par 3s into the mix . The Dennis Griffiths-designed course is home to four different lagoons and hosts several centuryold oak trees utilized in the design of the course . Butted up against the Mississippi River and sporting a long lake that borders two sides of the course , the scenery was just one on a long list of reasons why Audubon was given high remarks by CNN , Golf Digest and Gambit .
“ Between the oak grove that runs right up the clubhouse and the walking path on the outside , you really can ’ t get much better than that ,” Van Geffen said .
“ The location can ’ t be beat either ,” pro shop attendant Steve Veech said . “ You ’ re right in the middle of Uptown New Orleans , and you ’ re right on the river . There ’ s no other golf course that can say that .”
Stopa and Griffiths were forced to stay within the old course ’ s footprint for the new design and were left were a largerthan-usual number of Par-3 holes . Due to the large number of Par-3 ’ s , one of the misconceptions that Van Geffen often deals with is the notion that a player has no need to use his or her entire bag . To Van Geffen , the 17th – which offers little fairway in between the tee box and the green – solved that problem .
“ 212 yards over water , yeah I ’ d say it ’ s the most challenging part of the course ,” he said about the 17th hole . “ You ’ ll use just about every club in your bag here at some point or another . Everybody has this stigma that you won ’ t hit your driver enough , but on the Par-4 ’ s and Par-5s , you ’ ll hit it at least six or seven times .”
More importantly for the staff of Audubon are the memories made over the years and the people who were the driving force behind them . Veech hardly considers himself a golfer but acknowledged the memories made over the last five years of employment .
I ’ m just a huge fan of Audubon Institute as a whole ,” Veech said . “ The guests here are phenomenal . But I think the memories I ’ ll take with me will be the ones of me working with guys like Paul and Stan and the rest of the staff . I won ’ t forget those anytime soon .”
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