Getting To Know: Gray Plantation Golf Club

Whether you have played a course 20+ times a year or looking to play the course for the first time, insights from an insider can help enhance your golf experience. Below is an interview with TYLER KUHN, PGA who shares some valuable tidbits about the course, memorable holes and must eats and treats at the 19th.

Give Our Readers An Overview of the Golf Course/Property
Best Kept Secret in Louisiana!!! Set within the beautiful housing development of Graywood in South Lake Charles, Gray Plantation offers generously wide and forgiving fairways and very large undulating greens that are very protected making good iron play a must for every golfer to score well. Built in 1999 and opening in 2000 Gray Plantation opened at #3 on Golf Digest's Best New Course of 2000. We remained on the Top 100 Golf Courses list from 2002 until 2007.

The golf course also features a dual-sided practice range with one side being open to the public and the west side open to golfing members only. The public side also contains a very large practice putting green and short game area while the members range also has a practice putting green with an adjacent bunker allowing members to work on green side bunkers and fairway bunker shots. Rounding out the practice areas is the Gray Plantation Golf Academy. The Academy is a start of the art facility complete with 2 hitting bays with 2-way, slow-motion camera systems for right and left handed players, S.A.M.M. Putting Lab, Club Repair Studio, Radar Launch monitor and custom club fitting.

Rounding out the Nationally Recognized Golf Course is the Graywood Sports Club that houses 10 outdoor clay courts and 2 hard courts. Also at the Sports club are 2 swimming pools, 1 Olympic size and one child fun pool complete with water slide and water works. Between the Sports Club and the Golf Club there are 2 Bar & Grills (The Cypress Grill and the Edge Bar & Grill), 1 300 person Banquet Hall (The Evergreen Room), and a conference room that will host up to 40 people making Gray Plantation the perfect choice for you to host your next golf outing, business conference, board meeting, or some good old family fun.

If Someone Was Looking To Golf In The Area, Why Should They Play Your Course?
If you are looking into playing golf in the area Gray Plantation offers the best experience for the value, peak season and weekend green fees are just under $60 for 18-holes with cart and includes range balls to warm up. That is the lowest green fee and cart rate of any course that opened in 2000 on the Golf Digest Top 100 New Courses List.

When making your tee time and arriving at the course you will be greeted by a welcoming staff that will make you feel right at home.

What Tips or Local Knowledge Would You Provide To Help Them Score Better At Your Course?
With all the forced carries into the greens at Gray Plantation you have to be able to land the ball softly on the greens. If you don't you will be playing a lot of bunker shots and tough short game shots making it harder to score. Control your distances with your irons and of course roll in a few putts and your scores should be pretty good.

One insider tip: Make sure to add 30 yards to your lay up shot on the Par 5, 7th. This will insure a safe landing over the marsh and leave you a shot to a very wide green back over the marsh again. This is the easiest way to make the most diabolical Par 5 in the South easier to play. If you choose to go for the green in two, Romeo will have a second ball ready to go.

Recent Awards or What You Are Most Proud About The Course?
This year we have moved into the 5th spot on the Best courses in Louisiana as ranked by Golf Digest. We have since fallen off of the Golf Digest Best Courses in America List since new courses have been built and we have endured 2 major hurricanes in 10 years that have re-sculpted the course and its aesthetic features that are a major factor in your rankings. Despite these hurricanes our Superintendent, Scott Ledet has done a marvelous job on numerous occasions keeping Gray Plantation in fantastic shape throughout the years. Kudos to Scott and his crew for a job well done.

What Is The Signature, Most Talked About, or Most Photographed Hole?
Our signature hole is number 6. This is a tough Par 3 over water with the Calcasieu water way on the left and CITGO and Conoco Phillips in the distance. The green sits at a diagonal angle similar to number 12 at Augusta National. The green is very tough to hit and has some steep slopes that make it even harder to hold the green even with a short club from 165 yards and in.

the most talked about hole is number 7. This hole features a very wide fairway with out of bounds all the way up the right side and marsh all the way up the left side and in front of the green and in front of the lay up area. In all, there is no safe way to handle this monster. I have done whole lessons and clinics on how to play this hole more effectively and everyone still has trouble with it.

The most photographed hole is again number 6. People ask to come take pictures using the marsh and the bridge that spans the waterway from the tee to the green as a focal point. It is Southwest Louisiana Beauty at its finest.

What Is Your Favorite Hole? Any Tips to Play It?
My favorite hole is number 7. I like the fact that you have to think about every shot you take and cant just slap a layup shot down the fairway or beat a fairway wood down and make an easy birdie. Every birdie here is hard earned and requires great golf shots, thats why I like it.

Must Have Dish or Drink after the round at the 19th Hole?
The Pressed Pig - BBQ Pulled Pork, Roasted Ham, Provolone Cheese pressed on a French Baguette. Its a Man Sandwich. Top that off with a Stella Artois on Draft and you got a good day.

Who Holds Course Record and What Was Their Score?
After Hurricane Ike and Hurricane Rita did their damage we lost about 5,000 trees on the golf course and we added 7 additional teeing grounds to make the golf course tougher. Mike Heinen, former PGA Tour winner, holds the course record on the original layout with 58, from what I am told. The new course record is an open book, I have heard rumors of 58, 59, and 60 but no one seems to know for sure what that number is and who shot it. With that said the new course record sounds like its wide open so come out and see if you can set one for us.

Back Tee Stats
Par: 72
Yardage: 7191
Slope: 140
Rating: 74.6

More Information
Gray Plantation Golf Club
6150 GRAYWOOD PKWY
LAKE CHARLES, LA, 70605-0187
337-562-1206
www.grayplantationgolf.com