Have you ever had a bad day on the golf course and started ‘singing the blues’?
Then you’ll fit right in along Highway 61 of the Mississippi Delta – the true Birthplace of the Blues.
Thankfully, it would be hard to have a bad day while enjoying Blues music and its rich history – and the variety of good golf – from Memphis, Tenn. to points south in Mississippi along the trail to New Orleans that most of the original, soulful musicians traversed long ago.
We’ll get to the golf on the next couple pages, but first – major music landmarks to search out include:
- Blues Archive and Living Blues publication office on the campus of Ole Miss in Oxford (near the preserved home of novelist William Faulkner)
- Dockery Plantation, birthplace of the Blues, Cleveland (MS) – and while there visit the modern-day Grammy Museum Mississippi, the official museum for the Grammy Awards east of The River
- City of Clarksdale, a step back in time with juke joints like Red’s Blue Club, or Ground Zero (co-owned by MS native Morgan Freeman – yes, the same Morgan Freeman)
- Gateway to the Blues Museum in Tunica
Bring your favorite golf clubs – but you can leave your instruments at home and still have a great time experiencing live music or visiting Blues landmarks and museums – all while stuffing your belly with BBQ.
Oh baby, the BBQ:
Just south of the Memphis Airport in Horn Lake, MS (neighboring community of modern-day novelist John Grisham) is the Memphis BBQ Company, named best BBQ restaurant in the state by Delish magazine, and where co-owner Melissa Cookston is the only female World Champion BBQ Pitmaster. Our group of 15 ordered two of the huge sample platters overflowing with brisket, chicken, ribs, pulled pork, sausage, incredible corn bread and more – and still couldn’t finish half of the food.
The Delta Meat Market inside the brand-new Cotton House Hotel in Cleveland puts such large, thick cuts of meat on your plate you could bust a vein trying to finish it all. And before leaving town don’t pass up the rugged looking Airport Grocery (yes, despite the name it’s a restaurant bar) for some great country BBQ cooking.
Golfing in the Delta:
Playing golf in Mississippi’s northwest corner is a little more spread out than the find-a-golf-course-in-every-town luxury we are accustomed to in Michigan – but several nice green-grass choices are available, dotting the river basin, soil-rich countryside that’s filled with Mississippi ‘white gold’ cotton crops gleaming in the sunlight.
River Bend Links (Tunica Resorts):
Built in an area with a man-made levy holding back the mighty Mississippi, River Bend Links is designed with a Scottish, shoreline links feel to its lightly rolling landscape. Accuracy is premium with many narrow fairways and small greens in an area filled with marshland – yet where most of the water actually doesn’t intrude with play.
A great stretch of holes, 16-18, closes out the round. Hole 16 is a unique 90-degree right turn fairway to a very deep but thin green that’s not visible from the tee. A nice par 3 over water follows; its green complex offering four regions for various flag placements. Hole 18 is a solid closing hole that gently turns left as it meanders between water left and right. More info at: www.riverbendlinks.com.
Tunica National (Tunica Resorts):
By far the most manicured and well-maintained course on our tour, Tunica National is a newer course in the state. What stood out was the subtle design characteristics that create a well-thought-out combination of challenge and aesthetics. Well-placed bunkers in relation to the five sets of tee box choices are key elements for shooting a good score.
The closing holes on each 9 were most memorable. Hole 8 is a par 3 to a somewhat-elevated green complex with a waste bunker guarding the entire right side of the hole. Hole 9 is a solid par 4 with water guarding the entire length along the right. Hole 18 is visually appealing and a tough finish. Waste bunkers dot the right and water guards the entire left, before all golfers must pop the approach shot over water to the large run-up area and green. More info at: www.tunicanational.com.
Ole Miss Golf Club (Oxford):
My favorite course on the trip, Ole Miss is the home course for the Ole Miss college golf team. The front 9 plays down through a low area of the property with a few water holes, while the back 9 has very dramatic elevation changes that provide both challenge and some beautiful views. Holes 1, 9, 11 and 18 play through a significant valley with elevated tees and greens bookending each hole.
Hole 13 is the only flat hole on the back and plays along the city airport’s one runway, creating an unusually cool hole with a deep crevasse left of the approach to the green. Any Big Ten fan that might be checking out college golf courses of the SEC would be wise to add this one to the list. More info at: www.theolemissgolfcourse.com.
Cherokee Valley (Olive Branch):
Built in the late 1990s, the property is family-owned, and their pride and daily involvement shows. Cherokee Valley has many huge greens and wide-open fairways. It’s no pushover but is a course anyone can play. Several holes have a stadium design framework to guide your eye and sometimes kick wayward balls back in play.
Bunkers are artfully shaped, and most have fresh new sand. Most bunkers are also positioned away from the green edges to create a depth-of-field illusion. The course was built on a former cattle ranch, evident by the rolling terrain, with seven holes featuring water challenges. The 12th hole is a shorter par 4 with a boomerang 90-degree right turn around water to a green that some golfers can reach from the tee. Just plain fun: www.olivebranchgolf.com.
North Creek (South Haven):
This course has a half-dozen short to mid-length par 4s (six of them 355 yards or shorter from the back tees), giving most golfers an increased chance at putting for some birdies. From the tips, it’s only 6,433 yards overall. The tradeoff is accuracy as water comes into play often, especially the 18th hole with its island green.
Another unique trait is the cart path to the 14th tee tunnels under the over-sized double green that serves as the putting surface for holes 13 and 15. Man-made mounds could be counted in the thousands, and the bunkers are shaped beautifully but need new sand and other updates. More info at: www.wwncgolf.com.
