New Orleans' Joe Bartholomew Golf Course renovation nears completion

Former PGA Tour player Kelly Gibson, design consultant for the renovation of the Joe Bartholomew Golf Course, was walking on the 15th fairway on a mid-September afternoon.

Work on the course, which was devastated by floodwater when Hurricane Katrina ripped through New Orleans more than five years ago, is moving toward completion. The renovation is close enough to being finished that Gibson can visualize the golf shots.

 On the par-5 15th, he stopped perhaps 75 yards from the green in what he said would be an ideal position for a player's third shot.

On the old Joe Bartholomew, a player approaching the hole would have been hitting across flat ground. But on the renovated course, the approach will be more challenging.

"You have a downhill shot to the green, " Gibson said, motioning down to the putting surface, which sits behind a mound. "There're differences in the pitch and roll at this golf course that you won't see on other courses in New Orleans."

In almost every way, say Gibson and others involved with the project, the renovated Joe Bartholomew will be a first-class course.

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