THE BRIDGES G.C. & HOLLYWOOD CASINO OFFER UP WORLD CLASS GOLF AT BARGAIN RATES.

Just like the rest of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, The Bridges Golf Course was battered by hurricane Katrina. In fact some will tell you that with all the debris and soot on the course it could have been considered buried.

But after plenty of clean up and some of Arnie’s magic touch and re construction The Bridges, located in Bay St. Louis, is better than ever. Seaside Golf Development removed all existing turf and recently completed the final stages of grassing the entire course with more than 100 acres of certified Tifway Bermuda sod, as well as repairing all drainage and bunkers.

The Bridges, the first resort golf course in the world to be granted the Audubon Silver Signature Status by Audubon International and the state’s only Arnold Palmer Signature course, is part of the new Hollywood Casino.

















 
Hollywood Casino opened a couple of months ago, with the Hollywood Casino Hotel offering 291 guest rooms, 900 new slot machines, 20 unique table games, and a new six-table poker room. Three restaurants are open including, Tuscany Steaks and Seafood, Jackpot Java and the all-new Epic Buffet.

 “Overall, the golf course routing has remained untouched, but some minor modifications in the way of shaping have been made to make the course more resort and player friendly,” says Chris Altese, Director of Golf at The Bridges. “We changed three greens complexes – 3, 10 and 17 – elevating them 6-8 feet to improve the drainage and change the playability.“We didn’t add any square footage. There are some subtle changes in the layout. We wanted to make it more playable for the average golfer and still more challenging for the low handicappers.”

Altese says he feared the worst when he got his first look at the course following the devastation of the hurricane.“Holes seven and eight are right out on the water,” he says. “I thought the bulkheads and bridgework would be washed away. I was amazed to see how much was still here.” “I would have swore we would have lost some of that. But there was not one board out of place. Some trees had fallen across and we had to repair those. “For the most part, it was the salt water and mud that caused us to do the renovations. The mud was 2-3 feet deep in some places. We just couldn’t seem to get it out.

The Bridges, located 50 minutes from downtown New Orleans, is a 600-acre property with 21 wooden bridges spanning nearly a mile, over 17 lakes and 14 acres of marsh, wetlands and luscious fairways. With four sets of tee blocks, The Bridges plays 6,917 yards from the tips, with a slope of 138.
Accolades have long rolled in for The Bridges. It was named Best Golf and Best Resort by Chance Magazine; it was voted Best Golf on the Mississippi Gulf Coast by Casino Player magazine; it was ranked as No. 1 on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and among the Top 10 golf courses in the state by Golf Digest; and it was one of 100 Best Value Courses in America by Maximum Golf magazine.


















AMONG THE TOURNAMENTS THE BRIDGES HAS HOSTED:

- The Brett Favre Celebrity Golf Tournament
- Mike Ditka Celebrity Tournament
- Bridges All-American Intercollegiate Invitation
- PGA Tour's Buy.com Pro-Am
- NGA Hooters Tour
- Gulf Coast Open
- Gulf Coast Amateur
- Gulf Coast Collegiate Classic
- Heartland Senior Tour

Altese is thrilled with the final results of the fix-up.“It’s nice to be open, watching it from Day 1,” he says. “Everybody’s coming in and bragging about the course. They say the course feels more playable.”

Those who have played the course before will notice a difference on the greens.“We used to have tifdwarf (grass on the) greens, but now it’s tifeagle … it’s faster,” says Altese.“Everybody is getting faster and faster. We used to stay close to nine on the stimp meter … now it’s about 10. It gives you more of a tournament feel.”

Check out the website www.hollywoodcasinobsl.com you will find that you can get a room at the casino
hotel online from as low as $59. US per night and a special coupon that will get you onto the golf course for $50. US.
 
That is one heck of a great deal.

Based on double occupancy that is World Class Golf at $79. US per day.

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GOLF-SOUTH.NET