Historic New Orleans golf course gets a $4.5 million makeover

The historic Pontchartrain Park Golf Course is about to get a $4.5 million makeover. The funding comes from the Long Term Community Recovery Program, a $700 million pool of federal disaster-recovery money set aside by the Louisiana Recovery Authority and Office of Community Development to help local governments rebuild and implement long-term recovery plans. Built during the era of racial segregation after World War II, Pontchartrain Park was one of the first subdivisions developed by and for middle-class African-Americans. The Pontchartrain Park Golf Course, central to the subdivision, was designed by the nation’s first African-American golf-course architect, Joseph Bartholomew, Sr. The golf course always maintained accessibility to low- and moderate-income families by charging the lowest greens fees in the city. It also served as home to First Tee New Orleans, a youth development program that uses golf to teach life skills and character development to youth. After Hurricane Katrina, both the subdivision and its golf course were submerged in up to 10 feet of floodwaters. The $4.5 million in disaster recovery funds will be used for grassing, grubbing, grading and shaping the features of the golf course; creating a new walkway along the lakeside; building a new play ground and new little league-sized baseball field; and the construction of a new facility for the First Tee program.