As one of the first 100 permanent disc golf courses established, the Lafreniere Park course boasts a park-style layout that has stood the test of time for more than 40 years, though the over-crowded venue and bland design earn this historic landmark only a decent rating.

The signage and cement teepads are top-notch. The new signs are detailed and give a good representation of the hole design.

The layout has some good aspects, as the course starts with several of the more open holes, allowing for decent warm-up, though Hole #3 is a tricky par 4 with the lake on the left side the entire way. Several of the holes in the middle part of the course feature a ceiling aspect. The layout also squeezes the most out of the one considerable hilly area – a rarity in the Greater New Orleans area – including finding space for two downhill throws on Holes #13 and #14.

The course and park itself seem well-maintained. Parking is located near Hole #1, and the course finishes not too far from the parking lot.

My round at Lafreniere was on a cold and windy December morning. I threw my first disc shortly after 7 a.m. with the intention of completing the round in about an hour. While I was achieved that goal by several minutes, my round was interrupted and affected by numerous park-goers and other distractions.

Even at that early hour of the morning, I encountered geese, cats, walkers, park visitors, Christmas decorations and lawn maintenance workers. Several times during my round I laid up or threw at a 45-degree angle deviation from the straight-line route to the basket to avoid endangering people and wildlife. The main info states that the park is shared with other users and tends to be busy. I can imagine the challenge of disc golfing on warm, sunny days at Lafreniere Park is quite significant and that numerous holes might be unplayable at times.

The design at Lafreniere Park is fairly mundane. While there are trees present on most of the holes, the majority of fairways are undefined and flat. There are plenty of sidewalks that come into play as well as chain-link fences that border a residential area on several holes.

The navigation isn't always intuitive. Not all of the maps on the lovely tee signs indicate where the next hole is. I wandered in the wrong direction a couple times and had to pull up the map to correct my destination. There are a few short walks between holes, especially after Hole #15 when the layout requires a couple-minute walk and crossing North Scenic Drive to reach the next hole. Because the main road of the park runs through the course, you will cross the road four times during your round. Also, a couple holes play near the road, so it's recommended to keep an eye on nearby traffic.

When there are geese present, there is geese poop around.

In the last couple months of the year, the layout is slightly affected by the Christmas in the Park drive-through attraction. This changed at least one of the holes and the light decorations presented a minor obstacle on a few other holes.

The park is named after Nicolas Chauvin de La Frénière, an attorney general of French Louisiana in the mid-1700s. He organized a revolt against Spanish rule in 1768 and was executed in 1769 for his part in the conspiracy. There's no record from historians that Nicolas the Younger was a disc golfer.

Pretty horrible looking course which has some surprisingly decent holes. It plays in a large, crowded park. Most holes are open. A few trees in the fairway as per usual. The challenge comes from their thick, low hanging, branches which force players to keep their shots low to the ground. Average basket is around 330 feet from the tee give or take. No real rough or out of bounds to worry about. Easy to salvage a par on a bad shot. No "Wow" holes. Several wide open holes. Favors lefties.

Some glaring flaws hurt this course. Primarily the course flows through the busiest part of the park. As a result people will be picknicking, playing soccer and lounging in the middle of the fairways. It makes some holes unplayable. NAVIGATION IS HORRIBLE. Very poor signage, nothing directs you to the next tee. Bring a map. Trash around several of the tee pads.

Overall the course needs a lot of work. Tee signs and, barricades around the fairways would be huge. If you came at an unbusy time, and can rip a low shot in the 350 range you'll like it here. 24 holes.

Nice park,
some very short holes for begginers.
Practice basket.

Terrible tee signs
Needs a course map
Number plates are either missing or turned the wrong way
Trees need trimmed to make fairways decent--most fairways are obscured by trees that have overgrown and created either a very low ceiling canopy or no good line for any shot off the tee

Could be a great course if some maintenance was done for better sight lines, and if baskets were moved to create more than just straight shots with trees in the way of what could be beautiful fairways that formed real disc golf holes.

Pretty park in general.

Crowded

Visiting the New Orleans area I had a day in the plans to go play Lafreneire and New City Park. I have to say that is park in general is a very nice place, so nice in fact that unfortunately, I had people picnicing, flying kites, driving remote control cars, playing fetch with dogs and just generally doing anything you can image in the middle of the disc golf course, it gets little regard in the eyes of the park patrons. People picnic right in the middle of fairways and on greens next to baskets, so if you go on the weekend you'll be skipping holes to avoid park patrons. Otherwise, it's a reasonable course in a pretty setting, holes are for the most part short and with only a few tree obstacles asking the player to choose between a couple mildly challenging lines. Not a high level challenge, but a reasonable course. Just don't go on a Sunday afternoon like I did... I was the only disc golfer on the course and it was more crowded than any course I've ever been on... big mistake.

Some nice holes. Even a couple with ELEVATION in New Orleans, believe it or not.

Non golfers everywhere.

I used to live in New Orleans, and there were only two courses. This was my second choice. Any day spent disc golfing is great, so I won't complain too much. Just be patient with the soccer crowds, the joggers, the picniccers, etc.