Mississippi recovering

Jackson, Miss. – The Mississippi Development Authority Division of Tourism reports that, although it is far from finalizing the process of assessing the impact of Hurricane Katrina, based on extensive reports there appear to be minimal damage to the golf course properties outside the state’s Gulf Coast. Furthermore, several of the coastal golf courses – Davis Love III designed Shell Landing and Mississippi National, for example – could open as soon as next month.

Dancing Rabbit Golf Club in Philadelphia, Miss., is hosting a lot of rounds following Hurricane Katrina.

“While we are emotionally devastated for our residents, visitors and businesses that Hurricane Katrina wreaked so much havoc and tragedy on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, we will rebuild our lives and are going forward already,” says D. Craig Ray, MDA Tourism Division director. “We are still assessing the vast impact of Katrina, and there appears to be good news beyond the coast with no significant structural damage to most of our courses. We anticipate that those that have not already opened will do so very soon. The Gulf Coast will take longer to recover, of course, but some of the courses will re-open soon there.

“Meanwhile, the rest of the state continues to welcome and support visitors and misplaced residents,” he adds. “We’ve been surprised how strong the golf-and-gaming stay-and-play business has been in the four other regions of the state since Katrina and this is good for the state and its people and businesses.”

Nearly 10,000 rooms and hundreds of golf rounds have been booked, including many moved from the Gulf Coast golf courses and casinos, at casinos, resorts and golf courses in the state’s other four regions since Katrina.
For instance, Tunica, which is located less than 30 minutes from Memphis in northernmost Mississippi and boasts nine Las Vegas-style casinos, has been taking on an influx of visitors since Katrina. This is logical given Tunica is the largest gaming destination in the United States between Las Vegas and Atlantic City. There are several high-quality golf courses in the area, including Tunica National, Riverbend Links and Cottonwoods.

DeSoto County just northeast of Tunica also is experiencing a spike in golf and other tourism visits. A short trip from Memphis, DeSoto County is home to several golf courses, including The Club at North Creek, Cherokee Valley, Wedgewood and Plantation.

“Of course we don’t consider Katrina anything but an immense natural disaster; however, if there is something good to be said it includes that the Mississippi’s other four regions and their unique, high-quality attractions are in the spotlight,” says Ray.

Many, other casino resorts and golf clubs throughout the state are welcoming visitors who had been scheduled to stay-and-play on the Gulf Coast, including the Pearl River Resort in Philadelphia, home to Dancing Rabbit Golf Club, with its 36-hole, award-winning courses designed by Tom Fazio and Jerry Pate.
The PGA Tour has a renewed commitment to host an annual stop in Mississippi. This year’s Southern Farm Bureau Classic will be Oct.31 through Nov. 6 at Annandale Country Club in Madison, a Jack Nicklaus course design.

“Without a doubt we have been handed as extreme a challenge of rebuilding on the Gulf Coast as imaginable,” Ray says. “But Mississippi is a great state with great people, and already we’re welcoming golf, gaming and other tourists to the rest of the state. This will help the state and the state in turn will be better equipped to help the Gulf Coast and its residents affected by Katrina the more visitors we host. So the best thing we can and will do is to keep keeping on. We want visitors to come see why Mississippi is a special place and judge for themselves why Mississippi is considered a rising star of the golf-and-gaming world.”