Huntington Park Golf Course in south Shreveport opened in 1931, making it the oldest continuously operating municipal golf course in Louisiana. That fact alone would be enough to earn it a second look. But what keeps locals coming back, decade after decade, has less to do with history and more to do with what ninety-plus years of foot traffic does to a stretch of Bermuda fairways: it breaks them in.
The course sits off Clyde Fant Parkway near the intersection with West 70th Street, on land that rolls just enough to keep things interesting. Eighteen holes, par 72, with a layout that rewards placement over power. The old-growth trees lining several fairways aren’t decorative — they’re in play, and they’ll punish a pulled drive with the indifference only a mature live oak can muster. Beginners find it approachable; experienced players find it humbling in exactly the right places.
City-run and priced accordingly, a round with a cart runs around $25–$35 depending on the day and time. Walking is allowed and encouraged by the regulars who know every slope. Weekend mornings fill up fast, especially in fall when the heat finally breaks and northwest Louisiana golf season hits its stride. Tee times can be booked online through the city’s parks and recreation portal, which is worth doing on a Friday if a Saturday round is the goal.
The clubhouse is modest — a pro shop, a small counter serving hot dogs and fountain drinks, nothing that would distract from the reason anyone came. The staff tends to be the kind of veteran city employees who’ve worked the counter for fifteen years and will tell you without being asked which pin positions are tricky that week. That’s the whole vibe: no pretense, no gimmick, just a golf course that gets used.
What’s notable about Huntington Park isn’t that it’s pristine. It isn’t, not in the way a private club or resort course would be. The greens have character, meaning some of them break in ways that surprise first-timers. The bunkers are real hazards, not sculpted backdrops. A few fairway sprinkler heads sit a little proud of the turf. But the course is maintained with care by a public parks department that clearly takes it seriously, and the conditions are reliably solid for the price.
The demographic on any given morning reads like a cross-section of Shreveport itself — retirees in two-seater carts, working adults squeezing in nine before noon, a handful of high school players practicing their long game, the occasional beginner who rented clubs and is figuring things out mid-round. Nobody much minds. That kind of easy coexistence is rarer than it sounds on a golf course.
There’s also a driving range on the property, lit for evening use, which makes it one of the few places in the city where a late-day bucket of balls after work is actually possible. A bucket runs a few dollars. The range mat situation is functional, not fancy, but the sight lines are good and the space is usually uncrowded on weekday evenings.
For a city that could do a lot worse by its public recreational infrastructure, Huntington Park is one of Shreveport’s quiet achievements — a Depression-era course still doing exactly what it was built to do.
