Beau Chene Country Club: Magnolia Course

Beau Chene Country Club occupies 351 acres in Mandeville, Louisiana, and features two distinct 18-hole championship courses designed by Joe Lee — the Magnolia (1975) and the Oak (1983). Both layouts wind through mature Southland hardwoods with bermuda grass fairways and elevated bentgrass greens.

Beau Chene Country Club was established in 1975 on 351 acres in Mandeville, Louisiana, on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. The development was conceived by Lester Kabacoff and Morgan Earnest, who joined together to purchase the land and develop a private country club and residential community that would take advantage of the Northshore's growing appeal as an alternative to the more crowded environs of metropolitan New Orleans across the lake. Renowned golf course architect Joe Lee — whose portfolio included dozens of courses across Florida, the Caribbean, and the Gulf South — was engaged to design the golf facility and bring the development vision to life.

The first nine holes of what would become the Magnolia Course opened in June 1975, with the final nine holes completing that course in August 1985. The second course, the Oak Course, was also designed by Lee, creating a 36-hole private golf complex that distinguished Beau Chene as a standout substantial private club operations in Louisiana. Joe Lee's routing on both courses demonstrates his ability to work with the flat, tree-lined Louisiana terrain, using the mature live oaks, pines, and water features of the Northshore landscape to create strategic and scenic golf without relying on topographic variation.

The Oak Course gained national recognition shortly after opening, earning a ranking as the number one course in Louisiana by Golf Digest in 1985 — a recognition that brought regional and national attention to the Mandeville club. The club's location on the Northshore proved prescient. The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway and subsequent suburban development made the Mandeville-Covington corridor increasingly accessible from New Orleans, and the Northshore emerged as one of the region's most desirable residential areas during the 1980s and 1990s.

Beau Chene's 351-acre property and two-course golf facility have anchored a community that has grown substantially in the decades since the club's founding. Today, Beau Chene Country Club operates as a complete private facility offering 36 holes of Joe Lee golf, dining, swimming, tennis, and an active social program for its membership.