John James Audubon State Park Golf Course

John James Audubon Golf Course sits inside John James Audubon State Park in Henderson, Kentucky, on the very western Kentucky forest land where the legendary naturalist and painter John James Audubon walked while studying the subjects of his wildlife paintings. The course was cut out of that forest, and beautiful tree-lined fairways run across the property with the kind of mature hardwood corridors only a century-old park can provide. E. Lawrence Packard, ASGCA, designed the 9-hole course, which opened in 1973. The 3,136-yard par-36 layout has a 36.8 rating and 113 slope on Bermuda grass. Packard, also responsible for Boots Randolph at Lake Barkley and Pennyrile Forest on the Kentucky State Parks Golf Trail, worked the course through the elevation-rich Audubon property, with several holes where you genuinely can't see the green from the tee. Locals call out holes #2, #5, and #7 as the toughest driving tests. For the Kentucky State Parks Golf Trail trip visitor, Audubon is the half-day supplement to a full-round day at Boots Randolph or Pennyrile, same Packard design DNA, smaller scale, same state-park pricing.