Acadian Hills Country Club Shuts Its Doors

Acadian Hills Country Club has closed it's doors.  The decision was made late yesterday and is effective immediately.

Below is the press release announcing the closure.

The board of Acadian Hills Management, Inc.,  Acadian Hills Country Club (AHCC), announces that it is closing its doors after 49-years in the Acadiana Community. It is with much sadness that this action is necessary.  Given the 49-year family model of AHCC, trying to cater to the middle income family, the family recognizes that the club can no longer be a competitive entity in the golfing industry.

The founding owners of the Dr. Eric E. Guilbeau, Sr. family envisioned a club that was very family friendly with a relaxing feel to it. These family members wanted to provide an atmosphere that had all of the amenities of a private club; yet, one that opened its doors to golfing friends and families. The Acadian style clubhouse serviced its members and guests for some 39 years before being destroyed by fire in April of 2001. A building atmosphere that was rich in storytelling and nostalgia was left to ashes; however, when the new clubhouse opened in 2002, members enjoyed a full service facility.

The club has suffered over the past couple of years with the downturn in the economy.  Serving Acadiana since 1972 with a complete country club facility, the club could not keep up with the rising cost in the cost of goods, fuel, insurance, minimum wages, equipment, fertilizer/chemicals, and so forth.  The operational costs have finally surpassed monthly income.  "Really became a challenge balancing the check book each month."

"Feeling the impact of this economic downswing, we also found that families feeling the pinch had fewer and fewer recreational dollars to spend on one of their favorite past-times - thus a drop in our club membership rolls and outside play."

As hard as we marketed our product to draw new members and guests to The Hills, our sincere efforts fell short, stated Mr. Guilbeau.  We owe a lot of gratitude to you the media for your ongoing support of The Hills in this most important effort.

"I do believe that we the small business owner have been drastically hurt by the national events taking place in Washington, D.C.  While our governmental leaders say they are FOR the small business owner, you would never know that from their actions or should I say, their in-actions.  I have not seen anything come out of Washington in the past few years that has had a positive impact on the small business man.  A lot of rhetoric will little teeth to it!"

The BP oil catastrophe off the coast of Louisiana certainly added to the financial woes.  We loss 12 members to the spill causing job transfers or losses."

What saddens me the most with this family decision is leaving behind a very professional, knowledgeable, not to mention dedicated club staff.  They were very focused, hard working day-after-day.

"I would put this staff up against any other club staff in the area.  They showed up to clean the course after hurricanes and storms, they showed up at 2:00 AM to prepare the course for a tourney, they worked 12-15 hours a day to ensure top service to guests, they went the extra mile to get a project done, they would forgo a vacation or take time off to make certain club operations continued, they enjoyed coming to work day-after-day and never complained?  They were the pillars of Acadian Hills Country Club over the years!"

According to John Guilbeau, general manager, “rolling fairways carved from the cotton rows of yesteryear formed a 100 plus acre country club facility that will be sold.  For years the beauty of the 100 plus acres of the terrain belonged to the crop and dairy farmers before the golfers came to play, but the beautiful property in Upper Lafayette North will now give way to another group/person(s) vision.”

“We are proud to have been a part of this community and are very thankful for all the wonderful golf, swim and tennis families that have visited with us over the years, making The Hills their club of choice. "

Board of Acadian Hills Management, Inc.

Acadian Hills Country Club