Chastain Park aka North Fulton GC

[William King]

Just curious if anyone might know how I could find out who may have been the original designer of this course? No one at the club house seems to know. I have heard Ross' name bandied about but it is not on the list at the Donald Ross society. Would there be public records available? I'm just trying to satisfy my personal curiosity about a favorite layout that, unfortunately, has suffered from neglect for about 20-30 years. The good news is that the city finally seems willing to actually spend somthing on maintenece now.

[Mike_Cirba]

William;

H. Chandler Egan, of amateur fame and Pebble Beach revision renown, designed North Fulton in 1935.  West coast architect Garrett Gill made some revisions in the late 80s.  

It's a very good course, architecturally.

[Robert Kimball]

There is a nice ol' golf course underneath the wear and tear of lots of rounds.

From my understanding there used to be a tournament held here as a warm up to The "Toon-a-mint" down I-20.  I'm not sure of the official name of it.

Maybe Bob Crosby or Mike Young can add to this. . . .

[William King]

Mike,

Thanks for the info. It is a nice layout that can be a good test under proper conditioning. I've played it often this year and have been encouraged by the fact that the greens are better every time out. Rumour has it that they are even thinking of redoing the turf to a modern Bermuda hybrid instead of the Common Bermuda. But as recently as last year they were almost unputtalble.

[Andy Doyle]

I spent all day at North Fulton a month or so ago playing in a charity event - trying to play 100 holes of golf in a day.  I hadn't played there in about 10 years, and the entire day all I could think about was what an awesome treasure the city of Atlanta would have if they would put a little money into this course.  Fix the drainage and the greens and grow some decent grass in the fairways -they have an absolute jewel if they would only polish up a little bit.

Andy

[Brock Peyer]

I haven't played Chastain in 10 years or so but I love the place.  Every time I have played it, I spent most of the time wishing that they had bent greens.  It is a great piece of property and a nice old golf course.  18 used to be a bear 10 years ago,  I can remember hitting a god drive and a one iron at times.  I will make a point to get over there sometime soon.

[Bill Gayne]

William,

About a month ago there was a thread on quality municipal golf courses that covered some of your questions on Chastain Park. You may be able to find it with the search function or just scrolling through the subjects for about the last month.

[BCrosby]

Chastain (N. Fulton) may have the most distinguished architectural pedigree of any course in Atlanta.

As noted it was designed by H. Chandler Egan about 1934 as a WPA project. Egan was a good friend of Jones, who served on one the WPA boards at FDR's behest.

Chris Clouser has reason to believe that Perry Maxwell made revisions to Chastain about '39. Probably at the same time Maxwell was working with Jones to make changes at ANGC down the road.

There isn't another course in the city that can match those two names.

It is a delight to play. I continue to think that the 9th hole is one of the best par 4's anywhere. A great hole on a fun course that seems to be loved by everyone who plays it.

Bob

P.S. A neighborhood association is making efforts to see that it is preserved or, better yet, restored. Lots of politics are involved. Keep your fingers crossed.

[Ken Fry]

American Golf Corp. use to manage North Fulton (and unfortunately, it showed.)  Who is overseeing the facility now?

Ken

[BCrosby]

Ken -

The contract is (was?) up for rebid with the City. There were several interested parties that wanted the lease. I'm not sure what happened. The problem is that Atlanta would not do a separate lease for N. Fulton. They want someone who will manage all the city courses.

Bob

[SB]

The contract with AGC is not up for another couple of years.  That's the problem.  AGC can't invest the $ because they have a short contract, the city can't invest the $ because they don't (and don't want to) run the course, and nobody else can get in with AGC in the drivers seat.