Hawks Ridge

[Sean Leary]

A friend of mine just joined this Bob Cupp course outside Atlanta.  I haven't heard much about in on this website, but those who I know have played it say it is excellent.  Any thoughts before I play it?

[Adam_Messix]

Sean--

Hawk's Ridge is a teriffic Bob Cupp design, the best work I've seen from him.  He had a great site to work with, nice and rolling with a couple of creeks and a large lake dug by the Army Corp of Engineers to work with.

The one thing that stuck out in my mind were the greens.  Cupp did a great job contouring to greens to create some interesting putts if you are on the wrong section of the green, particularly given that they will be on the quick side.  There are quite a few little subtle breaks throughout too.  It took me a couple of looks and some caddie assistance to totally figure them out.  Standout greens:  8, 9, 11, 15, and 16.  

There are some notable holes, particularly the stretch from 2-6 where there is some real excitement with chances to make birdies and major mistakes.  The drivable par four sixth has drawn mixed reviews from people I've talked to, but I really liked it, any score is possible there.  The 14th hole is excellent with a couple of bunkers fronting the green that look like they are next to the green from the fairway, but are really 20 yards short.  The par five finishing hole is cool too, with a pretty tight landing area for the bombers that want to reach the green.  

I would describe Hawk's Ridge as an exciting course that will definitely get your blood moving.  Would strongly advise against playing the tips, they are really long, particularly given the wet summer and from what I've been told, none of the members go back there.  The atmosphere is great too, very laid back and comfortable.

[A.G._Crockett]

Hawks Ridge is excellent, especially in two respects:

1. A great par four course.  The threes are good, the fives average by Cupp's standards that I have seen, but every par four is outstanding.  The first is a relatively benign opening hole, but after that, they are all just a lot of fun.  

2. The conditioning and landscaping is really unbelievable.  To say that it is comparable to ANGC is not too much of an exaggeration.  They cut pins on the tees of the par threes so you can practice putting if you get backed up (which you never do).  The tee box conditions are that good.

The 18th is a love it or hate it hole--target golf par five.  I loved it, buddies didn't.

Bob Cupp is a guy who probably doesn't get enough credit here.  If you watched any of the Women's Am two weeks ago (Pressel won, to refresh your memory) the tournament was played on Settindown Creek in Roswell, which really superior and very much under the radar.  That's only about 15 miles from Hawks Ridge.
In the Atlanta area, Hawks Ridge is best known as John Smoltz's home club (I think he has won the club championship at least once) and the club is widely to believed to be one of the reasons he resigned with the Braves instead of taking more money elsewhere.  Don't really know the truth of that, but he is a player!