[TEPaul]

"I would have to concur that it's at least two or three shots easier now--if only because of the absence of gunshots and screaming ambulances."

Carlyle Rood:

I've always been a big fan of interchangeable hazard features that influence play but that one really took me by surprise. We're thinking of novel and economically ways of doing various hazard features on a new golf course and that one is worth trying and very economical too. After-all how much would it cost to set off an ambulance siren a dozen or so times a day intersperses with asking someone on the maintenance crew to fire off about a hundred gunshots a day, perhaps even whizzing through the tops of the trees?

Thanks for the tip. It's amazing the things one gets to know on GOLFCLUBATLAS.com  

[A.G._Crockett]

Tom,
Carlyle's line was a classic, and it is totally accurate.  Basically, the local police have adopted a zero-tolerance policy around the club, and the rejuvenation of the housing is incredible as well.  It is one of the great examples in the entire U.S. of what CAN be done in a public/private marriage of resources to help a blighted community.

One of our caddies when I played there this summer was a neighborhood kid.  He was terrific as a caddy, and employed full-time in a neighborhood where just a few years ago, there would have been less than nothing.

[TEPaul]

A.G.

It was probably around 1991-2 that on the day after the Coleman tournament at Seminole many of us were still hanging around and I got paired with this nice man I'd never heard of who told me during the round about his plans for this course I'd never heard of and the environs around it in Atlanta. Being the broken down old liberal from New York I am of course it sounded interesting to me.

That was Tom Cousins and East Lake. I never saw him again but I sure did remember that day after he sure did carry out his vision.

But since I never saw him again, let me ask you something. What happened to all the people who lived in that crime-ridden section around East Lake before Tom Cousins did what he did there? Are most of them still there or did they get relocated somewhere else to make that neighborhood rejuvenation possible?

[BCrosby]

I've told this story before.

Back in the bad ol' days at EL, a friend was settling into a bunker to make a shot to the 4th green when he heard a rattle in the cyclone fence that runs along the right side of the hole. He looked up and saw the muzzle of a shot gun resting in a gap in the wires, and from behind the muzzle he heard a voice that told him to throw his wallet over the top of the fence.

Which he promptly did and proceeded to double bogey that hole and the next three. He quit at the turn.

Bob



 

[A.G._Crockett]

Tom,
I don't know that I have a definitive answer about the neighborhood former residents, but I THINK that most are still there.  There have been grants made to help residents renovate houses, etc.  The neighborhood is still overwhelmingly African-American, but looks nothing like what it did just 6 or 7 years ago.  The whole deal was set up so that all of the club profits go right back into the neighborhood.  

I am also a broken-down liberal; this is one of the really impressive govt.-business marriages that I have ever known of, and Tom Cousins is the guy who seems to have strong-armed both into doing the right thing.

[michael_j_fay]

Tom:

The development of the East Lake area was quite successful due to the efforts of Cousins and Atlanta big business. The initiation fee for corporate membership was $ 250,000 with a required payment of $ 250,000 to a neighborhood trust.

The projects were knocked down and replaced with single family dwellings that were sold at a discount with favorable financing to the previous inhabitants of the projects. The one caveat was that the dwellings were to be kept up to an acceptable level.

The Club has since the beginning employed a good number of the neighborhood youth in the Clubhouse, on the golf course and as caddies. The youths, if successful in their duties, are given scholarship money to go to college. From what I understand a good number of the neighborhood youths have gone on for an education and have worked their way out of the poverty they had experienced.

It is a remarkable program with great vision. Tom Cousins and companies like Coca Cola deserve a lot of credit.

[Jim Nugent]

Bobsee:

I must've missed that story the first time around. That's the funniest thing I ever heard. Ain't America wonderful? Stuff like that is why I'm still a broken down old liberal from NY. Here you had "Honkie" thinking he could just fence the riff-raff out as he pursued his trivial little rich-man's game in the middle of an urban DMZ but the Brothers turned it all around on Hoinkie since all Honkie really accomplished was to fence himself in so the Brothers could take advantage of Honkie. You just gotta love this country. Only in America!  

Furthermore, I admire that Honkie for having the wherewithal to even play golf to the turn---forget about the bogies. If it were me I think I'd be sprinting down #5, #6, #7, #8 and #9 in my best USMC evasive action broken-field pattern on the way to the Men's room.

Tom, I had a slightly different reaction to the story.  I was imagining a more open, free-wheeling America, where golfers who play such courses take measures to protect themselves:

"Throw your wallet over the fence, honky!"

"Sure thing, it's in my bag," the golfer says agreeably, as he pulls out his .45 special.

Gunfight at the East Lake Corral.  

I'm joking, though I wonder how many robbers would challenge would-be victims, if they knew they were armed?

[Sébastien Dhaussy]

I dig into past GCA threads and find this old (2002) on EL :
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forums2/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=2407

[wsmorrison]

"I'm joking, though I wonder how many robbers would challenge would-be victims, if they knew they were armed?"

Jim,

Any relation to Ted?  

[Andy Doyle]

... "Sure thing, it's in my bag," the golfer says agreeably, as he pulls out his .45 special.

This exact scenario occured a few years ago at an Atlanta course called Hidden Hills.  Three young entrepreneurs skipped out of the local high school, hid in the woods and held up a twosome in a cart at gunpoint.  Their playing companion who was lagging behind, sees this occuring, pulls HIS gun out of his bag and drives up like the calvary cranking off shots.  Every scatters & one of the kids winds up in the hospital with a bullet in his stomach.

One of my golf buddies was a member at the time - he said they lost about 25% of their membership over the next month.

AD

[Andy Doyle]

... What happened to all the people who lived in that crime-ridden section around East Lake before Tom Cousins did what he did there? Are most of them still there or did they get relocated somewhere else to make that neighborhood rejuvenation possible?

Some neighborhood advocacy groups raised a big stink in the media at the time - probably legitimate concerns about poor people being forced out of their housing to make way for a rich man's golf club.  If I recall correctly, it may have even held up the project for a while.  

Cousin's must have handled the situation with great care as those concerns were eventually alleviated.  Obviously people had to be relocated during the demolition and construction, but I don't think anyone can argue that what the community has in place is not miles better than what was there before.

If you take a look at the aerial:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=1+Lakeside+Village+Dr+SE,+Atlanta,+GA+30317&ll=33.743541,-84.312279&spn=0.007848,0.020385&t=k&hl=en

(OK, copy and past the above into your browser)

You can see the neighborhood just to the west of East Lake.  There are 4 areas of mixed income housing - it is mostly apartments, condos, townhouses, etc.

You can also easily see the Charlie Yates course - the clubhouse is the small dark building just north of the driving range tee.  Number 1 is just NW of the maintenance shed & the front 9 circles CCW.  Number 10 is across the street (has the bunker that looks like "3" and the back 9 circles clockwise.

The large building with the white roof is Drew Charter School and the East Lake YMCA.

All of this has spurred development in the surrounding neighborhood - a lot of renovations and a few new houses being built.  

Andy

[pacgd]

Carlyle:

I've got a big soft spot in my heart for Bobby Jones and all he represented in and out of the game of golf.  Tom Cousins' vision and execution in restoring the club and surrounding neighborhood is one of the great development stories of our time - it is a shining example that every other disadvantaged community should look to as a testament to what private citizens can do where government has consistently failed.

However, when you write:
"Now it's becoming one of the most pleasant communities in America.  The improved course conditions are nice; but, the neighborhood restoration has to be one of the most remarkable projects ever accomplished.", I'm not as convinced.

I played East Lake this summer and drove north to visit Druid Hills after my round in the middle of the afternoon.  My windows were up, my doors were locked, my hands were white knuckle on the steering wheel, and I rushed through more yellow lights than I ever would just so I wouldn't have to stop at the lights, because once you get 1-2 blocks away from the club, well...it ain't pretty.

I'm curious how far away from the club the rejuvenation extends, and do you think its positive effects will continue to extend further into the neighborhood as you move away from the immediate few blocks near the club in the forseeable future?

[Derek_Duncan]

pacgd

I don't know which way you drove to get to Druid Hills but it must not have been the most direct route, which is basically north/northwest. I live just a mile north of East Lake and the neighborhood and area couldn't be nicer. You must have either hit a bad little pocket, or you're easily scared.

What's been happening in the East Lake area is really the same type of gentrification that's been happening in many areas of in-town Atlanta over the last 15 or so years. People, including many young professionals, are buying old homes and bungalows and renovating them, building nice little communities and neighborhoods. East Lake is actually moving slightly slower than some other neighborhoods. Most of the influx of new homeowners and residential renovation is occuring north, northeast and northwest of East Lake; the area to the south hasn't seen as much turnover.

[Tags:]

Tags:

[Tags:]

Tags:

Call to undefined function theme_linktree()