Atlanta Golf Top 3 and Bottom 3 IMO.....What's yours?

[Kenny Baer]

What are your favorite courses in the Atlanta/Metro Atlanta Area and why; also what are some overrated courses in the Atl/Metro Atl area.  Anywhere within 50-60 miles of the City.

Some of favorites would be
1) Atlanta Country Club: On beautiful piece of property with 18 very good holes.  I am biased but I have played it thousands of times and never tire of it.

2) Atlanta Athletic Club Highlands
The only course that I can think of in Atlanta that at least to me seems like it was meant to be walked. Has a classic 1920's course feel to it. All of the par 3's are inspiring; the tee shot on 15 and 17 will raise your blood pressure significantly.

3) Wolf Creek: Great layout that if a beautiful clubhouse and some tree clearance was done it would be considered one of the best courses in the state.  Great match play golf course that 4 of the last 6 are true risk/reward holes.

OVER-RATED IMO
1) Hawks Ridge: I believe this course made it in the top 100 because of it's conditioning, which is incredible, but as a golf course it is mediocore at best and finishes with one of the worst golf holes I have ever played. 

2) White Columns: It's pretty, and unremarkable, not very memorable and I after playing it had felt that I had played hundreds of other courses just like it.

3) Golf Club of Georgia (Creekside) Bad golf course on a bad piece of land.  I have played it 3x and have trouble remembering any holes for anything other than bad reasons. 

All of this is IMO.

[Phil_the_Author]

Kenny,

Have you played Long Shadow yet? If not I think you might be making a change to your list... Though Mike Young also designed Wolf Creek...

[BCrosby]

Kenny - Interesting choices. Will check back later.

Bob

[Mike_Young]

Keny,
Am humbled that you would consider Wolf Creek in the top 3.....BUT we had a gas line in 4 places and could not design as we would have on those holes so even though I enjoy it much I can't rate it there....not when you have Setting Down, Atlanta CC, Eastlake and Peachtree.....Those are my top.....and I don't know which one I would remove to pick three.....outside of 50 miles I would want to consider Longshadow.....
No way am I going to name my bottom three.....

[Kenny Baer]

Phillip,

I have played Long Shadow and I loved it, but I do not consider that metro Atlanta, if I considered Long Shadow I would have to consider Cuscowilla and Athens.


 

[Kenny Baer]

Mike,

I really love the layout at WC and think 13-18 are fantastic golf holes; I wanted to mention a public course that people were more likely to play.  There are fewer shots in golf that are more fun to hit than the tee shot on #14 at Wolf Creek; when a 20 mph wind is blowing off the lake.  I love that golf shot and hole.  The greens at WC are fantastic as well, I can't tell you how many times I have seen people putt the ball off the green on #7.  As it currently stands I don't think it is actually the third best course in the city but put a fancy clubhouse, knock out all the trees on the back nine and keep the greens rolling about 10 and it is awesome.

Can you say what would have been different w/o the gas line?

I have never played Peachtree and have only played East Lake 1x.  I enjoyed East Lake but got the feeling I would like it better if given the opportunity to play it more.  IMO playing it the first time I found it rather bland and all the holes ran together; up and back, up and back.... this was about 7 yrs ago as well; I was a rather young lad.

[Mike_Young]

Keny,
I would not have had the blind shots and some of the routing would be 90 degrees to what it is now.....

As for East Lake.....my best way to describe that kind of course...have you ever had really good Vanilla ice cream?  It may just be vanilla but it stands out as a really good ice cream....that's East Lake to me.....strategies seem to be good...complexes good, maintenance good....atmosphere good...and like good vanilla...could eat it everyday.....i bet your still a young lad

[Bill_McBride]

Mike Young, do you specialize in golf courses with pipelines in play?  I seem to remember one at Cattechee on that long par 4 #10. 

[Mike_Young]

Bill,
I would bet most all have had a few.... I know of 5 courses I have done that had pipeline easements.....they sit there and watch you work on top of it....dozers have to travel at 90degrees to the pipe and all kinds of stuff.....

[Greg Krueger]

My favorites are EastLake, Peachtree and Druid Hills. I know Druid Hills is not even in the metro area top ten, but what a cool place!! All 3 have good routings and have that classic feel.

[JMEvensky]

Keny,
I would not have had the blind shots and some of the routing would be 90 degrees to what it is now.....

As for East Lake.....my best way to describe that kind of course...have you ever had really good Vanilla ice cream?  It may just be vanilla but it stands out as a really good ice cream....that's East Lake to me.....strategies seem to be good...complexes good, maintenance good....atmosphere good...and like good vanilla...could eat it everyday.....i bet your still a young lad

I've never heard a description of a golf course with which I could agree more.That's exactly how I felt about East Lake but could never articulate it.The only quibble I have is "atmosphere good".Too cool a clubhouse and too much history to be only "good".

[Carter Hindes]

I have only played a handful of golf courses in the Atlanta area but I thought Capital City Club-Crabapples was great.  Being from South Texas I usually don't perfer golf at anything lower than 40 degrees.  A friend and I played at 10:00 with snow flurries and it was one of the more enjoyable rounds I had ever played.  Anyone else have any comments on Crabapples.

[Carl Nichols]

The only course I've played within 40 miles of Atlanta is Atlanta Athletic Club (Highlands), so it would obviously make my top 3 there.  But I suspect if I had played more courses it probably wouldn't stay there -- largely because while I thought it was good, I didn't think it was outstanding.  This is what I wrote a few months ago (in a thread about posted stimp readings):  

* * * * *

I played Atlanta Athletic Club (Highlands) in late March and they had stimp readings for both courses posted together with other general information (weather; pin positions; cart rules; etc.)  That was the only time I've seen such information posted at a course.  

As for the course, everyone in my group found it quite difficult, even from the middle tees (6860; 73.9; 141), and even though the rough was still dormant.  The conditions were firm and fast and it was somewhat windy, exposing IMHO some of the flaws of the course -- like the fact that all 4 of the par 3's require a fairly long carry over water (and, in some cases, bunkers too), which made for some treacherous tee shots in the conditions.  I also didn't like how many holes had water framed by stone walls.  On the other hand, I thought that a number of the (relatively) short par 4's were very well designed, rewarding strategic play off the tee with better angles, etc.; that three of the par 5's (including 18, for us mortals) had great risk-reward options for the second shots; that the green complex on the fourth par 5 (#5) was well done; and that a number of the holes were aesthetically pleasing.

The clubhouse and other facilities were, as you would expect, terrific.   We did have one odd experience with the guy who served us lunch, but that was probably because we were a foursome of unaccompanied guests.

[Kenny Baer]

i haven't played it but have heard good things.  

I have played the Capital City Club in brookhaven; it is a pretty cool little golf course.  Very very cramped but so unique it is enjoyable; it has to be the smallest parcel of land 18 holes of golf over 6,000 yds could fit on.

[Bill_McBride]

Keny,
I would not have had the blind shots and some of the routing would be 90 degrees to what it is now.....

As for East Lake.....my best way to describe that kind of course...have you ever had really good Vanilla ice cream?  It may just be vanilla but it stands out as a really good ice cream....that's East Lake to me.....strategies seem to be good...complexes good, maintenance good....atmosphere good...and like good vanilla...could eat it everyday.....i bet your still a young lad

I've never heard a description of a golf course with which I could agree more.That's exactly how I felt about East Lake but could never articulate it.The only quibble I have is "atmosphere good".Too cool a clubhouse and too much history to be only "good".

The quibble I would add on East Lake is the zoyzia fairways.  I played my only round there during a fairly steady rain, and those fairways were just like a sponge.  How do they play when it's dry in Atlanta?  I'll bet they require enough water that they are always play pretty slow.  Just wondering.....

[Adam_Messix]

Capital City Brookhaven is currently being redesigned by Bob Cupp into a totally new golf course.  I think it's going to reopen next summer, but there were some permitting issues and things have been moving rather slowing from what I understand. 

I liked the old Brookhaven, a tight little course that had a lot of character.

I'm surprised about the lack of love for Hawk's Ridge.  I liked the course very much and there are some really interesting holes out there, the drivable 5th and the short par 4 15th and I liked the way the bunkers are deceptively placed on 14.  The one hole there that is almost universally disliked is the par five finisher, the driving area there is really tight. 

[jeffwarne]

Would any of the Atlanta top three make the top 100 in Metro New York?

and I'm from Georgia

[Adam_Messix]

Jeff--

I may get blasted for this, but I think Peachtree would make the NY metro top 100....easily.

[Kenny Baer]

I would think Peachtree would make the top 100, I mean 100; it would have to.

As for the others; maybe towards the bottom.

I am going to Philly in 2 weeks and can't wait.  A few of the courses up there aren't "ranked" and I have a feeling I will like them more than some of the "ranked" courses in metro Atlanta.

If I remember correctly I thought the drivable 5th at Hawks ridge was a bad golf hole.  Either you landed on the green with a driver from 280-300 or basically you were taking a penalty stroke.  I think driveable par 4's shoudl be well defended with a great green complex but it can't be if you don't drive the green you will be taking a drop.  I remember thinking on the tee why would anyone try to drive this green.

[Kenny Baer]

Another question I have is why don't we have more classic great golf courses from the golden age; NY, Philly, NJ, Mass, have so many GREAT ones?

I would think the land around ATL would be perfect for classic golf courses; rolling hills, beautiful landscapes, etc.....

[J_ Crisham]

Would any of the Atlanta top three make the top 100 in Metro New York?

and I'm from Georgia

Peachtree would easily make the Top100 in New York . The somewhat recent tree removal  has made the course significantly better.  New York has great courses but there are other places that also are pretty damn good such as Philly, Chicago, LA , Minneapolis,Etc.

[Mike_Young]

Would any of the Atlanta top three make the top 100 in Metro New York?

and I'm from Georgia

Jeff
NOPE

[Tim Bert]

I only lived there for two years, and I didn't get to play much golf (and only public courses) so I'll limit myself to 2 of each.

Favs:
1. Longshadow - Exclude it from metro Atlanta if you'd like.  My only criteria is that had this course been around when I lived there I would have been making the haul to play it regularly and I lived in the northwest corner.  I figure if it is good enough to pick it over the local public options on a regular basis, then it is metro.

2.  Cobblestone - Hey, like I said, I unfortunately didn't get out for much golf in the city.


Least Favs:
1. Cherokee Run - Is this metro Atlanta?  I'll include it regardless

2. Some course near the airport that I found in the yellow pages one weekend that my brother-in-law was flying through.  It is one of only two courses I've ever played that I couldn't track down the name when I sat down to compile a list of all the courses I had played.

[jeffwarne]

Mike,
If we define the Metro area as 1 1/2 hours outside the city limits Longshadow would make it-
but that would throw the Hamptons area courses into the mix.

Seriously though Peachtree, East Lake, Longshadow,Athens CC would probably make it-
haven't played Atlanta atheletic Club or Atlanta CC.

[A.G._Crockett]

I've been in the Atlanta area for a long time, and there are still some good ones I'd like to see, but here goes:

Personal favorites, excluding my own club:

1. Peachtree--I've only been there once, but just a flawless golf course in every respect.
2. Woodmont--Badly underrated, IMO, and a pick for me because it is a rare newer routing that is friendly to walkers. 
3. East Lake--How do you leave this out, given its history?  I can't separate that from the golf very easily, and I thought the golf was better than pretty good.

Honorable Mention:
Rivermont--I've only been once since the redesign, but I could learn to love that golf course. 
Wolf Creek--Again, only one play, but I like it a lot.  Also very walker-friendly, and price-friendly.
Cobblestone--a very, very good track that increasingly seems to get lost in the shuffle.

I'll disagree a little with Kenny on Hawks Ridge.  I think it has a great set of par 4's, probably as good as any around.  But the par 5's are a problem; I didn't mind 18 as much as most people, but it certainly doesn't fit the rest of the course very well.


Negatives:
I'll agree on White Columns as vastly overrated, maybe the most overrated around here.  But right after that comes Capital City Crabapple, where there are shockingly few memorable holes on a GREAT piece of property.