Test Pics--Can you Name This Course ?

[Bradley Anderson]

There are least four different courses combined in these photos. Or else I'm blind.

Please explain how a picture of a green (#9), a picture from the tee (#10) and a pic of another green (#11) equals 4 different courses.

The first photo looks like two different golf courses combined into one picture, and the next two photos look like different golf courses. Or I could be just seeing things.

[Neil_Crafter]

I'm with Brad on this one, railway ties, rockwork, white bunkers, orangey waste bunkers, fescue hay, this course has double schizophrenia in my book.

[Kenny Baer]

9 is a great hole; risk reward par 5 with a double fairway.  THere is a great par 3 on the back nine over water and a cape hole that is alot of fun.

#'3, #5, #16, #17 are all terrible; I would consider the holes pictured #10, and #11 okay; the 2nd shot on #10 is a fun golf shot; looks very itimidating but actually gives you some room.

It is  100% Atlanta National Golf Club.

[Kirk Stewart]

9 is a great hole; risk reward par 5 with a double fairway.  THere is a great par 3 on the back nine over water and a cape hole that is alot of fun.

#'3, #5, #16, #17 are all terrible; I would consider the holes pictured #10, and #11 okay; the 2nd shot on #10 is a fun golf shot; looks very itimidating but actually gives you some room.

It is  100% Atlanta National Golf Club.

# 3 is a great risk reward Par 5.  #5 is a good tough par 4 to an elevated, very undulating green. #16 is the controversial 298 driveable par 4 with deep bunkers including a devilsh pot bunker in front.  17 is the island green par 3 that plays anywhere from 120 to 170 front.

Rarely have these holes been described as "terrible". #12 is the signature hole, a par 3 all carry over water with the reminants of the old dairy farm still standing on the foreground. 13 is ho-hum, 14 is the great cape hole that play 498 from the back tee, 15 is also ho-hum and 18 is all world. 

 How many times have you played the course?

What are your thoughts on the opener, #2, #4, #6-#8.

[Kenny Baer]

#1 Okay starting par 4; I like the green complex
#2 Not a bad shortish par 3; do Not miss left
#3 BAD Doak 0: Blind tee shot with hazards on both sides of the fairway, nothing worse in golf, but....if you hit a good shot the 2nd is fun and the green complex is great
#4 BAD Doak 0: Great idea for a hole just horribly executed, the further up the right side the better view of the green but the mounding on the right side is so contrived and throws your ball down a hill into the woods; I hate this hole.
#5 Is okay; don't hate it but don't like shots that dramatically up hill on long holes
#6 I really like this hole, great setting, short hole but awesome green complex, I like this hole
#7 Okay the tee shot is a fun one to hit just over the corner of the bunker but I wish the fairway was extended.
#8 BAD Doak 0 90 Degree dogleg that calls for driver 3-5 iron; can't stand this hole.
#9 My favorite hole on the course; double fairway risk/reward......

Obviously all this is totally my opinion and I do not want you take offense.  I have had fun at Atl national and enjoy playing it.  I have probably played it 10-15x over the years.

[Kirk Stewart]

#1 Okay starting par 4; I like the green complex
#2 Not a bad shortish par 3; do Not miss left
#3 BAD Doak 0: Blind tee shot with hazards on both sides of the fairway, nothing worse in golf, but....if you hit a good shot the 2nd is fun and the green complex is great
#4 BAD Doak 0: Great idea for a hole just horribly executed, the further up the right side the better view of the green but the mounding on the right side is so contrived and throws your ball down a hill into the woods; I hate this hole.
#5 Is okay; don't hate it but don't like shots that dramatically up hill on long holes
#6 I really like this hole, great setting, short hole but awesome green complex, I like this hole
#7 Okay the tee shot is a fun one to hit just over the corner of the bunker but I wish the fairway was extended.
#8 BAD Doak 0 90 Degree dogleg that calls for driver 3-5 iron; can't stand this hole.
#9 My favorite hole on the course; double fairway risk/reward......

Obviously all this is totally my opinion and I do not want you take offense.  I have had fun at Atl national and enjoy playing it.  I have probably played it 10-15x over the years.

Kenny,

No offense taken. I agree with you on several points. How would you fix #8 ?

[Kenny Baer]

On #8 I would move the tee to the left by about 30 yds.  I think there is an area next to 7 green that a tee could go.  That would probably be the easiest and most cost efficient instead of messing with the green.

What would you do?

[Kirk Stewart]

On #8 I would move the tee to the left by about 30 yds.  I think there is an area next to 7 green that a tee could go.  That would probably be the easiest and most cost efficient instead of messing with the green.

What would you do?

KB,

The tee can't go left because of 7 green. My solutions would be:

1. Move the tees back and lower them. The FW needs to be recontoured. Currently, from the burgandy tee an avg length player hits 3W, 5W or one of those hybrids. If the player doesn't curve it left to right, he might be faced with a 170-200 yard second from a downhill/ side hill lie to a shallow green (think #12 Augusta) with deep bunkers left and right.  The green should be long and deep to allow better access for a long iron. The green could easily be be redesigned in this fashion as there is plenty of room toward the clubhouse i.e. 9th green

2. Move the tees back20-40 yards. Move the green to approximately where #11 currently resides (See the third Picture). I haven't decided whether the green complex should be in front of the creek or behind hit.
The 11th hole would be played as a straight away par 4 with the green complex moved up by the pond on #12.

[Kenny Baer]

Say you are standing were the fairway ends on #7.  If you were to look 30 yds short and 30 yds left of 7 green isn't their a spot that is blocked by trees that you could put the tee for 8; I may be wrong?

If that is done then the hole would be a slight dog-leg left to right and you could drive it almost up to the cross hazard; it would be a normal par 4 without all of that work.

Now I think it is literally 90 degrees; that would soften the angle and make it a shorter hole.

[David Whitmer]

I was the pro at a PB Dye club, and I took a group down to Atlanta National back in the fall of 2001 for a 3-day "Dye Club" tournament. I enjoyed the golf course...certainly not the best track I've ever played, but I found it to be challenging, and it was alot of fun to play.

I agree some holes are not great. Four is marginal, seven is just okay, and I thought 13 was pretty bland. I personally liked #16, the driveable par-4. There is plenty of room to lay up down the right. If you go for the green, you have to navigate many deep and nasty bunkers, and the green is wide and shallow. I also didn't have an issue with #8. Yes, it's a 90-degree dogleg, but so what? I'm not sure why that in itself makes it a bad hole. The hole calls for a long iron into the green after putting a drive in play. I don't see where that is a bad thing.

[Kirk Stewart]

Say you are standing were the fairway ends on #7.  If you were to look 30 yds short and 30 yds left of 7 green isn't their a spot that is blocked by trees that you could put the tee for 8; I may be wrong?

If that is done then the hole would be a slight dog-leg left to right and you could drive it almost up to the cross hazard; it would be a normal par 4 without all of that work.

Now I think it is literally 90 degrees; that would soften the angle and make it a shorter hole.

KB,

We have thought about that location before and have played it from the ladies tee which is pretty fun. Smash a drive over the creek with a little fade and you can have a go. It think the lodge that was built a few years ago may prevent the ideal teeing ground.

[Kenny Baer]

What if you cut down all the trees on the right?  Totally ellimenate them and make it all fairway, add it to the existing fairway that already exist then it would be about playing the best angle.  The closer to the right the more clear shot at the green and the better angle into that green..

[Kirk Stewart]

I was the pro at a PB Dye club, and I took a group down to Atlanta National back in the fall of 2001 for a 3-day "Dye Club" tournament. I enjoyed the golf course...certainly not the best track I've ever played, but I found it to be challenging, and it was alot of fun to play.

I agree some holes are not great. Four is marginal, seven is just okay, and I thought 13 was pretty bland. I personally liked #16, the driveable par-4. There is plenty of room to lay up down the right. If you go for the green, you have to navigate many deep and nasty bunkers, and the green is wide and shallow. I also didn't have an issue with #8. Yes, it's a 90-degree dogleg, but so what? I'm not sure why that in itself makes it a bad hole. The hole calls for a long iron into the green after putting a drive in play. I don't see where that is a bad thing.

David,

#4 has grown on me over the years. It is a hole that one should birdie more often than not ,yet you don't... Really, only a driver/ 3W and little 9 iron or wedge. The first 1/3 of the green slopes away from the player making it a little difficult to get close. The back right pot bunker also can make a pin in that quadrant interesting.

#8 is fine, not great,  but the FW needs fixed.  Here is the tee shot from the back tee:





I have a soft spot for the short par 4 #16, as I have 2 albatross's there. A superb match play finish with 16, the island green 17th and the brutal 18th.

Here is the right front bunker that will eventually be restored to grass faced and flat bottomed. No more bunker liners:






You're right a lot of fun to play, a great walking course on a beautiful piece of property. I just think we need to renovate here and there. A perfect example is # 13 and #15.  I would love to see 13 green pushed all the way down to the water and the LZ slope flattened out or softened.

15 has Chicken Creek that runs down the entire length of the right side of the hole yet you never see. They have allowed non-specimen tree to go wild and you can literally scrape one towards the creek only to have it kareem back into play (sometimes not a bad thing).

Both par 5s on the back side are a little bland for what they could be on that piece of land.