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

[Mike_Young]

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.

I was just trying to stir stuff up.....

[Kirk Stewart]

Favs:

1. Peachtree--Huge undulating well bunkered greens in the fashion of it's sister course to the east. It don't get no better than #1,#2, #3 #4 #7 #12, #15 #17 and 18. 

2. East Lake-A treat and joy to pay. Easily in the top 50 in NY.

3. Golf Club of Georgia (Lakeside)-#1, 3,6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16 and 18 are great golf holes. The rest of the course is well done as well.

4. Settindown-A torture chamber from start to finish, although the 18th is a small let down for the ultimate hole. The rest of course makes up for it. See for yourself by looking at Thursday's pictures at the 2007 Georgia Am.

http://www.golfincontext.com/2007.html

Overrated:

1. Capital City Crabapple- The course on the other side of Chicken Creek is better.
2. Atlanta Athletic Club- The other course should be hosting the PGA.
3. TPC Sugarloaf- Love the big houses !

[G Jones]

I'm not going to list my worst 3 in Atlanta, but the best three IMO are:

1. Peachtree - Great atmosphere, great history, great conditioning, great green complexes and lots of interesting holes over the rolling hills. So much so that you don't really notice that there are very few fairway bunkers...

2. East Lake - This course takes a number of plays to fully appreciate it. As someone above commented, the first time you play here a few of the holes can blur together. But once you really get to know the course you realise how great it is... it's old fashioned (despite the current incarnation being fairly new), and is just a great place to play given the history. I know where many of the holes of the Tom Bendelow course were (which was replaced with the current course when Bob was 15 I think?), and it is amazing to imagine Bob's summer house where the 2nd green now sits, and the stories about a young Bob watching Jim Barnes hitting great shots from the 4th fairway, over a tree to a green where the 4th tee now is, and so on.
Haven't see the changes to the 7th and 17th greens yet, but looking forward to seeing them this week.

3. AAC (highlands) - A good championship course. I disagree with the person above who says this has a 1920s feel to it. The general look and feel is distinctly 1960/1970s. As a result I respect it and enjoy it, but it will never be a course that I love.

Other honorable mentions:
Druid Hills - a great course, but the 15th hole and the 7th hole are absolutely terrible.

[Tim Bert]

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.....

Bill, I can't speak for all zoysia fairways, but my club has them and they play great all year except in the very soggy winter months.  We have to water quite regularly because the club accepts effluent water from the city.  Still, during the summer the fairways are usually cut low enough and the turf plays firm enough that it isn't an issue.  We're not exactly playing firm & fast, but it isn't soft and soggy either.  For the member-guest, the club championship, and the Vandy tournament (our majors if you will) they usually have the turf running quite firm - it even goes to a brownish green hue at times.  The zoysia can be a bit tricky on run-up shots as it can act like velcro at times.

Not sure if it is a zoysia issue or a course by course drainage issue?

[Bart Bradley]

Kenny:

I am not an expert on Atlanta golf, but I will agree with your comments about Atlanta Country Club.  I thought the course offered a wonderful variety of terrain and asked the golfer to make specific shots to be in the preferred position.  The greens were well situated and in my opinion, the 4 par 3s were the strength of the course.   The surrounding neighborhood was generally not intrusive...the eighteenth sure plays short if you can pull your drive left and have it miraculously miss all the trees .  I can see why this course can be played for a lifetime without tiring of it.

Bart

[Casey Wade]

I did a college intern at Horse Shoe Bend and really enjoyed the course.  Can anyone tell me, since the redesign, how the changes are being welcomed(or unwelcomed?)

[hhuffines]

I don't know the distance from Atlanta proper but are the Roosevelt Memorial nine and the Highland Country Club in LaGrange worth visiting for a Ross fan? 

Thanks!

[cary lichtenstein]

Peachtree
Peachtree
Peachtree