Sorry for the dealyed post regarding a great outing at Rivermont CC.
Rivermont CC is truly a Gem in the over charged CC's of Atlanta! I will jump on the course details below or once I get some pics off my camera.
It’s a players club that acknowledges the importance of Golden Age Architecture. Hence no swimming pool's just good golf. I don't think I could ever get bored with the design. The bunkering is exceptional, framing holes and making you think you are in the sand hills of NC or as far off as Brookline. Every green complex has its quirks and contours that are some of the most creative and original to be found in Atlanta or even in the south. If you can remember TOC #2 or #12 green it can be found out here in some form or fashion…very cool contour lines on several of the holes.
IMHO the courses in the state of GA tend to be placed in the Top 100 probably due to history and conditioning. Rivermont‘s renovation was done within the constraints of a residential development. Doesn’t matter, they did a great job and they have a really solid golf course jammed with very cool green complexes. I noticed a modified biarritz, and one of the only punch bowl greens I have ever seen this far south. It should be up there for imagination and creativity along or above many that are ranked from GA.
I wish that Rivermont business model would be the future of golf in the state of GA. For a state that loves golf so much it would be nice to take many of Rivermont’s details and apply them to the public courses like Bobby Jones and Chastain or tracts out in Dekalb County. That’s another thread all together but why can’t Atlanta have a public course venue like Bethpage close the city? It would be very cool if you had a golf course at a few Marta stops like Levin or Lundin Links in Scotland.
Rivermont really sparked a few memories for me of the many great pre-1930 designs that I have been lucky to play along the NE and British Isles. Chris I will be sending those Swinley Forest pictures this weekend that we talked about over lunch. I hope to get a few pictures of Rivermont up for the discussion group to view.
Chris-Thanks for putting your property out there and taking the chances that more owners need to make in this predictable golf landscape.