[Edward Glidewell]

I've heard rumblings that East Lake is planning to close after the 2022 Tour Championship to completely rebuild all the greens and potentially make some other changes.


Supposedly Coore & Crenshaw were asked to handle it, but they turned it down because they consider it a Rees Jones course and they won't work on courses where the architect is still alive -- that's certainly not confirmed information, though. As of right now there's apparently no architect attached.


Has anyone else heard about this or have any idea who they plan to bring in? The right architect could really elevate the course IMO.

[Ben Hollerbach]

I have not heard that East Lake is planning a Renovation but I'm excited by the potential.
If true, I appreciate C&C saying East Lake is not a Ross course.

Between George Cobb's work pre-Ryder Cup and Rees Jones work it's pretty amazing how much the course has been moved over time.

[Edward Glidewell]

I have not heard that East Lake is planning a Renovation but I'm excited by the potential.
If true, I appreciate C&C saying East Lake is not a Ross course.

Between George Cobb's work pre-Ryder Cup and Rees Jones work it's pretty amazing how much the course has been moved over time.

This is all hearsay, of course, but I had a couple of friends there on Sunday playing in a firm vs. firm competition with some individual members and that's what they were told. It was coming from the kind of people who should have access to that info, so I'm reasonably certain that at least the renovation part is true. Less sure about C&C.


Regardless, I agree completely and would love to see someone like C&C (Doak, Hanse, etc.) come in and do work on the whole course. If it's only rebuilding the greens, that would still be nice, but a more significant overhaul could be fantastic.

[Joel_Stewart]

Down to the last 5 or so USGA courses that Rees has worked on, I didn't see this one coming.


Atlanta Athletic is supposedly considering some major work.


Bethpage and Torrey Pines are not.  Cog Hill would like to but funding is an issue.


If C&C won't do it, I'm sure there's an army of ASGCA architects knocking on the door.

[Edward Glidewell]

Down to the last 5 or so USGA courses that Rees has worked on, I didn't see this one coming.


Atlanta Athletic is supposedly considering some major work.


Bethpage and Torrey Pines are not.  Cog Hill would like to but funding is an issue.


If C&C won't do it, I'm sure there's an army of ASGCA architects knocking on the door.

I think Atlanta Athletic is planning to do work on the other course, not the one that's hosted majors, but I'm not positive about that. Either way they're both RTJ courses that were later renovated by Rees.

[Anthony_Nysse]

Down to the last 5 or so USGA courses that Rees has worked on, I didn't see this one coming.


Atlanta Athletic is supposedly considering some major work.


Bethpage and Torrey Pines are not.  Cog Hill would like to but funding is an issue.


If C&C won't do it, I'm sure there's an army of ASGCA architects knocking on the door.

I think Atlanta Athletic is planning to do work on the other course, not the one that's hosted majors, but I'm not positive about that. Either way they're both RTJ courses that were later renovated by Rees.

AAC just did a full regrass & irrigation upgrade 2 years ago.

[MCirba]

I've played and enjoyed East Lake for what is there and the history and all but I'm missing what the big opportunity would be to transform the course through some type of restoration?  Is the thought that it was somehow better in the past or that the terrain would yield a great course if redesigned?  I'm not sure I see that in either case?

[Edward Glidewell]

I've played and enjoyed East Lake for what is there and the history and all but I'm missing what the big opportunity would be to transform the course through some type of restoration?  Is the thought that it was somehow better in the past or that the terrain would yield a great course if redesigned?  I'm not sure I see that in either case?

I'm not sure it could be turned into a great course, but it could definitely be better than it is. There are multiple holes that could be improved.

[Joel_Stewart]

I've played and enjoyed East Lake for what is there and the history and all but I'm missing what the big opportunity would be to transform the course through some type of restoration?  Is the thought that it was somehow better in the past or that the terrain would yield a great course if redesigned?  I'm not sure I see that in either case?

I'm not sure it could be turned into a great course, but it could definitely be better than it is. There are multiple holes that could be improved.

I'm not sure if the property is intact to restore the Bendelow or Ross course but it doesn't look like a course from the 1920s.  I would think it could look like a classic course with the right vision and architect.

[Peter Pallotta]

Old Ben is a lot savvier than he looks, and a lot cagier than his earnest persona suggests. Maybe let's just say he "had a feeling" this was a no-win situation, especially with the USGA involved. No?

[Ben Hollerbach]

I'm not sure if the property is intact to restore the Bendelow or Ross course but it doesn't look like a course from the 1920s.  I would think it could look like a classic course with the right vision and architect.

Here is a map of the East Lake property in 1928. The bounds of the course today match up to the roads on this map. The only possible exception would the the widening of Glenwood Ave to the south and the construction of a maintenance building that sits on the site of the original 16th green (current 7th).

At this time Donald Ross would have been working on the no. 2 course that would open directly west of the current course, so If any changes to the property had occurred between his work in 1913 and 1928 it is probably safe to say he would have had some input into the hole changes.

The current 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th, 8th, 11th, 12th, 16th, and 17th greens are not in their original locations. Most of those changes were made by George Cobb prior to the 1963 Ryder Cup.

[MCirba]

I recall spending some time digging into the Ross lineage at East Lake years back and recall that many of the changes/additions to the routing were made to the original Bendelow course by George Adair and HH Barker around 1912 with consultation by CB Macdonald.  Lots of cooks in that kitchen over the decades so it would be interesting to determine what variant of East Lake would be the target.

[Ben Hollerbach]

East Lake certainly is an amalgam. I'm not sure without really great documentation you could perfectly "go back" to any point in time.
The easiest restoration would probably be towards the George Cobb work. Maybe East Lake will push the trend of restoring post-war architecture? That would be something exciting to see.

But odds are, with the numerous references to Donald Ross used by the club, the push would be to do something in the name of Ross. Now would this mean actually re-routing the first 5 holes along their original fairway paths? That sounds doubtful. I think it's more likely they will do something more like Congressional and "restore" current holes to match the style of Ross, even if the current hole is no longer in the same location as Ross's hole.

[Greg Clark]

Down to the last 5 or so USGA courses that Rees has worked on, I didn't see this one coming.


Atlanta Athletic is supposedly considering some major work.


Bethpage and Torrey Pines are not.  Cog Hill would like to but funding is an issue.


If C&C won't do it, I'm sure there's an army of ASGCA architects knocking on the door.

I think Atlanta Athletic is planning to do work on the other course, not the one that's hosted majors, but I'm not positive about that. Either way they're both RTJ courses that were later renovated by Rees.

The Riverside course at Atlanta Athletic Club shut down about a month ago, and is undergoing significant work.  Tripp Davis is the architect for the renovation.

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