I know that Cateechee, in Hartwell, GA, is known to a number of you, but I was there yesterday for the second time and wanted to put in a word for the course for any of you that might be travelling in either the Atlanta, Athens, or Greenville/Spartanburg areas.
For those of you that aren't familiar with Cateechee, it is the work of Mike Young, a frequent contributor here on GCA. The course is 8 years old, public, uncrowded, wonderfully scenic, and an Audubon and wildlife sanctuary. The beauty of the place is second to none, I assure you.
In my view, the last 5 holes make up as good a finishing stretch as I've ever seen.
#14 a mid-length par 4, slight dogleg left, fairway sloping slightly right, large hump in the fairway along the left side, with a green running away to the right. If the drive isn't far enough out and right, the shot in is semi-blind, but it is visually difficult to throw the tee ball out to the right. Wonderful strategic design elements.
#15 A wonderful short par 4 (305/278), slightly uphill. It has a split fairway, with the two fairways on different levels. The direct route makes the hole driveable if you kill it off the tee, but that path is heavily bunkered, and the green will be 10' or so above you. The upper fairway is very generous, but you are left with a partial wedge to a green that has a lot of contour. Just a great strategic hole.
#16 A reverse Redan par 3 (178/150), and the drop-offs around the green are severe. Easy to hit the front of the green, but the back left pin position is a thriller, either to attack or to putt to from the front.
#17 A monster par 5 (628/616). When you stand on the tee, the green is visible, but looks like another zip code. Landing area really narrows down at around 250 from the tee, and left is death. The landing area for the second shot has two steep-faced diagonal fairway bunkers to force most players to layup at around 160 or 170. The third shot was the highlight of my day; I could only see the top of the flag from behind the bunkers; my 6-iron ended up a foot away for a 4. (I think I had a BIG number the first time I was there two years ago from trying to overwhelm the hole.)
#18 An excellent finishing par 4 at 397/394. A hard dogleg right, with a tree guarding the corner forcing you to turn the ball if you want to be inside 150. If you go straight out, you can easily hit through the fairway into either of two very difficult fairway bunkers on the outside of the dogleg.
Wonderfully contoured greens, highly affordable, beautiful conditions. Get there if you can; any extra driving you do will be well worth it, I assure you.