I've wondered over the years about the lineage of my favorite Atlanta muni. The more that I've played it over the course of 15 years, and the more that I've started to take note of such things, the more apparent it has become that the designer had a keen sense of strategy and purpose.
On Tuesday I finally sat down with the manager to learn that the architect in question was none other than George Cobb.
I get the feeling that Cobb gets a bad rap for having had a role in the ongoing evolution (some would say desecration.. I'm still on the fence) of Augusta National.
And yet the course that I play, which was completed in 1972, incorporates a lot of what is praised on this board as forward thinking. Wide fairways, firm and fast, multiple subtle options that invite the golfer to think and to risk, and respect for the land.
Here's an interesting snippet on Cobb from Joe Passov of Golfonline.com:
"Cobb served as an engineering officer in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II. At Camp LeJeune, North Carolina, he was ordered to construct a golf course on the base to serve as a physical rehabilitation facility. With the help of veteran architect Fred Findlay, Cobb succeeded in building the “rehab facility.” It was likely at that moment that Cobb developed his design philosophy that golf was supposed to heal and to stimulate, not to punish."
Here's something from Cobb's associate, John LaFoy.
"Mr. Cobb was a fine golfer, as well as an architect, so I think the strength of his courses were in his routings and strategy of play. Visually, some of his courses are not as "striking" as some of the modern courses, but when he was designing courses, that was not as big of an issue."
Cobb designed scores of courses in the SE. Where's the love for George?