The Golf Club at Cuscowilla

[John_D._Bernhardt]

It seems there was a discussion on this course some time back. I toured it Monday and found it to be one of the great new courses I have seen. 1 is a great opening hole and 5 is one of the great short(drivable) 4's I have seen anywhere. It is a course that screams strategy and is challenging for the best creating a desire to come back again and again .Yet, it is very playable and pleasurable for the average golfer.  I had just toured Jack N's Great Waters course and felt is was an ok course, ie good for Jack, for a real estate course on a great piece of land. Cuscowilla is on a slightly inferior piece of land a few miles away. The real estate is kept away and you feel in touch with the land from hole 1. You will be hard pressed to point out where any dirt was moved. I am not a red clay man in any way but the traps are a thing of beauty. The rough edges with beautiful with a natural look. All the greens flow from the ground as it they had been meant to be greens for all time.

[BCrosby]

John -

There have been many discussions of Cuscowilla here.

It is indeed a great course.

There's only one better in Georgia.

Bob

[James Edwards]

BCrosby,

Which one is that exactly?

John,

What do you think of the transition between the last few holes of the front nine to number 10 and 11?

I agree, I enjoyed the bunkering, especially on Holes 2 and 17.

[Jimmy Muratt]

John,
Has the new clubhouse been opened at Cuscowilla yet?  I heard it was supposed to be completed recently.  Was the course in good shape, playing hard and fast?

It is difficult to find a course that offers as much variety as Cuscowilla.  It's a great mix of long 4 pars, short 4 pars, reachable 5 par, long 5 par.  And the par 3's, make you use everything from a 9 iron all the way to long iron.

#1 a near perfect opening hole, strategy required but not overly difficult
#5  one of the best short par 4's around
#10  a great Cape par 4, can you think of a more exciting tee shot on a par 4?
#11  beautiful short par 3 where you could easily make a 2 or a 5
#14  I love this hole, it follows the natural contours of the land, C&C took what the land gave them

There isn't a bad hole on the course.  

[Robert Kimball]

I am so glad you got a chance to get around this great property.  To rehash my enjoyment of it would be redundant.

Am I to assume that your journey takes you a little further East???  If so, I hope you are dry.  

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Yes, the reason I got to take in Cuscowilla was the rainout Monday at the one course in Georgia that Bob feels is better. Nothing played hard and fast that day. lol The course is in great shape and the clubhouse is finished. I met one of the developers and he discussed a lodge/hotel to be built soon. I had on a Pacific Dunes shirt and he had just been there. He indicated the one here wil be nicer than the Bandon facility. The clubhouse is incredibly nice from a materials and design point of view. It appears to be around 12,000 sq feet(a guess). It was funny that I was not really aware of Cuscowilla before except sorta remembering it being discussed on this site. I had already toured the Great Waters, Jack N course, and was getting tired. It took making it to the landing area on the first holeat Cuscowilla to be rejuiced and my friend had to drag me off this course many hours later. I was just blown away by the course and the vision it took to do the project.

[David Wigler]

Jihn,

Glad you liked Cuscowilla.  It is one of my favorites.  I must admit though, it has not been hard and fast for any of my last three visits.  I hope they are not trying to get too green.

JimmyVA,

Agree with your assessment of every hole you love.  There is one bad hole on the course though, #6.  It is tree encroached and offers very little golf.  17 solid holes makes a top 50 course in my book any day.

[Carlyle Rood]

Augusta National
Peachtree Golf Club
Atlanta Country Club

I count at least three better than Cuscowilla.  East Lake and Sea Island's Seaside course are every bit as good too.

Carlyle

[Mike Nuzzo]

David,
Have no fear.
The club championship is this weekend.
I played there twice this past week.
The greens sounded like a drum when I tapped them with my putter.  Some high shots barely left a dent, certainly not a pitch mark.
The conditions were very firm.
I don't know if 7 (not 6) is a bad hole.  It requires a little 3 wood draw, followed by a little fade.  Not bad.  The other hole that was not as strong as the rest was #13.  But it is a good test and gets you to 14, so I'd say it's better than most others.

The greens were fantastic and vastly different.  The 12th was TINY!  The 15th was big and superbly contoured.  Day one I went left on # 5, day 2 right.  The pin on day 2 was back right in that tiny lobe that has a small pinable area.  I hit a 60 yd wedge just a foot left, and rolled of the back left.  I then proceeded to chip it back to the pin and off the green.  Nice.  It might only be an easy four for Ran, not me.

As a member course its nice to have the option to go off #1, #7, #10 or #15 when trying to get a few holes in to close out the day (or jump start your morning).

I'd like to play there another 100 times.

Cheers

[Brock Peyer]

I played there on around March 1 with another GCAer and had a great time.  It was wet and and the fairways weren't in the best condition and the greens had been aerated 10 days prior but I loved it and I had my worst score ever.  I have not played many of the great courses but Cuscowilla has moved to the top of my list.  Everyone should try and get there sometime.  Best green complexes that I have played.  We played on a Monday and never encountered another group.  We played the tips and I hit more 3, 4, and 5 irons that I have in forever.

[juventusatlanta]

Those first 3 are great courses.  They are similar to what Golf Digest would say in their rankings.  East Lake is probably my favorite of all you listed.

However, for my money, I would put Cuscowilla at the top of this list (having not played AGNC) for one reason.  It's unlike any course around and it embodies much of what I believe course architecture requires in the current environment of pulling back tee boxes.  The use of angles is brilliant.  A few examples of this include:  second shot on 1, layup shot on 2, tee shot on 4&5, second shot on 5, tee shot on 10.  There are others, but the point is that these shots offer a fair risk/reward relationship where the use of angles requires thought and often times precision.

The best way I know to describe why this is such a great course is that I found it to be better the second time and the third time I played it.  The subtleties of the course became more apparent and the design C&C had a lot in mind in designing this come out the more times you play it.