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Mike_Young

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Saban and Ken Whisenhunt buy WaterFall Country Club
« on: January 14, 2018, 07:39:51 PM »
Got a text friday saying Saban and Whisenhunt purchased Waterfall in clayton , Ga on Lake Burton where they both have homes.  It will be interesting.  Nice views and last I saw was well maintained.  Gorgeous lake with great setting.
"just standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona"

George Pazin

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Re: Saban and Ken Whisenhunt buy WaterFall Country Club
« Reply #1 on: January 14, 2018, 08:06:11 PM »
Instant preseason #1, serious playoff contender... :)
Big drivers and hot balls are the product of golf course design that rewards the hit one far then hit one high strategy.  Shinny showed everyone how to take care of this whole technology dilemma. - Pat Brockwell, 6/24/04

jeffwarne

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Re: Saban and Ken Whisenhunt buy WaterFall Country Club
« Reply #2 on: January 15, 2018, 10:09:56 AM »
Whisenhunt was the shortstop on my baseball team, and his throws across the diamond made a sizzling hiss and were downright scary both at first and home plate where I played. He got his size late, starting his college career as an off the depth chart "backup to the backup" 145 pound QB who was pressed into duty in GT's 3-3 tie with Notre Dame the year Georgia beat Notre Dame for The National Championship.


Later we reconnected when he and Bruce Coslet used to come to yearly tuneups at Jim McLean's school in Miami.


A really good player(golf) and a great athlete.
Will be interesting.
« Last Edit: January 18, 2018, 09:48:29 PM by jeffwarne »
"Let's slow the damned greens down a bit, not take the character out of them." Tom Doak
"Take their focus off the grass and put it squarely on interesting golf." Don Mahaffey

BCrosby

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Re: Saban and Ken Whisenhunt buy WaterFall Country Club
« Reply #3 on: January 15, 2018, 11:08:55 AM »
Interesting. Any word on changes to the course? WF has some odd holes but also some good ones.


The views from the clubhouse over the lake are magnificent.


Bob





Tom Ferrell

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Re: Saban and Ken Whisenhunt buy WaterFall Country Club
« Reply #4 on: January 15, 2018, 11:37:36 AM »
Lake Burton is real "happy place" for me.  My family has for years rented a home right across the cove from Saban's.  The combination of lake and beautiful mountains is stunning, and the memories I have of my son and his cousins growing up through the summer visits there are wonderful.


Waterfall occupies some tough land, and some of the holes reflect that.  The clubhouse setting is amazing and the views are out of this world.  The signature drop shot hole is one of the most disorienting I have ever played.  Random golf coincidence:  My buddy and I were randomly paired with the original developer of Waterfall (JT Williams, who also developed Killearn in Tallahassee and Eagles Landing outside of Atlanta) and his sales director at Troon some years back.  This was before I had ever gone to Lake Burton, so I visited Waterfall with great interest.


Glad it will maintained and supported.

Mike_Young

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Re: Saban and Ken Whisenhunt buy WaterFall Country Club
« Reply #5 on: January 15, 2018, 01:34:41 PM »
Interesting. Any word on changes to the course? WF has some odd holes but also some good ones.


The views from the clubhouse over the lake are magnificent.


Bob

I didn't hear they were changing anything..just a group of 5 coaches bought.  Not much can be done with that place the way I see it unless they changed it to 9 holes and made a good practice facility but odds are this is one of those deals where the coaches have the money and the others have the experience and the coaches end up with an experience while spending a bunch if they start such...
"just standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona"

Ray Cross

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Re: Saban and Ken Whisenhunt buy WaterFall Country Club
« Reply #6 on: January 15, 2018, 04:40:47 PM »
Was born and raised in Clayton, GA. Spent many a day on Lake Burton fishing or water-sking back in the 50's when there were few houses on the lake; now the shores are covered in million$$$ houses like Nick's. Was back in Clayton in 2014 (first visit back since the 70's)for a short visit just to see the changes.
Heard about Waterfall but didn't try to play it then.
Butron was part of 5 lakes created by Georgia Power Co sometime in the early 1900's; the little village of Burton was covered by water after the dam was built and my mothers family was moved to another farm along with other families.
In high school, there was no golf team. Clayton had a 9 hole public course which had been built by CCC funds sometime in the 20's, I think. My high school principal and coach played some golf but I think others who played went to Highlands or Toccoa.
Nothing was quite as upscale as now in that area.

A.G._Crockett

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Re: Saban and Ken Whisenhunt buy WaterFall Country Club
« Reply #7 on: January 18, 2018, 10:13:39 AM »
Lake Burton is real "happy place" for me.  My family has for years rented a home right across the cove from Saban's.  The combination of lake and beautiful mountains is stunning, and the memories I have of my son and his cousins growing up through the summer visits there are wonderful.


Waterfall occupies some tough land, and some of the holes reflect that.  The clubhouse setting is amazing and the views are out of this world.  The signature drop shot hole is one of the most disorienting I have ever played.  Random golf coincidence:  My buddy and I were randomly paired with the original developer of Waterfall (JT Williams, who also developed Killearn in Tallahassee and Eagles Landing outside of Atlanta) and his sales director at Troon some years back.  This was before I had ever gone to Lake Burton, so I visited Waterfall with great interest.


Glad it will maintained and supported.

Several things about the signature hole:

1. It plays about 8 clubs shorter than the actual distance.  You read that correctly...
2. The waterfall is artificial; they shut it off when the last group of the day goes thru, and pump the water back up to the pond on top to get ready for the next day.
3. I have been told that the regulars have a local rule that if you can't find your ball and everyone agrees on where it hit, you drop with no penalty.  The area around the green stays very soft, and a golf ball at terminal velocity doesn't just imbed, it often disappears.

It's a unique course, to say the least.  Bent grass tee to green, the only such course in Georgia, I believe.  It's fun to play on a now and then basis, but I don't think I'd enjoy it much as a regular venue; too weird and no way to walk it.  But the first time you see it, you just stand there with your mouth open most of the round.  Or wondering where in the heck to hit the ball...
"Golf...is usually played with the outward appearance of great dignity.  It is, nevertheless, a game of considerable passion, either of the explosive type, or that which burns inwardly and sears the soul."      Bobby Jones

Frank Kim

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Re: Saban and Ken Whisenhunt buy WaterFall Country Club
« Reply #8 on: January 18, 2018, 11:12:02 AM »
The problem with bent grass fairways in the summer in Georgia is that they have to turn on the sprinklers during the daytime.  The one time I played there they had the sprinklers on the whole round and several  tee shots would get embedded.  Talk about soggy fairways.

Mark Pritchett

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Re: Saban and Ken Whisenhunt buy WaterFall Country Club
« Reply #9 on: January 18, 2018, 11:20:26 AM »

A.G._Crockett

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Re: Saban and Ken Whisenhunt buy WaterFall Country Club
« Reply #10 on: January 18, 2018, 11:48:12 AM »
Interesting. Any word on changes to the course? WF has some odd holes but also some good ones.


The views from the clubhouse over the lake are magnificent.


Bob

I think only Saban and Whisenhunt are coaches.  The other three owners are Marlan Wilbanks, Lenny Lemoine, who both have homes at Waterfall, and Mike Nixon of Hawks Ridge.  (This is from an email that went out to the membership.)

It would seem to be a group that not only has a vested interest in the course, but VERY deep pockets.  Neither seems like a bad thing in the golf business...

I didn't hear they were changing anything..just a group of 5 coaches bought.  Not much can be done with that place the way I see it unless they changed it to 9 holes and made a good practice facility but odds are this is one of those deals where the coaches have the money and the others have the experience and the coaches end up with an experience while spending a bunch if they start such...
"Golf...is usually played with the outward appearance of great dignity.  It is, nevertheless, a game of considerable passion, either of the explosive type, or that which burns inwardly and sears the soul."      Bobby Jones

Carl Nichols

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Re: Saban and Ken Whisenhunt buy WaterFall Country Club
« Reply #11 on: January 18, 2018, 03:04:35 PM »
How's the fishing?

Jeff Schley

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Re: Saban and Ken Whisenhunt buy WaterFall Country Club
« Reply #12 on: January 19, 2018, 12:26:00 PM »
Never played here or visited the area, but as a former college football coach, I have met Nick Saban and have similar philosophies.  He isn't going to be associated with anything average and I would look for this course to improve their facilities / services with him involved. A perfectionist and know he is part owner, or maybe full owner, of some Mercedes dealerships as well.
"To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice your gifts."
- Steve Prefontaine

Steve_ Shaffer

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"Some of us worship in churches, some in synagogues, some on golf courses ... "  Adlai Stevenson
Hyman Roth to Michael Corleone: "We're bigger than US Steel."
Ben Hogan “The most important shot in golf is the next one”