Par 3’s in Atlanta
As teenagers growing up in North Atlanta, we had a plethora of golf courses to play. And damn near all of them were private. Atlanta and muni’s don’t usually end up in the same sentence. People in other parts of the country are surprised by how many private clubs there are in Atlanta and how few public golf courses exist. San Francisco has TPC Harding Park, Presidio, and Lincoln Park’s million-dollar views of the Golden Gate Bridge. Head a few miles south and you have oceanfront courses in Half Moon Bay. 90 minutes north of the city, on the banks of the Russian River, is a hidden Alister Mackenzie gem named Northwood Golf Club. A.W. Tillinghast’s Bethpage Black in New York is world renown (along with Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow), and say what you will about President Trump, but his Ferry Point course in The Bronx is open to the public and comes with magnificent views of the Manhattan skyline.
On the north side of town, we had the Atlanta Athletic Club, St. Ives Country Club, Country Club of the South, The Standard Club, White Columns Country Club, Golf Club of Georgia, Atlanta National Golf Club, Rivermont Golf Club, Horseshoe Bend Country Club, and Roswell Country Club. All private.
On the muni side, we had RiverPines. Yup…that’s it. In the land of milk and honey, you had better pony up for a membership because there was only one public golf course in all of North Atlanta in the 90s. And speaking of Atlanta in the 90s, John Smoltz and Tom Glavine regularly hit balls on the RiverPines range. They were always engaging and conversational, and they treated us well.
That being said, we had a few Par 3 courses that were open to the public. If you add up all the fun I had playing the private clubs, it pales in comparison to the parties we had on the Par 3’s. Peachtree Golf Center and The Hooch Golf Club were next to one another on the banks of the Chattahoochee River, and they were cheap. Dirt cheap. A round at Peachtree Golf Center was seven dollars and there were no rules. Want to take a page from Burning Tree and play shirtless? No problem. How about barefoot? Again, no problem. In fact, I don’t think I ever played with shoes on when it was warm. I even saw a redneck take a dip in a pond on a hot day. If the Deltas at Faber College had a course of their own, this was it. Our bags overflowed with tallboys, cigarettes, and Copenhagen. And this went on for many, many years – long past being a teenager. If my buddies and I were out too long, our wives knew where to find us. Or at least they knew where to start the search. Only a bunch of jackasses can turn a two-hour round into an all-day affair at a goat track.
On the other side of the fence was The Hooch Golf Club. Between the two, this was the nicer course. The clubhouse was a small log cabin; the logo had a Confederate soldier staring off into the distance; and the routing resembled an actual golf course. 18 holes set you back fifteen dollars, but it came with a golf cart and a few interesting holes. The Hooch existed to sort of play golf; Peachtree was there to party.
Partying aside, it was nice to have a cheap place to golf. No tee times and no rules. Just fun. And theoretically, you could knock out 18 in a few hours with a seven iron, wedge, and putter.
In college, I started hosting The Brad Evans Celebrity Golf Tournament. It was an annual affair that started on the Par 3’s and ended with me getting banned from Chastain for a year. We had t-shirts made, threw huge after parties at The Cabin, and the winner took home a Green Jacket. I sourced them from thrift stores throughout the year. My closet looked like a shittier version of the coat room at Augusta National. Boy did we make some memories. Who can forget Kristian telling Buckalew’s fiancé he drunkenly fell in the river and was floating down to Sandy Springs. Suffice to say he was a no-show at the following year’s tournament. Now that I think about it, Drunkalew never played again. I usually played in a tie to class it up. I’m quite sure we never met a golf course that wasn’t sad to see us go.
The majority of my high school buddies and I went to UGA, but a few followed in their father’s footsteps to Tech, so I also created the UGA-Tech Invitational. These gatherings went strong until we started having kids. A lot of the guys joined the aforementioned clubs, and the Par 3’s were turned into subdivisions. Real estate on the river is in short supply.
I was thinking about all the fun we had when an idea popped in my head: I should play the Par 3’s in metro Atlanta and rank them. So off I went to Charlie Yates (Blue), Chateau Elan (Red), Candler Park, Hawks Ridge (Yellow), and the Atlanta Athletic Club (Green).
I’ll go ahead and kill the suspense: Hawks Ridge is far and away the best Par 3. Hands down, no comparison. But it’s private. Very private. Hawks Ridge is where Tiger used to warm up for The Masters while the rest of the pros competed at the Bellsouth Classic. It’s a polished course with few members, Smoltz, coincidentally, being one of them. His jersey hangs next to the billiards table in the men’s locker room. As always, I won’t share details on the private clubs I visit, but the men’s locker room is world-class. Hell, the entire club is incredibly well put together. The overnight cottages looked especially appealing.
I emailed the pro, Ryan Joyce, and told him I was going to write this article and wanted to include his club in it. Ryan wrote back, “I’m sure I can get you on.” Not only did I play, but I was given a visitor’s locker and left with my shoes shined. All of this to play a nine-holer. Again… world-class.
First of all, the condition of the course was damn near perfect. My guess is that it gets next to no play. The helicopter landing pad next to the fifth tee had more use than any of the greens. From start to finish it’s aesthetically appealing and acoustically relaxing on account of a cleverly designed waterfall. It’s hilly, a bit challenging, and flat-out fun. You feel like you’re playing in a billionaire’s backyard. It’s in a league of its own. I’m a big fan.
Bringing home the silver is Charlie Yates Golf Course in Atlanta. I’ve played this track many times and always enjoyed it. For starters, the grounds crew across the street at East Lake Golf Club has been rumored to not only pitch in, but do the majority of the work. It gets a lot of play, but conditioning is usually in good order. With three par fours and a legit lake to contend with, Yates is more challenging than the others on this list.
Designed by Donald Ross in 1928 (yes, the same guy who did Seminole), it was the Atlanta Athletic Club’s No. 2 course until the 1960s. Unfortunately, poverty and plight took over the neighborhood, and the AAC left for their new campus on the north side of town. The club was eventually renamed East Lake Country Club with a mere 25 members. Next time you’re at the Tour Championship, look at East Lake’s clubhouse, and you’ll see “AAC” beautifully carved in stone at the main entrance. The Philip Shutze-designed clubhouse was the original home of the Atlanta Athletic Club. The 70s and 80s were rough times for East Lake. Members were notoriously held up at gunpoint on the fairways, and the Par 3 course was demolished to make way for public housing. Fast forward to the 90s when the neighborhood was revitalized by Tom Cousins and East Lake Golf Club became what it is today. The nine-hole course was restored to its original Donald Ross design by Rees Jones, and Tiger Woods hit the ceremonial first drive. Not too many folks outside of Atlanta know the history of East Lake Golf Club, let alone the Charlie Yates executive course. Up until recently, you had a local kid as a caddy. Those were fun days. I highly recommend giving it a shot.
Let’s head over to Chateau Elan, made famous by Atlanta Royalty, Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston (my eyes are rolling). I haven’t spent too much time in this neck of the woods, but from what I’ve heard, it’s a lovely place to get away for a weekend. Golf courses and a vineyard are the main attractions. Coming in at 1,066 yards, this Par 3 was in pretty good condition when I played it. I don’t think it gets too many rounds on account of their two 18-hole courses. Lots of undulation, manicured thick grass between holes, and solid greens. There’s a lake on holes 3, 4, and 5, but the granddaddy of them all is the 9th. On any other course it would be considered a good hole, as it’s picturesque and plays over a sizable pond to a small green surrounded by tall trees. I think this would be a fantastic place to take young kids.
Off to the Atlanta Athletic Club we go. And I mean the real AAC, not their former club in East Lake. This club has big-time national recognition on account of hosting several majors and being Bobby’s club, but their Par 3 course is more for the children of members to get familiar with the game. It’s fairly flat, straight back and forth, with no water features. Holes range from 75 to 125 yards, and it’s always in excellent condition. That being said, they have two championship courses and the single greatest driving range I’ve ever seen. I’m sure the AAC is going to be just fine with their current arrangement. I’ve played it many times with friends and love it – lots of good memories.
What would Atlantans do without Candler Park? It’s one of my favorite neighborhoods for a host of reasons. When my kids were young, I used to take them to Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Tea Party for ice cream – such a cool place. But let’s stick to golf. This almost one-hundred-year-old track was a gift to the city from Mr. Asa Candler, the founder of Coca-Cola, in 1927. Mr. Candler donated the land to the city so his daughter would have a place to play because Druid Hills Golf Club wouldn’t allow women to golf. It has always been public, and it may be the most democratic golf course in Atlanta. You can wear jeans, play in flip-flops, and smoke grass. It’s a liberal course in a liberal part of town. To this day, it’s only $9 for a round and $6.75 if you’re over 55. You can’t eat at The Varsity for that much. It’s rarely in good condition, in fact, it’s sort of a dump, but it’s uniquely Atlantan. Watch out if you hit one astray, as the homeless are known to hang out in the bushes and charge you a buck to get your ball back.
So there you have it – a list of some of the Par 3 courses in and around Atlanta. As much as I enjoy 18 holes on a real course, sometimes it’s nice to casually loaf around with a cigar on an uninhabited Par 3.
Par 3 Courses I have on my list (in no particular order):
1. The Olympic Club – Cliffs Course. San Francisco, CA
2. Pinehurst Resort – The Cradle. Pinehurst, NC
3. Pine Valley Golf Club – Pine Valley, NJ
4. R.T. Jones Golf Trail – Magnolia Grove. Mobile, AL (#1 short course in America)
5. Cat Cay Yacht Club – Windsor Downs. Bimini Islands, Bahamas
6. Augusta National Golf Club – Augusta, GA
7. Bandon Dunes – Bandon Preserve. Bandon, OR
