NW ATL checking in. I’m a member at BridgeMill and play in a lot of club and MGA events up here.
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Finally played Bobby Jones. 1 word review: Fun
A good portion of the course is wiiiiiiiide open and everything is cut low. One of my favorite parts was 2 holes I played knowing it was supposed to play one way (left or right side of lake) and completely going a different direction.
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Any of y’all US Am qualifying at Crabapple next week?
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Playing the Jennings Mill qualifier…i wish Crabapple was still available when I signed up.
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Can confirm. Played it last week… super fun.
Lots of room off the tee, very difficult to lose a ball and you’ll have a shot at hitting greens from just about anywhere. That said, the green complexes are massive and fairly undulating so if you miss in the wrong spot it’s usually a tough up and down.
Only played 9 (Azalea) but feel like it’s a course I could play every day. Short walks between greens & tees and mostly flat outside of 1 or 2 holes.
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Grew up in Atlanta , spent first few years of Post Grad there/ Savannah before moving to Utah.
Played a lot of golf in my 23+ years in Atlanta so here are my takes
Candler Park is a must play even though it’s a a goat track: Originally built for Coke founder Asa Candler’s daughter and became public maybe in the 40s,50s?? Located smack dab in the middle of Candler Park and you are walking distance from L5P , Fox Bros etc.
Before the area gentrified I remember playing there after school with friends and being hustled by crackheads hawking old balls etc … sick ambiance
The area has gentrified considerably and it’s a shame the city won’t invest more $$ into it and turn it into an ITP Sweetens Cove type place. It’sa design from the golden era and has a ton of character , just needs some love and infrastructure.
In terms of the CC scene, the only intown CC options are Ansley 9 hole , Capital City, Peachtree and Druid Hills. East Lake too but obv only limited to Corporate Members. I enjoy the CCC Brookhaven course but Crapapple is way better. Would give a kidney to play Peachtree and have friends who are members but haven’t been able to get on yet . The clubhouse is sick by how subdued it is for how legendary the course is.
Stone Mtn , heritage and Smoke rise aren’t bad public options that are OTP on the NE side. I played heritage on the 4th in the middle of the afternoon and had the place to myself. Heritage is kind of a gimmicky design though.
If I moved back I’d join the Standard Club. I heard initiation fees are under $5k and it’s one of the best layouts in the metro area.
Always down to play a round with y’all whenever I’m in town visiting family
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Couldn’t agree more on Candler. Great piece of land, wish they would put just a little bit of money into the bunkers or tee boxes.
I bought the First Tee of ATL Club Corp Passbook and it has been so worth it, you can play all the Club Corp Courses each one time for $25.
Can you post more details on that? Would be interested in trying to get something similar going in with First Tee of Tampa. Only 4 ClubCorp courses, but could potentially open it up to others.
incredible deal, there are around 30 club corp courses in ATL.
This is what they did with Bobby Jones.
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Yes and no. BJ went from a city course to being run by the Georgia State Golf Association. The city-run courses are now only: Browns Mill (my favorite), Chastain Park, Tup Holmes, and Candler Park.
But, they did great stuff to BJ - my least favorite of the ones in the city.
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Don’t really care who its run by. They made a deal and turned a dump of a course into a fun layout.
Oh yeah. It is now a viable option inside the perimeter that was never there. It also proves, sometimes less (holes) is more. And the driving range makes so much money I have to assume.
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You like Browns Mill / Chastain / others you mentioned over BJ?? Care to explain more?
To each their own - just curious why…
Sorry, I meant to say I liked the layout and fun on Browns Mill better than the previous city roster of courses.
The new Bobby Jones is probably better, but with a nine hole fee the same as 18 at Browns Mill it is not a no-brainer. I think that Bobby Jones has the most fun greens around town.
Chastain is always packed and sucks the life out of you. Tup is pretty fun, but it suffers with love and attention. Candler is in its own category as more of a walk in the park 9-holer.
Browns Mill soaks up water like a sponge, and that is its only weakness. It is walkable, playable, with fun holes that I like.
Bobby Jones is much more expensive than I thought it was going to be…thought the cost would be subsidized more by the foundation to promote access.
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Huge advocate of Browns Mill, especially being a ForePass member. If you walk 9 holes twice a month, the membership has already paid for itself.
The other weakness to Browns Mill is that a handful of tee boxes and the range are wildly uneven. It’s hard to find a flat spot to tee off from on #2, #12, #14, and #17. Also, the management there is kind of lazy. They basically don’t take tee times. You just show up and play when you’re ready. This can lead to some slow rounds because they’ll have 4 singles out there playing by entirely themselves.
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Is there an expiration on this? Is it only valid for 2019?
Nice to see Browns Mill getting some love!
I have not played there in some time, so I was assuming and hoping that things have stayed constant.
I am willing to overlook some weirdness with operations because I liked the course so much. The range is suspect, but they balance that with TWO putting greens! The only hole that I have a gripe with is #3 that seems as wide as a hallway with OB left and trees on both sides.
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