Home of The First Tee of East Lake in Atlanta, Charlie Yates Golf Course shines as a nine-hole executive
ATLANTA -- Opened in 1998, Charlie Yates Golf Course is a 1,953-yard, nine-hole executive course that serves as the home of The First Tee of East Lake program in Atlanta.
The course was designed by Rees Jones on the site of the old No. 2 Course at East Lake Golf Club, which was designed by Donald Ross. Jones also renovated the original course at East Lake Golf Club, which used to be part of the original Atlanta Athletic Club and now serves as the host course of the PGA Tour Championship as well as other important events.
As for the history of the old No. 2 course, Ross designed it in 1928 and it opened on May 31, 1930, to coincide with the final day of Jones' victorious British Amateur championship match. The course was located right across the street from East Lake's main course. Not long after East Lake hosted the 1963 Ryder Cup, though, things began to deteriorate around East Lake and its surrounding neighborhood. Atlanta Athletic Club sold the No. 2 Course to developers and moved to its present home in Duluth.
In 1993 a local charitable foundation purchased East Lake with the intent to restore it as a tribute to Jones and the club's other great amateur golfers. Rees Jones restored the original in 1994 and redesigned the old No. 2 Course in 1998. While the original course is technically private (members after 1994 are all corporate), its proceeds benefit the community and Charlie Yates Golf Course.
As for Yates, who died in 2005 at the age of 92, he grew up in a house on 2nd Avenue between East Lake's two courses. A successful Atlanta businessman, he was a two-time Georgia State Amateur Champion, National Intercollegiate Champion, Western Amateur Champion, British Amateur Champion, two-time member of the Walker Cup team and captain of the U.S. Walker Cup team. Yates, longtime Secretary of Augusta National Golf Club, was the low scoring Amateur at the Masters five times. Yates' mentor was Bobby Jones, and they both grew up playing golf at East Lake.