Bobby Jones Golf Course - The Azalea Nine

Very neat layout that reverses direction every day

Fantastic staff and amenities at Bobby Jones Golf Course. Played Azaela after a night of heavy rains and there were lakes on the course as a result. Otherwise, the conditions were perfect!

This course was spear headed and built by Buckhead residents too lazy to drive to their country club.

It was design by Bob Cupp, who decimated over 800 hardwood trees that also served as wildlife refuge and neighborhood oxygenator. He breathed his last breath shortly before completion.

I'm a local and had played the old course more times than I can count and loved every minute of it, and miss the 800 trees that were felled and the magnificent oaks with which I had a long relationship, many memories and photos and some drawings even. It had epic hills, tee shots and epic sledding on snow days, and familiar fox, falcon and hawk encounters and seemingly everything wildlife wanted. And it had a great local community and international following, and an occasional celebrity hiding out in our hidden gem (imo) for a few hours. That is memory now.

For $26 million dollars they built a non-profit home of "Junior Golf" that no junior or anyone without 401K plan or Dad's credit card can afford. Everything about it feels like a money grab, especially the horrible driving range with no yardage reference, blind landing areas and almost no horizon contrast to see your shots. $17 for a small bucket of balls.

I lived next door to the old course for many years, and played it almost every wee morning. and then watched it get completely scraped.

For awhile it was temporary wasteland of Georgia Red clay which makes for harsh soil, unless you use the tiff hybrid bermuda grasses from University Of Georgia. The old course was one of first to use Tiff Champion hybrid on the greens after a bad drought, which is a hard, drought tolerant, and super fast and challenging when dormant. They roll true, but hardly break, as they tend to hold the line on a velcro-like grain.

The tee boxes and fairways are rock hard. During the first year, they had to supply carts with rubber mallets to drive the tees into the ground and sometimes you still need one. That's because they removed every bit of the top soil and a hundred years of sediment from Peachtree creek, and God know how many artifacts from the battle of Peachtree Creek, one of the bloodiest battles of the civil war.

It's sacred ground with a lot of history, which is worth noting while you're playing the new course, which now more closely resembles the old battle battle field; stark treeless wide expansive views and shots into sometimes formless confusing holes. Confused shell shocked expressions and questions are frequent on the course.

I played a full eighteen holes of the reversible nine, and it was actually a lot of fun. But, that wont' happen for you unless you know someone on the board. You can find them at any one of the Atlanta area country clubs. I have since played Azalea and Magnolia many times now with friends in the evening. Since most my friends are golf snobs whom rarely played the old course, it's nice to see and play with them more often.

It's the home of Georgia Junior Golf now, and is operated well enough by personality-free kids whom seem to have little or no capacity for independent thought or problem solving.

They have a novel "Himalayan" practice green that will ruin your putting game. The driving range is the worst in Atlanta if not the free world. Bring a magnifying glass to read the dispenser screen, which creates a bottleneck of basket holders waiting for the next person trying to figure out how to pay. $17 for a small bucket of balls.

Nonetheless, It's there. You can play it for twice the price of much better courses. And carts are available for extra fee, but be prepared for the onboard computer to hen peck you death and control your every move. If you want to raise your handicap, then follow the yardages that display on the screen.

$17 for small bucket of balls.

It's the dumbest course in Atlanta.

But, it's there.

$70 for punched greens and a 3hrs for 9 holes. Not worth it in any universe. Would be nice if they told you somewhere greens were punched. Also odd they are still charging egregious prices when course is under repair.

Played 9 holes at 2pm, Saturday afternoon. The course is in pretty good condition considering it is the winter season. The greens are nice although (unrepaired) ball marks are a problem. The pace of play was terrible. It took 2 hours and 45 minutes to play nine holes. Had to wait at least 5-10 minutes on every single shot. Never saw a ranger trying to push people to play quicker. Probably won't go back.