DG1

The course is in good condition for late March, but a bit wet. The bent greens were also good, but should be better at this time of year. Some greens appear to be a bit overgrown with Poa Annua. The only negative was a threesome playing at a 4:45 hour pace with an open course in front of them. We skipped a hole to avoid making this a painful round. This is one of the few public/semi-private courses in NE Georgia that could be a 5-star course. The rating for this round was pushed down because play was not well managed.

Legacy on Lanier provides the golfer with a good but fair test. The course was in better than average condition for the end of March with nearly perfect maintenance. The greens were firm and running at a good pace. However, the course is wet which is somewhat typical.

The greens were recently aerated thus much slower and rougher than usual. Otherwise, conditions were typical for early spring. Play was slow for this round because of a single group that could not keep pace. The staff did a poor job of managing this situation. The on-course beverage service was very good.

Chicopee Woods is a good municipal course and was in very good condition with great greens for this round. Most mid range courses are lax on bunker maintenance, but the bunkers at Chicopee were well groomed. The only thing that should have been better was clearing of leaf litter from the fairways. The Village 9 has a few semi-blind shots. Practice facilities are better than average. Highly recommended.

I like the highland views that Hampton Village offers and this is generally a nice course. The bent greens have very few bare spots and should have been nearly perfect, but were too slow. I really appreciated the clean fairways and greens (very few leaves). The lower than typical rating is for very slow play (5 hour range). I saw no evidence that the staff attempted to manage the pace of play.

I play St Marlo about once a year usually when invited by someone that is a member or likes the course. The course is enjoyable, but the pace of play is nearly always an issue as was the case for this round. To their credit, the staff attempted, with partial success, to move the slow players along. The facility was not crowded on this day. Except for the bunkers, the course was in good condition. The bunkers need repair. My fellow players and I all had difficulty with filter fabric at or near the surface in some of the bunkers. I do not recommend this course to others because of a long history of poorly managing play.

The Creek at Hard Labor has a very rural setting in a woodland state park. There are no houses and very little traffic noise. The layout is challenging without being overbearing. Course conditioning was generally good for November with excellent greens. The bunkers seemed over filled with a very fine sand. It is not clear what is the intent of the bunker setup. I find this to be a very relaxing course to play, but I typically do not play at Hard Labor during the peak season. The staff did not manage play during this round, but the course was nearly empty. Great value and highly recommended.

The course conditions were less than impressive in early October, but have improved. Mowing of the rough and fairways was much better. The rough is still penal, but not lost ball penal. Some greens had a few bare patches, but generally rolled very well with good pace. The bunkers are playable. Pace of play was only acceptable and not managed by the staff. A very strong three star rating. Highly recommended if you live in the area.

Echelon is a championship golf course and easily plays above the rating and slope. While not a tight golf course, there are several long carries and the penalties for modestly errant shots tend to be high. Much of the difficulty is due to the rough and side slopes. Many holes have significant elevation changes. The course was in good shape for November with very good greens. However, the bunkers were only in ok condition. The rating suffered due to marginal pace of play and the lack of staff to manage play. This course has fewer amenities than the typical muni.

Reunion is the most consistently good golf course in Northeast Georgia. The greens were generally very good with a few rough patches. The rest of the course was in really good condition for November. It is hard to understand why other courses are not run this well. Our only issue was the frequently broken coke machine at the mid-course snack bar. Fortunately, the beverage cart arrived and we were good to go. Those that read my reviews likely understand that a five star review is only obtainable by the top private and resort courses with flawless service, course conditioning and amenities.A 4 star rating is truly outstanding for a typical public or semiprivate course. Reunion sets an example for others to follow.

Over the past few months, I have played several of the former Cannon Gate courses in Northeast Georgia. Georgia National was perhaps in the best condition of these courses. We typically play from the 6,500 yard tees and found the blue tees at Georgia National to play longer than the scorecard distance. The course is a fair challenge and we had an enjoyable outing.

This is my first round in at Olde Atlanta in several years. Overall, the experience was only only ok. The staff made no attempt to manage the pace of play which at times was painful. The rough was definitely too long especially given the tight nature of course. Nothing about the course conditioning was great or poor. Based on this experience, I cannot recommend this course to others.

The Polo Golf and Country Club is a nice course and generally enjoyable to play. Course conditioning is acceptable, but not quite 3-stars. The greens have areas of thin grass and a rough surface. It was very easy to lose your ball one yard off the fairway due to excessive grass height. The bunkers were raked, but need some rehab to be consistent. A few tee boxes are worn and need some attention.

Windermere is a challenging course with a good layout. The greens have considerable undulations and are fast. All other elements of the course conditioning are simply average. However, the course could be above average without too much additional effort. I am not a member at this club and would not consider a membership at Windermere because of the staff. The Pro Shop seem disinterested in being pleasant when making the reservation and when checking-in. The practice tee was closed because the utility cart used to pick balls was dead on the driving range. A reasonable operation would have directed some staff to partially pick the range as is done on mowing day. There was no effort to manage play or the pace of play. The front nine move along at a good pace, but the back nine was quite slow and we barely finished before dark. All of the golf carts are in quite poor condition.

Woodmont has a classic private golf club feel where the membership wants a nice club but is unwilling to pay for a really great club. The course was in the best shape that I have seen in the last two years, but is not sufficiently maintained to be classified as manicured. Only the tee boxes were below average. The staff managed play well and we had a reasonably good pace of play. Local knowledge is needed to play Woodmont well. Sorry to see that the course to going private soon.

The Trophy Club of Apalachee has greatly improved their greens over the last few months making the course reasonable to play. The greens had good pace and were generally smooth with very few bare spots. Otherwise the course is very playable, but not well groomed. This golf club simply does not put adequate effort into maintenance. The fairways and rough have decent grass with many weeds, areas with poor watering, areas with poor drainage, and areas with bare ground. The bunkers have little consistency and had not been recently groomed. The practice tee was very worn. This course has a decent layout and can be fun to play but is only recommended if the price is much less than $50.

We played the Creek to Lake rotation at Eagles Landing using Club Corp’s member for a day program. This is a very nice golf club with above average practice facilities. The course seemed setup to play longer than the stated 6600 yards from the blue tees. Despite the unexpected length, I found the course to be very playable with adequate landing areas, manageable rough and decently maintained bunkers. The bent greens were slightly below average and seemed very worn. Most impressive is the layout which is visually interesting and requires some thought to play. This should be a 4-star facility, but falls short on the greens and its staff. I rated the staff 2 stars. The 2-star rating reflects both marginal service and inadequate (none) staff to manage play.

The greens have recovered from the late summer aeration, but are still not good with many bare and rough areas. The fairways and most tee boxes were in very good condition. Bunker grooming is poor. The rough is longish, but fair (you can find your ball). The black tees are back, giving us older somewhat skilled hackers a reasonable length blue tee option. Overall, Royal Lakes is a bit pricey for the current conditions.

I played Traditions of Braselton twice about 2 months apart. The course remains nice, but not as good as the previous round. The greens are bent, slightly below average for grass density, smoothness, consistency and wear around the cups. Grass mowing seems to be an issue for this grounds crew. The rough is ¾ inches too long for the course difficulty. This especially true for some of the par 3s where you either hold the green or end up in deep rough one yard off of the green. Fairway mowing is too infrequent and needs to be tighter. The fairway mowing issue reduces definition making the course more difficult. Practice facilities seem to be minimal and the practice tee is stocked with flight restricted balls. The staff was minimal but extremely cordial. I am not a member and will not consider a membership because of the practice facilities and location.

Good experience and good but not great conditioning. Reunion was very playable for this round, but the greens have some bare and rough patches that need attention. The tee boxes and fairway conditions are good (well maintained). The bunkers did not seem to have been recently groomed. If recently groomed, many impolite golfers visited the bunkers in the past day. This was a GolfNow hot deal and a great value. One of my favorite courses. I would be a member if near my home.