Old Toccoa Farm: Georgia mountain masterpiece

The last decade or so, brand-new golf course openings have been few and far between. If you're going to add a course, you're going against trend; more than 100 courses have closed per year since the late-2000s recession. It had better be good or, preferably, great.

Old Toccoa Farm may just qualify as great. It has been a long time coming, part of a residential development that has been in the works for more than a decade. Indeed, nine holes of the course opened in 2015, but architects Dave Axland and Dan Proctor of Bunker Hill Golf only recently got the chance to finish what they started. The full 18 holes opened in September 2019.

Set on a piece of property that is wild and hilly to the point of challenging the notion that playable golf was even possible to build, Old Toccoa Farm is a home-run of a course. It grabs you by the collar from the first hole and it's your job to wriggle loose when you can and get your licks in over the course of the round.

And despite the appearance of intimidating shots - the tee shots on 2, 5, 11 and 18 stand out in particular - there is always room to play and plenty of potentially helpful slopes on and around the greens. In this way, the course is reminiscent of the influential work of Mike Strantz, whose Tobacco Road Golf Club outside Pinehurst has captivated almost every visitor with its own wild but deceptively playable brand of golf. Old Toccoa Farm shares that DNA.

Located near Blue Ridge, Georgia, about 90 minutes north of Atlanta, the course is semi-private, with reasonable green fees of $80 on weekends. Go play it before more houses are built and non-member times start to dry up or become more expensive.

Old Toccoa Farm

Mineral Bluff, Georgia

Semi-Private/Resort

4.8857142857

12

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