Cobblestone — Levels on the Lake
If I had just one round to play and it had to be in the greater Atlanta area, with no access to private clubs, I’d probably take it at Cobblestone. The land is a paradox — it’s scenic with a lot of shoreline along Lake Acworth, but everywhere away from the water is steep, wooded and rocky, sloping over 80 feet high to low.
But the holes work surprisingly well within the context. They’re sort of big-shouldered and geometrically constructed like an ’80’s men’s jacket, partly because they had to be benched into the hills parallel to the lake and partly because the course was built shortly after that time period and that look was, I’m going to say it, vogue.
The shaping fits because it’s uniform, and because the routing makes great use of a tough property with no room to spare. There’s a lot of up and down but none of it feels overly severe and the walks between holes are tight.
The course keeps you alert with a range of long, medium and short par-4’s as well as five par-3’s spaced between 133 and 240 yards. The three three-shot holes are nothing special although the 15th, tumbling beautifully from the property’s highest point down to the shore, kicks off an exciting homecoming stretch where you feel you can get a few strokes back.
The nervous little 16th is just a wedge or 9-iron for most players but the green — thin, deep and three-tiered — hangs precipitously above the lake. From its elevated tee the 316-yard 17th looks tantalizing but you have to thread a big drive through two deep bunkers to find the small green that falls off sharply into the lake on the left. Eighteen is a big finish along a marshy cove from another elevated tee, its platform green connected at the skull like a Siamese twin to the difficult par-4 11th that comes in narrowly along the same marsh from the opposite direction. (90)
Acworth/Atlanta
Architect: Ken Dye
Year: 1993
