It’s not unreasonable to suggest the path of golf architecture in the second half of the 20th century can be traced through Ron Kirby. His career has been a remarkable Zelig-like whirlwind placing him in the immediate proximity of Dick Wilson, Robert Trent Jones, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and many others. His name is on…
Richard Mandell’s golf design practice has taken off over the last 10 years. He entered the business in the early 1990’s and paid his dues for over a decade working singular jobs while learning how to build and renovate courses with a minimal amount of of unnecessary inputs or accessorization. As a result he gained a…
Let’s get one thing out of the way — the greater Atlanta area in one of the weakest golf markets of all major American cities. Which is ironic because, for many people, Georgia represents a very specific type of American golf ideal. Most of that feeling, of course, is tethered to the fantasy of Augusta National. It isn’t so…
Mike Young has seen the golf course design business from all sides, starting as a rep for maintenance and turf companies before establishing himself as one of the state of Georgia’s most prominent and prolific architects. Young builds his courses the old fashioned way — himself — and his years as designer, builder and…
You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but apparently you can teach an old dog old tricks. I’m not saying Denis Griffiths is old, but at Old Union in north Georgia’s Appalachian foothills near Blairsville the architect created a look that might have come straight out of the early 20th century. Or before. Old Union is brightened with…
Brazell’s Creek, part of the Georgia State Parks Golf Course system, is really two separate venues. Located in a hinterland roughly between Macon and Savannah, the original nine holes (of unknown origin, at least to me) rotate peacefully through the oaks and pines near the campgrounds of the modest Gordonia-Alatamaha State Park. The second nine, opened in…
Most people in the North Georgia/metro Atlanta area are quite familiar with Chateau Elan, a popular wedding and conference destination with pleasant golf and mediocre wine. The two resort courses, Chateau and Woodlands, both designed by local architect Denis Griffiths, represent the ubiquitous style of hilly residential and development golf found throughout the region. The resort’s third course, Legends, also designed by Griffiths, is private,…