East Lake - Georgia - USA

Thirty-two members of the Donald Ross Society visited East Lake in November 2021 only to discover that the much of the work of the renowned Scottish architect had been expunged. The course’s greens showed little in the way of contours and a running approach was possible on only a handful of approach shots. Fairways featured bunkers, but in most cases there was no risk/reward challenge to taking on the bunker. As a result, East Lake falls into one of my shortcut methods of course assessment: If you see it on TV, it’s probably overrated.

The highlight of a visit is the clubhouse, with its extensive collection of Bobby Jones material and (in 2021 at least) some Arnold Palmer memorabilia related to his captaincy (Palmer was the last playing captain) of the1963 Ryder Cup matches that were held at East Lake.

Rumor has it the club is considering restoring the course’s original design features. That would be an excellent idea.

Strong sense of history when arriving and walking around the East Lake Golf Club grounds and clubhouse. World class experience all around. Challenging championship golf course set just outside of downtown Atlanta. The course really leverages the “lake” in a number of different ways that makes the course gorgeous + tough. Great set of par-3s and risk/reward opportunities.

I played Eastlake this week and after the first 4 holes I was underwhelmed. Then the rest of the course was fantastic. The par 5s are the highlight and are memorable. However, the par 3 9th and 15ths are very memorable. The course uses the "lake" very well. Another highlight are the fairway bunkers. Many holes look wide open, but fairway bunkers are strategically placed in landing zones making the fairways tighter.

East Lake Golf Club and Atlanta Athletic Club are woven into the legend that is Bobby Jones. East Lake was first laid out in 1904 by Tom Bendelow. It was redesigned in 1913 by Donald Ross and in 1994 by Rees Jones. Bobby Jones grew up playing there and served as the president in the late 1940s. I was fortunate enough to play East Lake nine days before the first FedEx Cup. This was before they changed their greens over, and they were in extremely poor condition. They were almost as sparse as the hair on my head. I made note of several of the worst greens to see how they would be televised. It was real interesting to see how angles and overhead coverage was utilized so that the poor greens were not apparent to the viewing audience. We were not allowed to play the tips, but for pure entertainment purposes I snuck to the back tee box on fifteen (six at the time) to see if I could hit the green. I couldn’t. It was especially thrilling to play a tournament course that already had the stadium seating, portable seating and luxury boxes erected. They have flipped the nines since I played it, so I may get a little confused, please bear with me.

The first hole is welcoming par five. Lots of bunkers left, but three mediocre shots should set up your par. The par 4 3rd is a good birdie oppty. Downhill, you can get a glimpse of the Atlanta skyline. Club selection on the approach is key. There is a large kidney shaped green protecting the green in front. Back pin location is easier. The 4th is just about 180 degrees, paralleling 4 and running uphill. Fairway bunkers left with a slight table top green with bunkers front left and right. The 5th is the third consecutive parallel par four. They just get longer and harder. While the par 5 6th starts off parallel, mercifully, it hooks right at the end. While uphill, it is reachable, if your tee shot favors the left side. There are well positioned fairway bunkers right and left and also protecting the green. The 7th is a long demanding par 4. Downhill, it has 4 fairway bunkers protecting the left side and once again two greenside bunkers protecting the front of the green on the left and right. The 8th is one of the shorter par 4s. When I played I was white knuckling to break 80. On the tee box you see 3 fairway bunkers right and death by water hazard left. Going with the negative swing thought of, “whatever you do, don’t hook it” resulting in a block to the fairway bunker. I was able to extricate myself. I suspect a much easier hole as the 8th as opposed to the 17th. The 9th is a 200+ yard par 3 uphill with bunkers left and right front. I agree with flipping the 9s as I am not a fan of finishing with a par 3.

To the back or the former front, depending upon one’s perspective. The 10th is a long par 4 uphill. Take an extra club on your approach, or perhaps two if the pin is tucked right behind the bunker. The 11th is a long par 3 over a lilly pond to a green protected with a bunker left and one front right. The 12th is an uphill par four with a fairway bunker right. There are two huge bunkers protecting the green on the right. The par 4 13th is the number one handicap hole. It is long and uphill with a couple of fairway bunkers on the right and the compulsory right and left greenside bunkers. I do not think it is the toughest hole. The downhill par 5 14th may not be reachable but is certainly a birdie oppty. Pick your favorite wedge yardage on your second shot. The island green 15th is a fan favorite and one of the first island greens in the US. The uphill slight dogleg left long par 4 16th, I think is much tougher than the 13th. Otherwise, why would I have double bogeyed it? The dogleg left 17th is a birdie oppty. Be wary of the 3 fairway bunkers on the left elbow and there is one front bunker running the entire width of the green. The 18th is a good finishing hole. Par five with a slight left bend. It has a little bit of everything, water hazard, fairway and greenside bunkers.

East Lake is a classic golf course and fun to play.

East Lake, like Los Angeles Country Club, is a city course hemmed in in its entirety by a perimeter fence. The course is built on gently rolling hills and with the exception of holes 4, 6, 8 and 17, the holes are routed east-west to play directly into the wind or down wind. After a gentle starter into the wind, the par three second hole plays down wind. Gently sloping hills and typical at East Lake as are shaved fall-off areas surrounding the green.

The 551-yard par five ninth hole was my favorite on the course. It sweeps down the hill from a tee box at the top and you have to play your third shot over the lake to a very well protected green. The majestic clubhouse in the background adds to the grandeur of the hole.

The front nine plays on the west side of the clubhouse and the back nine plays on the east side; and on the back, with the exception of the seventeenth, the holes run parallel to each other as you play up and down the hill. The back nine is the more interesting of the two.

The "signature" hole at East Lake is the eighteenth, which is a par three finishing hole which plays 207 yards uphill into the prevailing wind. It is a real testing way to finish off a testing round.

The clubhouse is shrine to Bobby Jones and is one of the best in the world.

John Sabino is the author of How to Play the World’s Most Exclusive Golf Clubs

Once I had my trip to the Masters confirmed I started my quest to play some Major Venues. It was pretty fast and not tough at Atlanta Athletic, but getting to ELGC was not easy at all. My first request through the Golf Club was not successful and felt disappointed, but just 2 weeks before flying I was confirmed by a friend who I didn´t know he was a Member. Luck? Maybe!

We flew the night before and landed 6am at Atlanta Airport, got the car and went directly to the Club. We were introduced to the Locker Room and I was lucky to get one from a 4 time Major Champion! A well deserved shower and a great breakfast watching 17th green where Bill Haas made that fantastic shot from the water to win the FedEx Cup some years ago.

Then we made a Tour through the Club House ... WOW! If you feel Bobby Jones is your idol like I do, this Club House for you is Disneyland! Memorabilia, Trophies, Luxury and Respect all together to tell us a lot about maybe the greatest golfer ever. It took us more than 1hr to visit every corner of it, guided by a very kind waiter who previously had given breakfast to us.

After that some warming up to get the Airplane off our body and to the course. We played walking with a fantastic caddie and it was a true golfing experience. At every hole he had stories from the past and the Tour Championship, showing us where the pros where shooting tee shots and about pin positions and all other secrets of the course. Unfortunately we did not play fantastic par 5 9th because it was under repair and scheduled to open 2 days after. They have a substitute hole between 6th and 7th, a par 3 of maybe 145yds.

Back 9 plays a lot tougher than front and it did reflect in my score. But who cares, I was able to walk a course with such history and I am graceful for having the chance to play it. There are some great holes and final 4 are really tough (4 bogeys for me!). If you have the luck to play this course, do not feel it is just the golf round. You are walking Bobby Jones' playgroung. There is a very nice mark on par 3 11th where Jones made a hole in one. Another Top 100 I will remember for my entire life.

As I approached the course in my rental car, you could see that the club and surrounding grounds had a spanking new look that contrasted with a neighborhood in transition. The more I learned about how Tom Cousins had used this club renovation to turn around this neighborhood, the more impressed I became. Bobby Jones grew up across the street from the 13th tee box, and I had my picture taken in front of his house. I was hoping that standing in front of his house would cause some of his skill to rub off on me, but that didn’t happen. The clubhouse is a tribute to the great Bobby Jones and worth a trip all by itself. East Lake now hosts the Tour Championship every year. Watch it on TV. Larry Berle.

Living in Atlanta, I feel this is a great walk through history and it is the birthplace of golf in the US. Knowing Bobby Jones learned to play here and remained her till his death makes this place special. The clubhouse is the one of the best in golf and the staff here is second to none. When you enter the clubhouse you imediately see Mr. Jones's Grand Slam Trophys. It makes the round majical. They call it the box, because it is on the least amount of property that a golf course can handle. It is a pure test of golf on the most undulated terrain in Atlanta. The history here makes it dear to my heart and it is a course that I could play everyday, if I didn't want to break par.

East Lake is a first class golf course and a club with a proud history. Alexa Stirling, Watts Gunn, Charlie Yates, Charles Harrison and of course, Bobby Jones called it home (as does current Open Champion, Stewart Cink). From the moment you get through the main gates, you are treated like royalty; from the excellent caddying to the complimentary ginger biscuits in the locker rooms! Since being extended in 2008, the clubhouse features a large bar/restaurant area, serving great food and an amazing selection of drinks. As you would expect from the venue for the finale of the PGA Tour season, the course is genuinely challenging (especially after several changes were made in 2008). Three of the four par 3s play over water, including the famous 6th with its signature island green. The 7th is a killer uphill par 4, severely extended recently to include a deep hollow, which swallows anything landing on the right edge of the green. The par 4 8th might seem driveable for long-hitters, but a long bunker and a very tricky green punish approaches which are off-line. For many regulars, the par 5 9th is the gem of the course. A downhill tee shot presents a difficult decision as to how far over the lake you need to play the second. Lay up too short and you face a daunting approach to a smallish green; too long and you flirt with a large bunker catching balls in the left half of the fairway. The ideal second shot will leave you around 120 yards from the left half of the fairway to a pin which usually sits on the highest part of the green (back right). Much of the back nine alternates up and down a steady hill, including the energy-sapping par 5 15th, where a decent drive could set-up longer hitters with a birdie chance (if they can keep their breath up the slope). Probably the most radical change on the course in 2008 was on 17. Stewart Cink describes it as 'one of golf's best tee shots'. The drive starts over part of the lake before landing on a pristine fairway which slopes right to left, all the way down to the water's edge. Here's where it gets tricky: The new 17th green is a small, raised crown green, running towards the water with a surface which makes it almost impossible to stop most approaches from outside 100 yards. The pros have real difficulty here and so will you! East Lake's finishing hole is an uphill par 3 (again, over water) and is by no means an easy par. It's difficult to judge the distance from the tiered tees and bunkers await on either side of the green to gobble up stray shots. Anything can happen! If you can ever persuade a member to take you out at East Lake, you must jump at the chance. You'll never forget it.

One of the really cool things about East Lake is that it is a walking only course and caddies always accompany you during your round. Frankly, this always makes me feel like a professional golfer. In essence, you ask your caddy for the distance to the target, discuss the appropriate strategy for the shot, select the club that will maximize your chance of executing the shot, your caddie hands you the club, you step up and hit the shot. Then hand your club back to the caddy and you and him walk down the fairway with him carrying your bags…just like Bones and Phil. Really neat! I have had the great fortune of playing the course a number of times…maybe 10 times in the two years I’ve been playing. My scores have dropped from 113 to challenging the 80’s. The main reason for this drop is simply more experience playing the game of golf. However, another key reason is figuring out what makes this course so hard. In my opinion, it is the approach shots. There is never a clear shot to the green, they are always protected by bunkers and/or water. Therefore, you can not just grab your club and bomb away. Mad-bombers will be punished for every miss-hit whether it be a little too long or short, a slice or a fade. However, these bombers might think they have eluded danger if they don’t actually land in a bunker or hit the water. But any miss-hit on the approach will be punished. However it might be as subtle as being short-sided on your chip shot with the rock-hard and lightning fast greens sloping away from you back into a trap or a water hazard. We can all thank Mr. Ross for these nuances and making this world-class course a true thinking mans course. Aside from being a thinking mans course, this course is so historic that is truly an awesome experience to simply be on the hallowed grounds of East Lake. Not only is it a great round of golf, but a great life event. Check out my review on mprgolf.com