East Lake Golf Club
Designed by Donald Ross
History
The Atlanta Athletic Club opened its doors on this ground in 1904, laying out golf for a membership eager to plant the game firmly in the growing city. The original course served the club for two decades before the decision was made to bring in Donald Ross, whose reputation by the 1910s had already spread well beyond his adopted home of Pinehurst.
Ross reworked the East Lake grounds in 1913, applying the same principles he carried to hundreds of courses across the country — a design built on natural movement in the land, greens that demanded precision rather than raw power, and a routing that made the most of what Atlanta’s rolling terrain offered him. His touch here helped establish East Lake among the serious golf addresses of the American South, a status cemented when the club produced its most famous son: Bobby Jones, who learned the game on these fairways as a boy and returned throughout his career as an amateur champion.
The course fell into disrepair by the mid-20th century as the surrounding neighborhood declined, and East Lake’s fortunes did not turn until real estate developer Tom Cousins purchased the club in 1993, initiating a restoration that reestablished much of Ross’s original design intent. The revived course went on to host the PGA Tour’s Tour Championship on a recurring basis beginning in 1998, returning East Lake to the center of competitive golf and completing one of the more notable second acts in American course history.
Playing Notes
Bring your best ball-striking, because East Lake demands it from the first tee to the last. Water shows up on enough holes that you'll want a clear plan off the tee rather than a swing and a prayer, and the bunkering is deep enough that short-game feel matters as much as your driver. The Bermuda greens run fast and firm, especially in the warmer months, so lag putting and controlling spin into the greens will save you strokes more than raw length. Georgia summers add their own test — expect heat and humidity that will wear on you by the back nine, so hydrate and pace yourself. Walking is possible but a cart is the more common choice given the layout's stretch between holes. This isn't a course that lets you play safe and hope; missed fairways bring real trouble, so club selection and shot shape matter more here than on most tracks in the area. Come prepared to think through each tee shot rather than simply grip it and go.