Alpharetta

Alpharetta
Accommodations:	Residence Inn by Marriott
Location:	Alpharetta. Penthouse room with two bedrooms and kitchen. Located near North Point Mall, great shopping and restaurants. Features breakfast, BBQ grill, swimming pool and sauna. Cost includes green fees, cart and taxes.
Courses:	Olde Atlanta Club This semi-private club, designed by renowned architect Arthur Hills, is carved out of the rolling hills and hardwood trees of Southern Forsyth County. Built in 1993, this course has a very private feel to it: well-maintained and great service. Rolling fairways and small well-bunkered greens combine with several creeks and lakes to present a wonderful day of golf. Water does come into play on six holes including the signature hole #18. This 531-yard par 5 requires an approach shot over water to a peninsula green that is very undulating. Check the pin placement before you tee off on your round or check it at the turn, this knowledge will be well worth it for a great finish. Crooked Creek Golf Club Michael Riley of Cupp Designs created a masterpiece to truly test your skills. The course is built on rolling terrain with narrow fairways. No blind shots are required and the greens are gently rolling and medium sized. Water hazards (lakes, creeks, ponds, and streams) come into play on twelve holes, so be sure to bring a good supply of balls. The signature hole is #17, a par 4, requiring a tee shot from off an elevated tee, then an approach shot over water to an island greens. The most challenging is #8, a par 5 that requires an accurate shot over a lake uphill. On the next shot you must choose which fairway you going to use and you must avoid the fairway bunkers and then your approach has to land on a very shallow green protected by bunkers. Quite a challenge! Laurel Springs Golf Club makes it nice for local folks to play a Jack Nicklaus designed course without having to join the Country Club of the South or stay at Reynolds Plantation and play the Great Waters course. After opening in 1998, this track received rave reviews. Golf News awarded their Best New Public Course of 1998 to it and the other publications are standing in line to tout its glory. It now has gone private, but you have a chance to play it. You will discover that the courses plays left to right, which is typical Nicklaus. Cut through magnificent oaks and pines, the course features strategically placed bunkers, small greens, hilly terrain, lakes, streams and marshes. Length off the tee is an asset on this layout and you’ll generally see generous landing areas. No. 7, a 589-yard par-5 offers a meandering stream, a sharp dogleg right and a third shot over water. It may sound tough, but with multiple tee boxes, all players can find their comfort zone. By the way, Jack’s favorite hole is supposedly #11, a 418-yard, par 4, which requires both tee and second shots over water. St. Marlo Country Club The artistically beautiful Denis Griffiths design features stacked stone bridges, waterfalls and an overabundance of hardwood trees. The fairways are rolling and there are several elevated tees. There are no blind shots on this course; however, one can get into a lot trouble if they don’t hit the ball solid. In 1995, the course was ranked by Golf Digest as the 10th Best New Course in America. The signature hole is #3, a 434-yard par 4, featuring a dogleg right fairway ands an elevated green. Hole #8, a 456-yard, par 5 is a favorite of mine. After you have played it a few times, you can figure out how to avoid hitting the huge boulder protecting the green and actually have a chance for a birdie. Hit the rock and you're playing for a double bogey. River Pines Golf This par 70 track was built in 1992 and designed by Denis Griffiths. Among the 12 par 4 holes, there are no easy ones. Eight of them average just under 420 yards from the blue tees and 390 from the whites. The shorter holes give you a great challenge with tight driving areas caused by trees, water or wetlands. So when you see the length is only 6500 yards, think again … this is a tough course. Two of the par 3s border the Chattahoochee River and the other two are on creeks, but water does not come into play on any of them. #8 and #17 are the par 5s with the seventeenth as the signature hole. It is only 495 yards and reachable in two if you want to gamble with the pond on the right side of the fairway and Johns Creek cutting across the front of the green. For a little practice on your short game, the 9-hole par 3 course gives you a very nice challenge as well. Golf Magazine selected Mike Perpich, Director of Instruction, as one of the Top 100 Teaching Professional. Hampton Golf Village is located less than 30 minutes outside I-285 on GA 400 in Cumming and was designed by Clyde Johnston. It opened in the summer 2000 and was immediately very popular among area golfers. The fairly hilly course features tree-lined fairways with very generous landing areas, however the wetlands cause many forced carry shots. This track has some very difficult holes and some very easy ones. #2, a short par 3, and the third hole, a short par 4, gets your round started nicely because the par 5 fifth can hurt you. You must drive fairly long and accurate in order to clear the ravine with your second shot. #10 gets your game back in shape with a short downhill par 4 followed by fairly lengthy par 3. Back to a testy hole at 12 … you must hit over a ravine and then it’s all uphill to a green that’s tough to hit. The back nine gets you cruising here until #18, one of the toughest finishing holes in the area. It’s over 400 yards even from the forward tees with a marsh in front. If you have not lasered a drive, you may want to consider lying up, because you approach is long and all carry to an elevated green. General observations on the course: it’s 90 degrees, the par 3 threes on the back makes it par 17, it’s almost void of fairways bunkers and you can see wild turkeys on the fairways … oh yeah, it was a very fun day.
Prices:	Six Rounds & Five Nights Starting at: $890.00