Atlanta Approves Bobby Jones Golf Course Transfer To State (Alpharetta: leasing, lawyer)

[toll_booth]

Atlanta Approves Bobby Jones Golf Course Transfer To State | WABE 90.1 FM

This is part of the deal to open up private development of Underground Atlanta. Which has been sorely needed.

[cqholt]

Golfers who have a bad day at the soon-to-reopen Bobby Jones Golf Course in Buckhead needn’t despair.

They’ll simply be able to come back another day or later the same day and play in the other direction.

The historic course will reopen Nov. 5 following a year-long, $27 million renovation as one of only two “reversible” golf courses in the United States.

The nine-hole Magnolia course is laid out in a clockwise direction, while the Azalea course *– also nine holes – plays counter-clockwise. Double greens, multiple tees and two pin placements at every hole will make that possible.

“It’s different,” said Marty Elgison, president of the nonprofit Bobby Jones Golf Course Foundation, which has raised $23 million thus far to support the project. “It’s going to take people awhile to figure out.”

Elgison, a lawyer who has represented the Jones family for 35 years, retired from Alston & Bird in 2011 and formed a foundation to start raising money to renovate the Bobby Jones Golf Course, then part of a network of public golf courses owned by the city of Atlanta.

In a 2016 land swap, the city acquired a state-owned parking deck in downtown Atlanta in exchange for the golf course. The foundation then entered into a 50-year lease with the state to operate and maintain the course.

The reversible layout resulted from the late golf course architect Bob Cupp’s desire to build more than a golf course along Northside Drive despite the site’s relatively small size. The project is on 128 acres, about half the size of the typical 18-hole golf course.

Elgison said a series of workshops with local golfers revealed a top priority was a driving range.

“There’s no driving range anywhere in the city of Atlanta,” he said.

The renovated course will feature not only a driving range but a short-game practice area, a large putting green and a six-hole kids course for children under 12.

“It’s an unbelievably efficient use of land in an urban environment … a remarkable architectural achievement,” Elgison said.

Working with the adjacent Bitsy Grant Tennis Center, the foundation already has opened a parking deck with 288 spaces for the use of both tennis players and golfers. Six new hard-court tennis courts sit atop the parking deck, and six more are on the ground nearby.

Construction is about to begin on a 23,000-square-foot multi-purpose clubhouse that will house the Georgia State Golf Association, the Georgia Section of the PGA of America and the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame, which has never had a home of its own. The building also will feature the 10th Hole Bar and Grille and a golf shop.

The new clubhouse will replace the current clubhouse, which another foundation is leasing with plans to convert it into a performance hall and meeting facility.

“We no longer needed the clubhouse,” Elgison said. “It’s too big and needed a lot of renovation.”

With millennials in mind, the course will offer the latest technology, including a Bobby Jones golf app that will let golfers track their location on the course, pay in advance and go straight to the first tee, use an electronic scorecard, order food and drinks from the 10th Hole Grille, schedule a tee time and follow results.

The technical amenities will even spread to the golf carts, said Whitney Crouse, founding partner and chairman of Alpharetta-based Mosaic Clubs & Resorts, who is managing the project.

“You can Bluetooth the speakers and play music and video,” he said.

To keep golfers from smacking balls into each other, there's a plan for playing the reversible course.

Elgison said there will be “shotgun starts” on the weekends to allow up to 72 players on the course to begin play in one direction. When they finish the first nine holes, they will then begin playing in the other direction.

On weekdays, the course will be played in one direction only, either the Magnolia course or the Azalea course, he said.

Before it closed for the renovation about a year ago, the Bobby Jones Golf Course and the course at Chastain Park vied back and forth as the busiest in the city. But with the Bobby Jones course’s unique design, that could change once it’s back in business.

“There’s nothing like this around,” Crouse said. “This place is going to be very busy.”

https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/...eversible.html

[ATL Golfer]

Fired up to play. Considering the people behind this, its going to be great provided it isn't overrun with hacks.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by ATL Golfer

Fired up to play. Considering the people behind this, its going to be great provided it isn't overrun with hacks.

ATL Golfer

Makes perfect sense.

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by cqholt

https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/...eversible.html

Interesting. Sounds like a throwback to the old days of golf, where you played 9 holes out and 9 holes back in (hence the "OUT" and "IN" on scorecards).

[PeteATL41]

[quote=ATL Golfer;53175950]Fired up to play. Considering the people behind this, its going to be great provided it isn't overrun with hacks.[/QUOUTE]

You can bet it will be...Sounds like an interesting design. Hopefully it will be reasonably conditioned, just plan on a 5 hour round!

[ATL Golfer]

Pretty high rates for a muni.

$48 weekdays. Mon-Fri

$58 on Friday.

$78 weekends.

$15 for a large bucket.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by ATL Golfer

Pretty high rates for a muni.

$48 weekdays. Mon-Fri

$58 on Friday.

$78 weekends.

$15 for a large bucket.

That is pretty steep.

I stopped by the parking lot the other day and from what I could see it looks great.

[ATL Golfer]

Wonder if they’ll have junior rates. Want to take my boys out there. Can’t find a lot of info online.

[Calm Down ATL]

Rates need to be high to keep pace of play manageable.