The Chattahoochee Golf Club in Gainesville is set to get a renovation in 2021, but instead of creating a brand-new layout, officials are looking toward the course’s past.
The Golf Club first opened in June of 1960 with a design by the renowned golf course architect Robert Trent Jones, Sr., but it was later adjusted in a 2006 renovation. The 2021 renovation will bring the course back to its original 1960’s design with the return of the original hole 17, which was a par three.
In the 2006 renovation, the original hole 17 was split into two holes: holes three and four. Director of Golf at the Chattahoochee Golf Club, Rodger Hogan, said this removed some of the character from the course.
“When the golf course closed to do the original renovation, it was closed for I think around nine months … and when it opened back up and people started to come back to play it, a lot of people came back and played it one or two times and then found a new golf course to play,” Hogan said.
According to Hogan, one of the largest complaints following the renovation was about the removal of the original hole 17, which Hogan described as the “signature hole.”
During the 2021 renovation, holes three and four will once again rejoin to form what will be the new hole eight, and it will feature the same design as the original hole 17 with a pond in front of the green.
The original Chattahoochee Golf Club design is memorable for many Gainesville residents, as it was the first golf course to open in Gainesville after the city’s previous course was flooded by the creation of Lake Lanier.
Gainesville-native Tommy Aaron said he’s excited for the return of the original hole 17, which he described as a “real good” hole.
Aaron also spoke on his memories on the early days of the Chattahoochee Golf Club.
“I just remember they opened up [the front nine] and the back nine wasn’t finished at the same time … They didn’t have any kind of club house, they had a little shack down there by the first tee, and no range or anything,” Aaron said.
Aside from the return of the old hole 17 as the new hole eight, the current holes seven and eight will be moved about 50 yards away from East Lake Drive and will become holes six and seven.
This shift will open space for 13 home lots, nine of which will be located on East Lake Drive and four on a private drive. The revenues made by selling these home lots will pay for almost all of the golf course renovation, which is expected to cost about $2.8 million according to Hogan. The sale of the home lots and water and sewer tap fees are expected to bring in about $2.7 million in revenue.
Perhaps the largest change for the course involves reshaping the other 15 greens and the two putting greens to reduce their slopes.
“To me, the main goal of the renovation is to get the greens to where we can use 75 percent or more of the surfaces to put a pin,” Hogan said.
According to Hogan, the ideal slope for a green is 2.5 percent or less in a ten-foot span, however, most of the greens on the course are comprised of slopes above that range.
These large slopes severely limit the usable area of the greens for pin placement. For example, only 9.3 percent of one of the practice putting greens is usable for a pin placement.
Another problem this creates is more concentrated traffic patterns around specific areas of each green. If there are only two spots to place a pin on a green, the grass in those two areas will see more putting traffic, which can wear out the grass, according to Hogan.
Every green in the course will also switch from bentgrass to a type of hybrid bermudagrass as a part of this renovation.
Hogan said the heat during Summer 2020 was problematic for the bentgrass greens, which typically perform better in cooler weather.
“We lost a lot of grass on number six, fifteen and seventeen. Those greens got in pretty bad shape. There were five or six more greens that were struggling,” Hogan said.
Unlike bentgrass, Hogan said the hybrid bermudagrass will thrive in the summer months, when the golf course is at its busiest.
Work on the front nine holes is expected to start around April 5, 2021, but the back nine holes will still be open for play during this time, according to Hogan. The back nine holes will close about a month later, completely closing the course until the renovation is expected to finish in early September.
According to Hogan, officials with the Chattahoochee Golf Club are looking into the possibility of giving club members the option to play on another nearby course during this extended closure.
Hogan said he hopes the renovation sparks new interest in the Chattahoochee Golf Club.
“My hopes are, once we get it done and the word gets out … the goal is I hope people will start coming back and playing their golf here,” Hogan said.
Hogan first showed off his plans for the renovation to nearly 100 people at an informational meeting on Thursday, Dec. 3. This community interest in the course came in stark contrast to Tommy Aaron’s recount of the golfing community in Gainesville from his youth.
“It was not really a golf town to begin with. When I moved back here in the 50’s, I could only name maybe 15 people in the entire town that played golf,” Aaron said.
