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Date: 28 Aug 2006 14:53:38
From: \R&B\
Subject: Atlanta golfers: An old course showing signs of life again
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For those of you who live in or around the Atlanta metro, I thought I'd
share with you my experience of a well-known public course here that has
something of a history -- some good, some bad. The course is North Fulton
Golf Course at Chastain Park, one of the city-owned courses that is operated
for the City of Atlanta by American Golf.
This is a fabulous old layout, where, during the early years of The Masters,
Bobby Jones used to host an annual exhibition match during the week leading
up to the "tunamint" in Augusta.
At 6,700 (give or take) from the blues, North Fulton is certainly not the
longest course you'd ever find, although even to this day, several of the
par fours hold up quite well, and would be challenging even for the best
players. Many of the holes play through some very hilly terrain, with the
landing areas on upslopes, preventing the ball from getting much roll,
leaving second shots that can be very testing. Even playing from the white
tees, the 18th hole, a 440-yard par four, is still one of the most
challenging finishing holes to be found anywhere in the Atlanta area (I have
never parred it).
The problem with North Fulton is that over the years, the operators of the
course, American Golf, allowed the course to fall into a state of disrepair.
The greens were the big prolme. They had become just awful. I mean, these
were some of the worst greens I'd ever seen anywhere. Always slow and
bumpy, they were like putting on shag carpet...with patches of crab grass.
Just terrible.
Well, I played there yesterday for the first time in years because I'd heard
that they had recently completed redoing all the greens, and that the new
greens were now open. I'd heard about five years ago that American Golf had
been talking about redoing the greens with bentgrass and possibly even
converting the course into a somewhat more upscale public course. Whether
or not the latter part of that scheme remains in the plans, I don't know,
although for now, the prices remain about where they've always been.
However, as it turns out, instead of using bentgrass on the new greens, they
redid the greens using Champion Bermuda, which, as many of you know, is the
hot new strain of Bermuda of which so many people are singing praises. I
wanted to see for myself. If the course's greens were up to par, I might
consider playing there a bit more frequently, since the course design has
always been one of my favorites in this area, and the course certainly
provides all the challenge one would hope to find.
Well, it turns out the greens are, obviously, very new, so they're not
putting quite like they will once they've had a chance to settle and mature.
They're still slower than I like. But they putted pretty smooth. The real
test will come a bit later once they've settled a bit and we see how closely
the superintendent decides to mow them. But I received encouraging signs
when I spoke with him after my round there yesterday. He informed me that
they will be verti-cutting the greens *and* ROLLING them (he said they've
acquired new equipment for both tasks). Having putted on good bermuda
greens back in Texas that were verti-cut and rolled, I know what a huge
difference this can make. Good, tight bermuda an putt every bit as well as
bentgrass, and given the climate here, should hold up quite well under the
heavy traffic and warm weather.
So the good news is, the greens at North Fulton are now much, much better
than they've been in many years, and promise to get even better. It's still
North Fulton, so there'll still be too damn many people out there (although
we got around on a sunshiny Sunday afternoon in 4:30 yesterday, so it wasn't
too bad). But whatever frustration comes from the extra time spent out
there waiting to hit shots on a course with too many golfers remains
mitigated to some extend by all the young lovelies that can typically be
seen jogging around the track that surrounds the periphery of the course in
and around Chastain Park. Sometimes, the best part of playing North Fulton
is the scenery, if you know what I mean.
Anyway, while the rest of you outside the Atlanta area won't find any of
this terribly interesting, those who are in "the A-T-L" might want to know
that the greens are now much, much better at this course that is well-known
to anyone who lives 'round these parts.
Randy
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Date: 29 Aug 2006 03:04:07
From: Howard Brazee
Subject: Re: Atlanta golfers: An old course showing signs of life again
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On Mon, 28 Aug 2006 14:53:38 -0400, "\"R&B\""
<noneofyourbusiness@all.com > wrote:
>The problem with North Fulton is that over the years, the operators of the
>course, American Golf, allowed the course to fall into a state of disrepair.
I've experienced American Golf. Ask me if I'm surprised.
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Date: 28 Aug 2006 23:24:46
From: \R&B\
Subject: Re: Atlanta golfers: An old course showing signs of life again
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"Howard Brazee" <howard@brazee.net > wrote ...
> On Mon, 28 Aug 2006 14:53:38 -0400, "\"R&B\""
> <noneofyourbusiness@all.com> wrote:
>
>>The problem with North Fulton is that over the years, the operators of the
>>course, American Golf, allowed the course to fall into a state of
>>disrepair.
>
> I've experienced American Golf. Ask me if I'm surprised.
As a company, American Golf is widely known by people in the business to be
the bottom-feeders of the golf course industry, something that was first
confirmed to me by veterans of the course management industry and had worked
for some of the best. That said, I've found that, in general, the quality
of each individual course run by American Golf differs wildly from the
horrible to the sublime. And the quality of service is largely a result of
the quality of people they have in place at the facility. (Not suprising, I
suppose, as this pretty much parallels the same phenomenon in other
industries.)
Sadly, American Golf is also fairly well-known to those in the golf business
as having a well-earned reputation for treating their people (employees,
managers, etc.) like crap, which may be the reason why so many of them act
pretty surly to their customers. This is the sort of stuff that trickles
down from the top.
This may be why, when the company does invest a fair amount of money into a
major improvement of the golf course, that the people there get fired up and
can exude some genuine enthusiasm for their facility. It's pretty
refreshing to see.
Randy
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Date: 28 Aug 2006 13:41:54
From: Cal Golfer
Subject: Re: Atlanta golfers: An old course showing signs of life again
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I played there while on a business trip 5 years ago, and I don't
remember the greens being a huge problem. Nice course, fairly tough,
with rolling fairways. Some elevated greens, as I recall. It isn't
Stone Mountain or some other courses in the area, but very nice for a
muni.
"R&B" wrote:
> For those of you who live in or around the Atlanta metro, I thought I'd
> share with you my experience of a well-known public course here that has
> something of a history -- some good, some bad. The course is North Fulton
> Golf Course at Chastain Park, one of the city-owned courses that is operated
> for the City of Atlanta by American Golf.
>
> This is a fabulous old layout, where, during the early years of The Masters,
> Bobby Jones used to host an annual exhibition match during the week leading
> up to the "tunamint" in Augusta.
>
> At 6,700 (give or take) from the blues, North Fulton is certainly not the
> longest course you'd ever find, although even to this day, several of the
> par fours hold up quite well, and would be challenging even for the best
> players. Many of the holes play through some very hilly terrain, with the
> landing areas on upslopes, preventing the ball from getting much roll,
> leaving second shots that can be very testing. Even playing from the white
> tees, the 18th hole, a 440-yard par four, is still one of the most
> challenging finishing holes to be found anywhere in the Atlanta area (I have
> never parred it).
>
> The problem with North Fulton is that over the years, the operators of the
> course, American Golf, allowed the course to fall into a state of disrepair.
> The greens were the big prolme. They had become just awful. I mean, these
> were some of the worst greens I'd ever seen anywhere. Always slow and
> bumpy, they were like putting on shag carpet...with patches of crab grass.
> Just terrible.
>
> Well, I played there yesterday for the first time in years because I'd heard
> that they had recently completed redoing all the greens, and that the new
> greens were now open. I'd heard about five years ago that American Golf had
> been talking about redoing the greens with bentgrass and possibly even
> converting the course into a somewhat more upscale public course. Whether
> or not the latter part of that scheme remains in the plans, I don't know,
> although for now, the prices remain about where they've always been.
> However, as it turns out, instead of using bentgrass on the new greens, they
> redid the greens using Champion Bermuda, which, as many of you know, is the
> hot new strain of Bermuda of which so many people are singing praises. I
> wanted to see for myself. If the course's greens were up to par, I might
> consider playing there a bit more frequently, since the course design has
> always been one of my favorites in this area, and the course certainly
> provides all the challenge one would hope to find.
>
> Well, it turns out the greens are, obviously, very new, so they're not
> putting quite like they will once they've had a chance to settle and mature.
> They're still slower than I like. But they putted pretty smooth. The real
> test will come a bit later once they've settled a bit and we see how closely
> the superintendent decides to mow them. But I received encouraging signs
> when I spoke with him after my round there yesterday. He informed me that
> they will be verti-cutting the greens *and* ROLLING them (he said they've
> acquired new equipment for both tasks). Having putted on good bermuda
> greens back in Texas that were verti-cut and rolled, I know what a huge
> difference this can make. Good, tight bermuda an putt every bit as well as
> bentgrass, and given the climate here, should hold up quite well under the
> heavy traffic and warm weather.
>
> So the good news is, the greens at North Fulton are now much, much better
> than they've been in many years, and promise to get even better. It's still
> North Fulton, so there'll still be too damn many people out there (although
> we got around on a sunshiny Sunday afternoon in 4:30 yesterday, so it wasn't
> too bad). But whatever frustration comes from the extra time spent out
> there waiting to hit shots on a course with too many golfers remains
> mitigated to some extend by all the young lovelies that can typically be
> seen jogging around the track that surrounds the periphery of the course in
> and around Chastain Park. Sometimes, the best part of playing North Fulton
> is the scenery, if you know what I mean.
>
> Anyway, while the rest of you outside the Atlanta area won't find any of
> this terribly interesting, those who are in "the A-T-L" might want to know
> that the greens are now much, much better at this course that is well-known
> to anyone who lives 'round these parts.
>
> Randy
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Date: 29 Aug 2006 11:33:11
From: Henry
Subject: Re: Atlanta golfers: An old course showing signs of life again
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"R&B" wrote:
> For those of you who live in or around the Atlanta metro, I thought I'd
> share with you my experience of a well-known public course here that has
> something of a history -- some good, some bad. The course is North Fulton
> Golf Course at Chastain Park, one of the city-owned courses that is operated
> for the City of Atlanta by American Golf.
>
> This is a fabulous old layout, where, during the early years of The Masters,
> Bobby Jones used to host an annual exhibition match during the week leading
> up to the "tunamint" in Augusta.
>
> At 6,700 (give or take) from the blues, North Fulton is certainly not the
> longest course you'd ever find, although even to this day, several of the
> par fours hold up quite well, and would be challenging even for the best
> players. Many of the holes play through some very hilly terrain, with the
> landing areas on upslopes, preventing the ball from getting much roll,
> leaving second shots that can be very testing. Even playing from the white
> tees, the 18th hole, a 440-yard par four, is still one of the most
> challenging finishing holes to be found anywhere in the Atlanta area (I have
> never parred it).
>
> The problem with North Fulton is that over the years, the operators of the
> course, American Golf, allowed the course to fall into a state of disrepair.
> The greens were the big prolme. They had become just awful. I mean, these
> were some of the worst greens I'd ever seen anywhere. Always slow and
> bumpy, they were like putting on shag carpet...with patches of crab grass.
> Just terrible.
>
> Well, I played there yesterday for the first time in years because I'd heard
> that they had recently completed redoing all the greens, and that the new
> greens were now open. I'd heard about five years ago that American Golf had
> been talking about redoing the greens with bentgrass and possibly even
> converting the course into a somewhat more upscale public course. Whether
> or not the latter part of that scheme remains in the plans, I don't know,
> although for now, the prices remain about where they've always been.
> However, as it turns out, instead of using bentgrass on the new greens, they
> redid the greens using Champion Bermuda, which, as many of you know, is the
> hot new strain of Bermuda of which so many people are singing praises. I
> wanted to see for myself. If the course's greens were up to par, I might
> consider playing there a bit more frequently, since the course design has
> always been one of my favorites in this area, and the course certainly
> provides all the challenge one would hope to find.
>
> Well, it turns out the greens are, obviously, very new, so they're not
> putting quite like they will once they've had a chance to settle and mature.
> They're still slower than I like. But they putted pretty smooth. The real
> test will come a bit later once they've settled a bit and we see how closely
> the superintendent decides to mow them. But I received encouraging signs
> when I spoke with him after my round there yesterday. He informed me that
> they will be verti-cutting the greens *and* ROLLING them (he said they've
> acquired new equipment for both tasks). Having putted on good bermuda
> greens back in Texas that were verti-cut and rolled, I know what a huge
> difference this can make. Good, tight bermuda an putt every bit as well as
> bentgrass, and given the climate here, should hold up quite well under the
> heavy traffic and warm weather.
>
> So the good news is, the greens at North Fulton are now much, much better
> than they've been in many years, and promise to get even better. It's still
> North Fulton, so there'll still be too damn many people out there (although
> we got around on a sunshiny Sunday afternoon in 4:30 yesterday, so it wasn't
> too bad). But whatever frustration comes from the extra time spent out
> there waiting to hit shots on a course with too many golfers remains
> mitigated to some extend by all the young lovelies that can typically be
> seen jogging around the track that surrounds the periphery of the course in
> and around Chastain Park. Sometimes, the best part of playing North Fulton
> is the scenery, if you know what I mean.
>
> Anyway, while the rest of you outside the Atlanta area won't find any of
> this terribly interesting, those who are in "the A-T-L" might want to know
> that the greens are now much, much better at this course that is well-known
> to anyone who lives 'round these parts.
>
> Randy
>
>
That's good to hear. I've seen cycles of good and bad putting surfaces
there, sometimes several in a year.
My Dad and I started playing there in the late 50's. I believe Stumpy
was the the caddy master and Bill Hall was the pro. We'd get there at 5
am to put a ball in the rack and then wait for the clubhouse to open.
On many a cold frosty winter morning I remember the smell of lighter
fluid in the locker room when everybody started their JonE hand warmers.
Found out I WAS allergic to poison ivy when I worked there one summer
cutting hedges, sling blading ditches (WAY before weed eaters), and
mowing greens. Some say that's where I must've gotten hit in the head
by a golf ball and I do remember some close calls on number 12 which was
a blind second shot.
And 18 was a tough hole, par usually did well there. Had a hole-in-one
on what used to be number 5 in 1976 while visiting my parents on vacation.
Henry
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