First, he got the neighborhood involved with the club itself..
East Lake would be a walking club, with caddies, most of whom would be
recruited
from the surrounding neighborhoods. Second, East Lake
established a junior golf
academy.
Finally, Cousins proposed an ambitious plan, involving HUD, the
Atlanta Housing Authority, the newly created East Lake Community
Foundation and
the East Lake Meadows Residents Association. It would
call for razing the
existing 650 units, temporarily (or permanently)
displacing residents. In its
stead, the foundation would construct 500
high-quality mixed-income townhouses
and garden apartments (50 percent
public housing/50 percent market rate units)
to be built and managed by
private developers; construction of the new par-64
Charlie Yates Golf
Course and practice facility, designed for free by Rees
Jones;
construction of a new family YMCA and an Educational Village with a new
elementary school. Happily— incredibly—the wheels are well in motion
for all of
this to happen.
Amid all the progress, it’s easy to forget that East Lake is now
possessed of a marvelous, classic course as well. If there is any
design quirk,
it is that each of the par 5s, Nos. 5, 9, 10 and 15,
plays in the same
direction, with the prevailing west wind.
The most talked about hole on the front nine is the 168-yard 6th,
which plays from an elevated tee to a diagonally angled peninsula green
stuck
out in the lake. East Lake’s back nine boasts one superior hole
after another,
but the finish is unforgettable, beginning with the
uphill, yet very reachable
495-yard 15th, followed by the best hole on
the course, the 481-yard, par-4
16th. The 18th is an unusual but
terrific closer, an uphill, into-the-wind
235-yard par 3.
Despite all the names that have shaped East Lake, it is Jones whose name is
inexorably tied to East Lake. Bob, as he was known to friends, may have
had deep
associations with Augusta National, Peachtree and St. Andrews,
among others. but
East Lake was home and his favorite place of all.
Par: 72
Yardage: 7,242
Year founded: 1898
Architects: Tom Bendelow,
Donald Ross
