Founded by Bobby Jones, Peachtree Golf Club devoted to
friendship, golf and nothing else. There are no tennis courts or swimming
pool—just lifelong friends and one of the best golf courses in the nation, one
that hosted the 1989 Walker Cup Matches.
For the course, Jones selected Robert Trent Jones Sr., had
studied at Cornell University and apprenticed under the great
Canadian-born architect Stanley Thompson. Trent Jones had such a deep respect
for Bobby that he changed his name to Trent,
saying to Jones, “There can only be one Bobby Jones in Atlanta, and that’s you!
From now on, I’ll be Trent Jones.”
Although Trent Jones was an easy choice, finding an ideal
piece of land proved quite the opposite. The two Joneses scoured Atlanta before deciding upon a 240-acre tract in North Atlanta that had most recently been home to Ashford
Park Nurseries. To Jones, the land was “essentially suitable terrain,” but to
Trent Jones, it was “gently rolling and gorgeous.”
Bobby Jones’ muscle influenced many of the original members,
including Jack Glenn, president of Peachtree from 1973–75, who said, “Many
people became members because Bobby Jones pointed the finger at them. Some
didn’t play golf and some didn’t even know which end of the stick to hold.”
An early proposal for the name of the club was “Atlanta Golf
Club,” but when the doors officially opened in 1948, the name had been changed
to Peachtree Golf Club, due to the namesake trees scattered throughout the
property. The course was immediately hailed as a masterpiece and launched Trent
Jones’ career.
Part of the magic that Trent Jones brought to Peachtree was
making the course challenging for the pros yet providing mid- to
high-handicappers with an enjoyable round. Jones achieved this with what has
become part of his signature style: enormous greens and long, runway-style tees.
Ultimately, what Jones brought to Peachtree was a great deal of flexibility,
which allowed the course to be set up as hard or as manageable as needed.
Designed to play up and down the valleys rather than over the
hills, Peachtree features generous fairways, but ample rough and dense stands of
magnolias, pines and oaks tend to tighten the landing areas. The fairways are
also flooded with dips, swales and slopes, making it nearly impossible to find a
level lie. The bentgrass greens, Peachtree’s most intriguing and challenging
feature, are intimidating due to their size and undulation, and the dramatic
greenside bunkering puts a premium on the approach shot. One thing not seen at
Peachtree, however, is a proliferation of fairway bunkers; only two holes, Nos.
1 and 18, feature them,
One of the most photographed holes is No. 4, a 166-yard par 3
over water to a shallow green ringed by four bunkers. In the spring, azaleas and
dogwoods come in full bloom behind the green. The course picks up steam at the
532-yard 5th, then continues to pour on the heat at the 215-yard 6th and the
434-yard 7th, which rises gently to the landing area then doglegs right and
shoots downhill to a tightly bunkered, elongated green.
Perhaps Peachtree’s best hole is the 455-yard 12th, which
dramatically drops from the tee to a landing area guarded by a creek and a huge
weeping willow before sliding right and slightly uphill to an elevated green.
No. 17 is a brutal par 4 that relentlessly climbs 439 yards straight uphill to a
green protected in front by two huge gaping bunkers. The course finishes in
strong fashion with a 413-yard par 4 that features a fairway bunker on the left,
which was added before the Walker Cup, and an elevated, two-tiered green.
Between the 18th green and the 1st tee, there is a memorial
plaque honoring Bobby Jones. His engraved portrait dominates the plaque, and it
seems only fitting that Peachtree Golf Club should begin and end under the
watchful eye of its legendary founder.
