Marching on Atlanta

But Atlanta as a resort-golf town? Hardly. Unlike other city golf destinations—Orlando, Scottsdale, Las Vegas, for example—Atlanta evokes images of business suits and gridlock traffic more so than golf shirts and wide-open fairways. That perception could be changing, however, especially as folks like Herman Vonhoff have their say.

“I think Atlanta has a great golf image, but not so much as a golf destination,” notes Vonhoff, founder of Grand Cypress Development, which established the Orlando resort of the same name and is now developing the Georgian, an 1,150-acre spread west of Atlanta. “We’re not like some of those other destinations, but I see no reason why we can’t be. The weather here is fantastic and there are plenty of great golf courses.”

To view Atlanta as a golf destination, all one really need do is step outside—outside the perimeter, that is. Venture in any direction beyond I-285, the infamous 62-mile beltway that encircles the city, and you’ll find a lineup of stay-and-play facilities that rates with any in the country. There’s Chateau Elan and Lake Lanier to the northeast, Barnsley Gardens to the northwest, Reynolds Plantation to the east and Callaway Gardens to the southwest.

The newest kid on Atlanta’s resort block is located 45 minutes away, near the sleepy hamlet of Villa Rica.

There’s much to enjoy at the Frog, the Georgian’s heavily wooded, 7,018-yard golf course by Tom Fazio. (The quirky name, by the way, comes courtesy of Vonhoff, a collector of frogs who perceived an outline of the amphibious creature in an overhead rendering of the property.) The Fazio touch is evident—huge, tumbling fairways, sweeping bunkers and large bentgrass greens—and the entire layout, unencumbered by development, has a real “out there” feel

On the opposite side of town, another high-rolling visionary has for years been entertaining guests with his own upscale retreat. Back in the early ’80s, pharmaceutical magnate Don Panoz was intrigued by the possibility of growing grapes in northeast Georgia—not exactly a hotbed of vineyards. Ignoring the cynics, Panoz acquired 3,500 acres of rolling terrain 40 miles outside of Atlanta and the result was the exquisite Chateau Elan Resort & Winery.

Conveniently situated just off I-85, the 16th-century chateau-style winery now turns out nearly 20 varieties and 20,000 cases of wine annually, while the adjacent French country-style hotel pampers guests with 306 luxurious rooms and down-home Southern hospitality. Among the can’t-misses: dinner in the glass-roofed Versailles restaurant, a visit to the 14-room, European-style spa and driving lessons at the Panoz Performance Driving School at nearby Road Atlanta Speedway.

Just out the back door of the inn, a nine-hole par-3 course serves as an appetizer for a three-course golf feast that includes the 7,030-yard Chateau and the 6,851-yard Woodlands courses, both designed by Denis Griffiths, and the private (but open to guests) Legends Course, a team effort Sam Snead, Kathy Whitworth and the late Gene Sarazen, a close friend of Panoz. The Legends was home to the Sarazen World Open from 1994–98, and Sarazen’s legacy lives on at Chateau Elan: The Squire’s affable grandson, Geoff Sarazen, serves as director of golf for the two resort courses.

A few miles west of Chateau Elan lies a pair of first-class lakeside hideaways, Renaissance PineIsle and Emerald Pointe Resort. Formed in 1957 when the Chattahoochee and Chestatee Rivers were dammed, 38,000-acre Lake Sidney Lanier covers 540 miles of shoreline and is a popular weekend playground for Atlantans seeking refuge from the rigors of the city. Its shores also provided architects Gary Player and Ron Kirby with prime golfing ground at Renaissance PineIsle, where 1,200 acres of pine-forested real estate include a 254-room hotel, seven tennis courts, a private beach and a 28-slip boat dock.