Creekside Golf & Country Club in Hiram, GA

The challenge for me at Creekside was to literally create a playable golf course out of a failed development that already paved roads and sold homesites. People were already living in this development when the original developers went bankrupt without really starting the golf course. At the point my client took the project over, nine holes had roughly been cut out and he was severely limited to what could be done (to the point of not being able to move forward at all). On top of that, the remaining proposed holes were two-thirds the absolute minimum width anyone would accept for a safe golf course corridor and the course only measured 5,800 yards from the tips. It was expected to compete with other courses at regulation lengths and would have failed miserably if kept at that length (practical dangers aside).

I was forced to re-route the golf course to make it functional and not bulldoze existing homes in the process. Through creative decision-making, I was able to minimize lot losses, re-capture minimum corridor widths (which was vital to the safety, health, and welfare of both the golfers and homeowners), and carve out a golf course of 6,700 yards. All this was accomplished with moving just 99,500 cubic yards of dirt and avoiding 100 acres of wetlands. The key to the successful site planning was combining two par threes from the original proposal (#2 and #16) into a par four (#4). This was the only way the project could be salvaged. The resultant hole became one of the more challenging holes of the golf course: A dogleg right, the hole was bisected by a creek running parallel to the tee shot along the right side. The best play is a straight tee shot with a fairway wood as close to the creek as possible. A driver straightaway (avoiding the creek) will add forty yards to the approach shot.

The final product at Creekside is more than just a functioning residential golf course. It is a fun challenge whose strategy is created by the same routing decisions I made to make the development work. Many holes utilize the existing creeks for strategy. The wetlands presented many strategic choices as well. What I am most proud of with Creekside Golf & Country Club is the opportunity afforded for great golf holes not only with the constraints of the existing residential development but with the topography of the site as well. Although there was 120 feet of elevation change, the site’s high and lows and other features created a well-routed golf course with a minimum of disturbance. Creekside is a good example of my philosophy of utilizing natural features to determine strategy. The success of the golf course is not only reflected in its Best New Course nominations, but in the full tee sheets on a daily basis.