Once the tour wrapped up in Tennessee, it was time to head south into Georgia. Things started off at Lookout Mountain, an excellent Seth Raynor Design. After Lookout Mountain, you could say it all went downhill from there.
Things heated up as the tour rolled into Atlanta and pulled up to Candler Park for the very first RGV Tour One Club Open. The only rule.. you are only allowed the use of one club. We had a small turnout, but the competition was fierce and a lot of fun. I have learned that smaller groups help you to focus on the individuals and that can be much more rewarding. This was certainly the case at The RGV One Club Open. Afterwards, the Tour spent an evening on the town and the night in the driveway of tournament organizer, Mark Thomas.
When I pulled into Atlanta, I knew there was a lot of golf to be golfed. However, I didn't fully realize the depth of golf that exists in this city. With my invitation out to Peachtree still pending, I took on a lot of the area's other top notch golf courses. First up was Rivermont.
The actually make all of their own wicker baskets at Rivermont and the maintenance staff has become quite adept at basket weaving. While Merion has red and orange baskets, the club at Rivermont opted for yellow.
The next day, the tour woke up and rolled out to Druid Hills where I had the pleasure of meeting up and playing with Ryan Bush. Ryan and his wife Katie have started something called the ForeHadley foundation and it does fantastic work in a field where little else is being done.
Ryan and Katie have a sad, powerful, and inspiring story to share and each year they host a golf tournament to raise funds to combat a relatively unknown birth defect called CDH. The RGV Tour is extremely proud to be associated with individuals like Ryan, Katie and their foundation. You can learn more and support their mission on their website.
Ryan scrambles hard to save par
Nice little view of Atlanta from above Druid Hills
Next up comes the wildly scenic Currahee Club and it started off with a birdie. 7 pars later, I was looking to close out a mistake free front nine. Naturally, I shanked one into the woods. I grumbled something along the lines of "there goes that par" as I proceeded to tee up another ball and rip It down the middle.
With 160 left, I hit a solid approach that ran off the left slope and heading towards the pin. Almost always in these situations, the ball just crosses over the pin and that's that. But there is always a little glimmer of hope that something special might happen. Doing what I could to encourage my golf ball, I yelled "GET IN." And just like that, my Callaway Chrome Soft Taco Bell golf ball listened. It hit the pin and dropped in the hole. I had saved par from 160 and the party in the fairway was on!
Naturally, I wanted to keep the streak going and fortunately, the good play and the pars continued. When I reached the 17th green, I faced a long birdie putt to keep things rolling. In glorious fashion, I proceeded to 4 putt. Golf!!
The scene of the dreaded streak ending 4 putt at Currahee Club
A big thanks to Billy Pratt for making the RGV Tour stop at Currahee Club special.
Probably my favorite Tour stop in the Atlanta area was Piedmont Driving Club. It's a Rees Jones design that was established in 2000, the club itself has been around since 1887. The pictures below were some of my favorite in the entire state.
The exceptionally tiny 19th hole
What a better way to finish up a jam packed state than with a day of 36. I started off in the rain at Tom Watson's The Manor and ended up golfing in the sun with RGV Tour Player, Steven Hastings, at The Governors Towne Club
As I left the state of Georgia and headed into Florida, I ran into this guy, who gave me a chuckle.