Dunwoody Country Club

Atlanta, GA • Private

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Dave Sansom

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Russell Kirk

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Russell Kirk

Overview

Dunwoody is an example of the benefits of smart renovation. The club was established in the 1960s in the countryside north of Atlanta as the suburbs were quickly expanding that direction. It was a nice neighborhood country club with a perfectly fine course designed by Willard Byrd, who was one of the top regional architects working in the southeast in the 1960s and 70s. Over time, like all courses, the trees thickened and the golf features dulled, making the golf ordinary. Enter Atlanta-based architect Bill Bergin, who remodeled the course in 2013 by thinning excessive trees, expanding putting surfaces, creating more room in the fairways and giving the bunkering a more distinctive look with vertical grass faces and strong horizontal top lines. Though he couldn't cure the awkwardness of the unfortunate fifth hole, a 6-iron/8-iron par 4 that bends 90-degrees right, his work breathed new life into the wonderful, rolling piece of land with a kind of centralized core routing that later became increasingly rare in the Atlanta market. Once sleepy, Dunwoody Country Club is now a sleeper and well worth seeking out when in the region.

About

Holes 18

Length 7071

Slope 142

Facility Type Private

Designer Willard C. Byrd, ASGCA/Bill Bergin

Awards

Ranking history:

Best in State: Not previously ranked.

Current ranking: 29th.

Panelists

Ratings from our panel of 1,900 course-ranking panelists

3.1

100 GREATEST/BEST IN STATE SCORES

Shot Options

6.7233

Character

6.8169

Challenge

6.5956

Layout Variety

6.5999

Fun

6.8365

Aesthetics

6.812

Conditioning

7.0028

Reviews

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Review

“Shot values: Nice variety of shots and perfect lines. Very few of them are do-or-die. There's enough course here to make a person think. Playability: With five sets of tees, the course can play long or short. A good player is going to find the line. A higher handicap who sprays the ball will find forgiveness in the bowled sides of fairways that keep those errants shots in play. Best of both words. Resistance to scoring: Course can play long from the tips. It is eminently fair and could use some toughening. Greens are huge and not particularly challenging. Bunkering does not follow a line of charm. Design Variety: Right, left, many elevation changes, water carries. Every hole eminently fair. Used pretty much every shot in my bag. Not one bad hole on this golf course, and several exceptional ones. The 455-632 yard 4th has it all. Great hole. Memorability: I remember the remarkable rhythm to this course. Not much color in the vegetation. The elevation changes look more daunting than they play. Some of the bunkers appear placed more for visual effect than for strategy. The course certainly looks manufactured, though not offensively so. Aesthetics: This is a beautiful facility. It's exactly what a high-end country club should be. Cool buildings. Sensational, rolling terrain, and holes that visually inspire good play. Conditioning: Greens had been punched and might have played a bit faster, but I'm quibbling. Excellent. Ambiance: Kids, walkable (for billy goats), and a low-key membership."

2018