Golf Courses & Travel
Civil War Links
A compendium of golf courses with ties to the Civil War, presented alphabetically by state
The Civil War sign behind the fifth hole at Alfred Tup Holmes Golf Course in Atlanta.
ALABAMA
Both Joe Wheeler State Park G. Cse. in Rogersville and the Fighting Joe Course at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at The Shoals in Muscle Shoals were named for Confederate Major General Joseph Wheeler, who earned his nickname by being wounded three times and having 16 horses shot out from under him. After the war, Wheeler was one of the few Confederates to rejoin the U.S. Army and served as a major general of federal troops in the Spanish-American War in 1898.
Lakewood G.C., Point Clear sits across the street from the Grand Hotel, which served as a Civil War hospital. A Confederate cemetery lays next to the 18th tee of Lakewood's Azalea Course.
GEORGIA
Alfred Tup Holmes G. Cse. in Atlanta's Adams Park has one of the few remaining Confederate breastworks still visible in the city. A plaque behind the fifth green explains the nature of the Confederate defense system that protected Atlanta.
Augusta National G.C. was built on a plantation known as Fruitlands. Its pear, apple and peach trees reportedly provided fruit that nourished Confederate armies in the first years of the Civil War.
Bobby Jones G. Cse. in Atlanta was built on the site of Battle of Peachtree Creek, an attack by Confederate General John Bell Hood against forces led by General John Geary (the first mayor of San Francisco and later governor of Kansas). Much of the fighting occurred on the land on which the course now sits, but most historical plaques have been removed. One remains behind the fourth green.
The Farm G.C., in Rocky Face, was site of the Battle of Rocky Face Ridge in May, 1864, the first major confrontation in the campaign by Union General William Tecumseh Sherman to take Atlanta and then march to the sea.
A 1928 newspaper account of Lookout Mountain G.C. (then called Fairyland G.C.) read, "Battlefield Becomes Unusual Golf Course" and stated the Seth Raynor design was laid out "on the site of the famous Civil War battle." Since the famed "Battle Above the Clouds" was fought in heavy fog, it's hard to know just where the fighting occurred, but we assume some it occurred on the spot now occupied by the course.
When Marietta C.C. moved to a new location in the Atlanta suburbs in 1990, architect Bob Cupp designed its new course on the site of the Latimer farm, where Confederate General Joseph Johnston had constructed a network of earthworks in an attempt to slow General Sherman's invading Army. Some of the still-apparent trenches were utilized as hazards by Cupp, particular in the rough between the fifth and seventh holes of the club's Lake View 9.
Savannah G.C.'s first nine was built in 1900, with holes laid out within the line of Confederate fortifications that had been used to protect Savannah during the Civil War. Some of the features were utilized as golf course hazards, and early players often found bullets (called Minie balls during the Civil War) and cannon balls in the turf. In the 1960s, some of the Confederate breastworks were cut through to accommodate cart paths. Some of the ramparts are still visible today.
The 36-holes of Stone Mountain G.C. sit beneath the mountain of the same name, on which several sculptors created the largest bas-relief in the world, depicting Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, all astride their horses. The carving is best seen from the first green of club's Lakemont Course or the elevated 16th tee of the Stonemont Course.
ILLINOIS
When the Hillcrest C.C. in the north Chicago suburb of Long Grove first opened (as Long Grove C.C.) in 1964, during the height of the Civil War centennial, the course was given a Civil War theme. Its five ponds were named Rebel, Sentinel, Yankee, Antietam and Gettysburg. The stream that fed them was named Bull Run.
Lincoln Greens Golf Course in Springfield, built in 1957, was named for the city's favorite son, Abe Lincoln. In 1974, a new Robert Trent Jones design in Springfield was named The Rail G.Cse. (pictured below) to honor Lincoln's early local occupation as a rail splitter.
The General at Eagle Ridge in Galena, overlooking Lake Galena was named for General Ulysses S. Grant, a resident of the town at the start of the Civil War. At the time of its opening in early 1997, the resort issued a press release claiming Grant had once visited the Old Course at St. Andrews and tried to swing a golf club. After whiffing several times, he reportedly said, "I fail to see the purpose of the ball."
INDIANA
The South Course of the now-defunct Cressmoor C.C. in Hobart had holes named for a variety of famous battles, including the Alamo and Custer's Last Fight. Eight holes were named for Civil War battles: Antietam, The Wilderness, Shiloh, Lookout Mountain, Chickamauga, Fort Sumter, Gettysburg and Bull Run.
KENTUCKY
Battlefield G.C., a residential development course built in 2000 on a portion of the site of the August, 1862 Battle of Richmond, is now county-owned. A Civil War field hospital was converted into the clubhouse. There are historical markers on the course.
A descriptive marker on the grounds of Fort Mitchell C.C. in Covington (overlooking the Ohio River) described how the area served to protect Cincinnati across the river. In September, 1862, when Confederates appeared in the area, Union troops came across the Ohio on a pontoon bridge made of coal barges. The Confederates withdrew after a light skirmish on land now occupied by the course.
General Burnside State Park Golf Course, on General Burnside Island near Somerset, is named for Union General Ambrose Burnside, who had led patrols along the old Cumberland River (now Lake Cumberland). Burnside's bushy whiskers gave rise to a new term — sideburns.
Lincoln Homestead State Park in Springfield contains reproductions of early houses associated with Abraham Lincoln and a Press and Perry Maxwell-designed course that opened in 1957.
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