Atlanta Country Club

Years ago, one of the most spirited debates in golf was over who really designed Atlanta Country Club. Both Willard Byrd of Atlanta and Joseph S. Finger of Houston claimed the honor. Both lobbied Golf Digest hard for the architectural credit, but neither provided much supporting documentation. Both architects are deceased now, and from what we can piece together, Byrd landed the original contract in the early 1960s, but was still more land-planner than course architect in those days, and it seemed possible the club had brought in Finger to finish the job. The final word in that debate didn’t come until recently when architect Beau Welling, during a 2022 remodel of the course, found Byrd’s plans for the course and used them to restore a number of tee boxes that had shifted during previous renovations. Welling also reoriented and added bunkers, expanded and rebuilt greens and, importantly, redesigned the third and 11th holes, long considered the course’s weaknesses. The club also added hydronics systems under each green in order to heat or cool the bent grass as needed. Atlanta Country Club hosted the inaugural Tournament Players Championship in 1974 and the PGA Tour’s Atlanta stop from 1967 to 1996, and was among Golf Digest’s Second 100 Greatest courses until it fell out of the ranking in 2023. Welling’s remodel resulted in fourth place in the 2024 Best Renovation award; we'll see if it propels ACC back into the top 200.