Dave Sansom
Russell Kirk
Russell Kirk
Dunwoody Country Club
Dunwoody Country Club
1600 Dunwoody Club Dr
Atlanta, GA 30350-4437
United States
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 in 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
Awards
Ranking history:
Best in State: Ranked 26th, 2025-'26. Ranked 29th, 2023-'24.
Panelists
Ratings from our panel of 1,900 course-ranking panelists
100 GREATEST/BEST IN STATE SCORES
Shot Options
Character
Challenge
Layout Variety
Fun
Aesthetics
Conditioning
Reviews
Review
“Dunwoody Country Club makes a strong first impression with conditioning that stands out immediately. The bunkers are well-maintained, consistent, and thoughtfully presented. The greens are the highlight of the round... sneaky fast, true, and demanding enough that you can’t lose focus for a single hole. The fairways present well visually, but they’re thinner than they appear once you’re actually playing from them. The rough is fair and doesn’t over-penalize players. The par-3s at holes 3 and 6 feel repetitive, offering similar visuals and shot values. The 5th hole, a sharp dogleg right, is the clear architectural miss of the routing. It’s a victim of forced design rather than natural flow. The par-5 11th is arguably the club’s signature hole, offering a strong combination of strategy and aesthetics. The finishing par-5 18th is another standout — a fun closer that gives you a chance to finish on a high note. Dunwoody delivers an enjoyable round with excellent greens and a few standout holes, even if a couple of holes limit the architectural ceiling."
Read More2025
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."
Read More2018
