Achasta is a tough course for me to rate. Like many courses in Georgia (https://bit.ly/3OtHDQZ) and beyond, this is a golf course and country club that looks like it's seen better days. Achasta opened in 2000, during the American golf boom. Despite the resurgence in rounds booked thanks to COVID, many courses just aren't what they used to be. I think Achasta falls in that category.
Based on what I've heard and read, I hold Achasta to a higher standard. It's semi-private, co-designed by Jack Nicklaus (marketed as a "Jack Nicklaus Signature" course), and has been the site of qualifiers for the US Open, Georgia State Amateur, Georgia State Mid-Amateur, and the PGA Tour's old AT&T and BellSouth Classic tournaments. Impressive.
When we played (2022), the Friday-Sunday rate was $90, slightly above average for a daily fee course, but not high-end either. I called the golf shop to book. I believe it's the only way you can book. They don't appear to do online tee times. I was told non-members, a.k.a. the public, could book weekend tee times beginning at 12pm. Twilight rates ($74) started at 3pm. Unlike some courses, booking our tee time at Achasta was simple. All they asked for was my name and number of golfers. I don't recall them asking for my phone number and they didn't ask for a card number to hold the reservation or anything like that.
As a non-member, the furthest in advance I was able to book was seven days out. I made it a point to call around 8am on a Saturday morning to get on the tee sheet for the following Saturday afternoon. It sounded like the afternoon was wide open. I put us down for 2pm and we ended up being one of the last groups to finish that day, shortly after 6pm. Great pace of play. We had a foursome too. The foursome ahead of us let us pass at the 14th tee and we let a twosome pass us after we teed off on 15. We never saw a starter nor ranger.
For the booking, I spoke with Austin. He was very nice and polite. The fellow who checked me in was friendly as well. The cart girl was nice, but we only saw her once, after we finished the 3rd hole. She said it was her last round. To me, that meant there weren't enough golfers on the course in the afternoon to make it worth her being out there. Also, the clubhouse restaurant, bar and grill was closed for a wedding reception that evening.
There was a sign at the bar that said: "We cannot fill coolers with ice until further notice. Our ice machine is not working. Sorry for any inconvenience." When I left the clubhouse just before 6:30pm, it was arranged for the reception. The DJ booth was set up and there were fans all over the place. I think the air conditioning was broken. Yikes.
The cooler on our cart didn't have a lid. Not that a cooler without ice was much use to begin with. Our cart didn't have a GPS device either. The other twosome in our group had a lid on their cooler and a GPS device. Our foursome wasn't given any attention by the cart attendants upon our arrival at the bag drop nor cart staging area. Preference appeared to be given to the members. The members I saw were older and more elderly/retirees. They were on average older than what I typically see.
The Yamaha golf carts were old and beat up. The Achasta sticker logos and front of the carts were scuffed and scratched. The golf bag covers on the back of the carts had Reunion logos on them, making me think perhaps the fleet was "handed down" from Reunion Country Club in Hoschton: https://bit.ly/3QXZAJl. Curious.
Complimentary Achasta logo tees and a compressed air blower/shoe cleaner were plusses. The hole makers were mostly in good condition, but there were no ball washers (probably a holdover from COVID) and no water coolers. The flags were weathered and worn out. Men's and women's restrooms are located at 8 and 14 tees.
As for the course itself, when I called the golf shop two weeks before we played, I asked when the greens were last aerated. They told me they punched their greens nine weeks ago (11 weeks by the time we played) and the greens were in "great shape." When we played, the greens definitely had holes in them and were bumpy. However, it wasn't full-on aeration and sand (topdressing). The tines were smaller. Still, a little disappointing, especially since I had asked.
Overall, I thought the course conditions were good, but not great. The course has several large bunkers and they were in good shape, which I appreciated. The tee boxes were hit or miss. Some looked fine while others (e.g., 3 white, 18 blue) looked awful with lots of sand and/or weeds. The fairways were satisfactory. Aside from the aeration, 11 green had a large "gash" on the front half.
I really liked the layout with scenic views of the hills and the Chestatee River. This course has several relatively big (and loud) bridges. At $90 though, our group agreed that the value wasn't there for what we experienced. It was more comparable to a $60-80 suburban metro Atlanta course experience. read more