We had a blast at UGA Golf Course. This course had been on our list to play for years, but due to its distance from our golf group in Atlanta, it required everyone to block off pretty much an entire day to play here. It was worth it. UGA Golf Course, also known as "University Golf Course," is the official golf course for the University of Georgia in Athens. This course is open to the public. I don't think it's technically on-campus, but it's close. From Atlanta, I would budget about a 1.5-hour drive each way. This course is home to the UGA men's and women's golf teams. I think it's neat to be able to play a college golf team's home course. Not all are public like this one. For example, Georgia Tech's home courses, East Lake Golf Club and the Golf Club of Georgia, are private. Georgia State's home course, Bobby Jones Golf Course, is public. I also live in North Carolina where UNC (UNC Finley Golf Course), Duke (Duke University Golf Club), and NC State's (Lonnie Poole Golf Course) courses are public, but Wake Forest's course (Old Town Club) is private. The UGA golf teams have a private practice facility here. I live next door to the Georgia Tech golf practice facility (Noonan Golf Facility). From what I've seen of UGA's practice facility, Tech's is nicer. Then again, the Tech facility was renovated and reopened in 2017. UGA's facility looks more dated. Speaking of which, UGA's public clubhouse felt a little small and dated. Not that there's anything wrong with it. This isn't a country club. The clubhouse definitely had more of a public facility feel. The golf shop was fully-stocked with cool stuff including Georgia college football national championship merchandise (e.g., putter covers). The dining room pays homage to the UGA golf teams' championships on various levels (e.g., SEC and national titles) with things like a trophy display and a list of years won. I love golf history and enjoy looking at things like this when visiting different clubhouses. The building could use a refresh. The dressing area in the men's restroom had Bankers Boxes stacked with what looked like extra plaques. Too many awards, I guess. Georgia's men's golf team won the national title in 1999 and 2005. The runner-up in '05 was Georgia Tech. The newest part of the clubhouse appeared to be the "Campus Market Express." It's self-serve convenience store with snacks and drinks. No staff. The golf shop and cart barn were staffed with what appeared to be UGA undergrads. The starters at the starters shack appeared to be the typical older, perhaps retired, golf enthusiasts. Everyone I interacted with was polite. UGA Golf Course opened in 1968. The course was originally designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. The course was renovated by Love Golf Design (Davis Love III and his brother Mark Love's company) in 2006. The public driving range is sizable with about 30 hitting stations (mats). There's also a large practice bunker and a separate chipping green. The public practice facility has its own parking lot and is located in its own separate area on the property, on the other side of the golf course parking lot. Heading to the course, you'll pass the practice facility on your left before dead-ending into the course parking lot and cart staging area. There's also a large practice putting green next to the starter's shack, before the 1st and 10th tees. During our visit, the course was in good shape. We started out playing the first several holes in the rain. The rain came down hard around holes 2 and 3. The course drained really well. The rain let up and we finished the round dry. I could tell the greens hadn't fully healed from their most recent aerification, but it wasn't a problem for us due to all the moisture and resulting slowness. As far as the design and layout, I liked it a lot. This felt and played like a true 18-hole "championship course." It has a fun and scenic variety of holes. The terrain and elevation changes here are very typical for a non-coastal course in the South. The routing keeps things interesting and the greens are huge. Nine and 18 share a big double green in front of the clubhouse. It looks like RTJ had a lot of land to work with when he designed this track. There are no houses on the course. My favorite stretch is holes 12 (downhill par 5 with approach shot over water), 13 (par 3 with forced carry over water), and 14 (par 4 with tee shot over water). Not only is that stretch challenging, but it's quite beautiful with the way the holes surround the pond. From the tips, known as the "Bulldog Tees" here, the course is a whopping 7,258 yards with a 75.4/141 rating/slope. We played from the white tees: 5,964 yards, 69.9/122. There are six sets of tees to choose from. I thought the Bulldog Tees, with actual cute bulldog tee markers, were a nice touch. The electric E-Z-GO carts were outfitted with GPS units with the GolfLogix app (yardages to pin, green heatmaps). We paid $77 per person for our weekend afternoon round. read more

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