Brookfield Country Club (Private)

100 Willow Run, Roswell; 770-993-9230; www.brookfieldcountryclub.com

STAFF: Carlen Webb is the PGA Director of Golf; Jerry Matthews is the Superintendent.

PAR/YARDAGE: Brookfield is a par 72 with five sets of tees – Gold (6,801 yards); Blue (6,354); White (5,818); Green (5,196) and Silver (4,998).

COURSE RATING/SLOPE: 72.1/138 (Gold) 70.8/133 (Blue)l 68.6/128 (White); 70.3/125 (Green): 69.3/123 (Silver).

ABOUT THE COURSE: Brookfield was extensively renovated almost a decade ago by Atlanta-based designer Mike Riley, who did not significantly alter Joe Lee’s deceptively demanding layout, but did make the greens complexes more challenging. Only the first and 18^th holes were changed appreciably, with most of Riley’s tee-to-green work consisting of leveling some fairways a bit, although many of them still have a considerable amount of slope. Keeping the ball in the short grass is a real challenge, especially on the front line where OB lurks down the left side on more than half the holes. The back nine is a bit more forgiving off the tee, but hazards are seriously in play on most of the holes on that side, including an intimidating over-water tee shot on the par-5 14^th and the dangerous par-3 15^th with water just off the left edge of the green and long. Even if you hit it straight and avoid the trouble, the renovated greens still await, with plenty of movement and speed and some pin placements uncomfortably close to ridges that can quickly turn potential birdies or pars into bogeys or doubles. The constantly changing terrain is a major element of Brookfield’s challenge, along with the presence of hazards that have to be negotiated, beginning with a pair of very testy par 4s on the opening nine (2 and 7). Because of the changes to 1 and 18, the outgoing nine is now a par 35 with only one par 5, while the back plays to a par of 37 with three of the last five holes par 5s and the punishing 17^th a virtual par 5 for all but the longest hitters. There is plenty of opportunity to find trouble coming in once you move past the 10^th, a short, inviting par 4, but the bunker-laden par-5 finishing hole offers the hope of a good finish if you can avoid the sand and find the right level of the multi-tier green. An enjoyable but sometimes perplexing layout that requires some thought and patience to solve, and remains an interesting challenge for its membership.