White Columns Country Club (Private)

300 Clubhouse Drive, Alpharetta;
770-343-9025; www.whitecolumnscountryclub.com

STAFF: Bryan Nelson is the Golf Professional; Cody Barden is the Golf Instructor.

PAR/YARDAGE: White Columns is a par 72 with four sets of tees – Gold (7,053 yards); Blue (6,517); White (6,015) and Red (5,087).

COURSE RATING/SLOPE: 74.0/140 (Gold); 71.5/132 (Blue); 68.8/125 (White); 70.4/124 (Red).

ABOUT THE COURSE: Considered metro Atlanta’s premier daily fee course before the course converted to private status, it holds its own against the wealth of outstanding private clubs in the golf rich suburbs of north Fulton. The Tom Fazio-designed course opened in the early 1990s, and the quality of layout and the superb conditioning have held steady since. Like The Frog, a Fazio design in the metro area that has remained a daily fee facility, White Columns is a big course. Ample fairways. A healthy number of expansive bunkers. And some large, rolling greens that will test the putting ability of the finest practitioners with the flat stick from both long and short range. With a handful of exceptions, White Columns is not an especially lengthy layout by modern standards, with the greens complexes providing much of the challenge and making it more of a second shot course.

The main concern off the tee is the frequent presence of some penal fairway bunkers, with the tree lines relatively well removed from play on most holes. Much of the water on the course is more seen than seriously felt, although the excellent stretch of finishing holes offers four chances to get wet on the last five holes. Fazio’s layout includes a number of standout holes, including a pair of visually striking downhill par 3s, one short and one long. The diverse group of par 5s is balanced between short and long, inviting and demanding, with the two on the back nine featuring one of the more gorgeous backdrops you’ll encounter, as well as a humongous triple tier green that exemplifies the challenge once you pull the putter from your bag. The par 4s also include a nice mix of holes, with two memorable short par 4s, one with water, one without. Built as a daily fee course, White Columns’ and variety make it equally worthy in a private setting, with the layout holding up over repeated rounds.