"From an architect's point of view, The Golf Club of Georgia presents a pair of courses where there is the opportunity to enjoy two entirely different golfing experiences..."

ARTHUR HILLS, one of the world’s most respected golf course architects, shares his thoughts and comments on his masterpiece courses, Lakeside and Creekside, at The Golf Club of Georgia.

“At The Golf Club of Georgia, there is a difference between the Lakeside and Creekside courses. Lakeside was built on higher rolling ground covered with pine trees and hardwoods. In general, we made an effort to work the golf holes down through the valleys.

When you get to the back side of the course, Lake Windward comes into play on holes 11, 12, 13 and 14. That really created drama on the golf course and gave the entire course a beautiful balance. Creekside, on the other hand, was built along the creek, therefore its name, as it plays along and around the wetlands.

When a golfer plays The Golf Club of Georgia, he must think about the strategy of each hole. When playing Lakeside, players need to be thinking about how much they want to challenge the sand bunkering on the golf hole. The landing areas are clearly defined. The options are clearly defined. There is space for every kind of golfer to play Lakeside. Golfers standing on the tee should ponder: What was he trying to get us to think about? What was he trying to get us to do on this hole?”  Then, the golfer must determine how much of that can be accomplished.

Golfers are going to have different challenges, playing one course or the other. For example, if they go out in the morning and play Lakeside, they are in the uplands and they’re along the lake. They can stop and have lunch at a beautiful clubhouse, and then go out and play Creekside. There are two entirely different golf courses at hand, at one club. Golfers can have a great time, playing two golf courses that give them a wide variety of challenge.

We received the Golf Digest "Best New Private Course in America" award for the Lakeside course in 1991. When we began to develop the design for Creekside, there was a question: Can we create another fine course in the creek bottom area?

When we started the design of Creekside, we realized the challenge of working these golf holes down along Big Creek and around the wetlands. When completed, there were a number of holes with difficult carries over the wetlands. Holes number 5, 8, 10, 13, and 14 come to mind. The carries look tough. We attempted to balance that difficulty on the remainder of the course. There is no doubt that Creekside is a strong test.”