Golf in Athens

Sprawling across the Cumberland Plateau at 2,000 feet above sea level—the highest point between the Rocky and Smoky Mountains—lie Fairfield Glade Community Club's five courses, showcasing 90 holes of championship golf. Since the first fairways of the 18-hole Druid Hills course opened in 1970, the golf haven has expanded to include two more 18-hole courses and one 36-hole course. The most recent addition, the Stonehenge course, opened for play in January of 2008 and still perplexes archeologists hoping to decipher the meaning of its immense flagstick monuments. Players find themselves amid postcard-worthy wooded terrain as they traverse fairways bordered with lakes and crawling with wildlife indigenous to the Catoosa Wildlife Management Area, which nudges the grounds directly to the northeast. The beautiful surroundings and challenging course play have allowed the club to host several prestigious events, including the Tennessee Senior Men's Open and the Tennessee Women's Open.

Set atop a sparsely wooded expanse of the Cumberland Plateau, Lake Tansi Village Golf Club’s 18-hole championship golf course traces an undulating tract buttressed on both sides by Lake Tansi and Hiawatha Lake. Though the course is not particularly long, the course layout demands precision with its rolling terrain, deep bunkers, and multitiered greens that will terrify golf balls who fear roller-coasters. When approaching the tee on the par-4 17th, golfers look out onto a green protected by a frontside pond that forces them to carry the glassy surface with a lofted wedge or short iron.

Perched at an altitude that typically keeps the area an average of 10 degrees cooler than Knoxville and Nashville, Lake Tansi Village complements its golf facilities with a full-service marina, lakeside cottages, and stay-and-play packages ideal for golfers hoping to get away for a weekend after a heated argument with their live-in caddy.

Celebrated course architects Peter Jacobsen, Jim Hardy, and Jerry Lemons sculpted RiverWatch Golf Club’s course through natural tributaries leading to the crystalline waters of Center Hill Lake. Wide zoysia fairways rise and fall through the densely forested terrain, creating natural doglegs that bend around large earthen swells and ponds. Water comes into play on seven holes, making accuracy more important than hitting long drives or unlocking the scorecard’s treasure map to a lower handicap.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 72 course
• Total length of 6,850 yards from the back tees
• Course rating of 73.3 from the back tees
• Course slope of 131 from the back tees
• Five sets of tees per hole

Bailey Links Golf Course at Cedar Hills' recently redesigned nine-hole course provides a grassy haunt for golfers of all stripes and an emerald training ground for pupils learning at the spike-soled feet of the club's PGA-certified golf guru, Keith McElroy. With a nine-hole round, players can hunt birdies across a player-friendly layout in expedited fashion, freeing up time to read their nine-irons bedtime stories later that night. Duffers can continue their path to on-course mastery at the complex's driving range, where practice balls help players commit new techniques to memory while whispering sage advice such as how to differentiate between expansive sand traps and makeshift nude beaches. Players can loop the links in a peppy golf cart or traverse the fairway chain aboard their trusty footmobile.

After designing more than 100 golf courses in countries including Spain, South Africa, Japan, and Scotland, architect Denis Griffiths set his sights on the mountains of North Georgia. He carved out a course that Golf Georgia hailed as “entirely unique” for its landform variety and dune-inspired topography. The course’s layout takes players on a journey through hidden landing zones, scattered bunkers, slopes reminiscent of Scotland, and wetlands full of politely clapping salamanders. Golfers looking to gussy up their game can visit one of 20 hitting stations at a double-tiered grass range that stretches 400 yards. Two short-game target greens and a full putting green round out Old Union Golf Course's practice facilities.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 72 course
• Total length of 7,681 yards from the back tees
• Course rating of 76.8 from the back tees
• Course slope of 144 from the back tees
• Five sets of tees per hole
• Scorecard