Golf in Georgia

Georgia is a state of extraordinary geographic and cultural range, stretching from the Blue Ridge Mountains in the north to the Sea Island coast in the south and from the Ridge and Valley province of the northwest to the Savannah River Piedmont on the eastern border with South Carolina. That breadth produces a golfing environment as varied as any in the South, from highland mountain courses with dramatic elevation changes to coastal layouts framed by salt marsh, live oak, and Atlantic breezes.

The state is home to one of the most celebrated addresses in golf. Augusta National Golf Club, founded in 1932 by Bobby Jones and architect Alister MacKenzie, hosts the Masters Tournament each April, making Augusta the most watched single week in professional golf for most of the past nine decades. The course's azaleas, Amen Corner, and tradition of excellence have given Georgia an almost mythological status in the international golf imagination.

Beyond Augusta, Georgia's golf landscape reflects the character of each region. The Atlanta metropolitan area, with more than six million residents, contains the largest concentration of courses in the state, ranging from historic private clubs like East Lake Golf Club (birthplace of Bobby Jones and site of the PGA Tour Championship) to the resort and residential courses of Cherokee, Forsyth, and Fayette counties. The Golden Isles along the Glynn County coast constitute one of the southeastern United States' premier golf resort destinations, with courses on Jekyll Island, St. Simons Island, and Sea Island framed by Spanish moss and maritime forest in a setting that has drawn golfers since the late nineteenth century.

The north Georgia mountains offer a distinct experience, with courses in White, Union, Rabun, Gilmer, and Lumpkin counties set against the Blue Ridge at elevations that produce genuine mountain character. Lake Oconee in Greene and Putnam counties has become one of the highest-density golf areas outside the metro, anchored by Reynolds Lake Oconee and other resort communities. The Savannah coast, the southwest Georgia agricultural plain, and the corridor from Macon to Augusta each have their own character, shaped by the Piedmont fall line, the coastal estuaries, and the long flat reaches of the Georgia Coastal Plain.

Georgia's 263 courses tracked here span the full range of the game, from Augusta National to municipal tracks, military base courses at Robins AFB and Fort Moore, and the small-town layouts that serve rural communities across the state's 159 counties.