Bobby Jones course: A junior golf Mecca?

By Collin Kelley and Joe Earle

After months of community argument over how best to remake the Bobby Jones Golf Course, city officials have transferred ownership of the historic Buckhead course to the state.

Atlanta City Council voted 12-3 after hours of discussion on June 6 to turn over the course to the state of Georgia. State officials promise a $25 million makeover that will add a golf museum to the site and create what one supporter called “a junior golf Mecca.”

In return for the course, the state will turn over to the city a parking facility and another property near Underground Atlanta that the city needs to complete the sale of Underground to a private developer. The developer proposes building housing and shops in place of the little-used, city-owned tourist attraction.

Mayor Kasim Reed told council members before the vote that the transaction was the best thing for the city and community. “When this is all said and done, this will be the best golf facility in the region and state of Georgia,” Reed said.

Only three council members – Yolanda Adrean, Mary Norwood and Felicia Moore – voted against the transfer. But some supporters of the course continued to question the transfer after it was completed.

“I remain disappointed in the result,” said Anthony Smith, president of the Friends of Bobby Jones Golf Course.

“Financially, this is a giveaway of a park for a promise and a parking lot.”

Debate over the remaking of the golf course, which lies within Atlanta Memorial Park, has drawn hundreds of residents and golfers to public meetings on the renovation of the park originally proposed by the Atlanta Memorial Park Conservancy.

On June 3, just days before the council vote, Reed told more than 175 people attending a meeting at E. Rivers Elementary School that state officials’ plans for the course named for the iconic Atlanta golfer would create a “best in class” course and improve the care the course will receive in the future.

“This is going to be a golf course forever,” Reed said. “This golf course is going to be maintained in a way the city never could. I think when we get to the other side of this, we’re going to have something that will be a real jewel for the community.”

During the two-hour-plus question-andanswer session, Reed said state officials plan to turn the 18-hole course into a reversible nine-hole, public golf course and add a driving range and other practice facilities.

The state also will add a “Golf House” that would include a golf hall of fame

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