Architect Tripp Davis and the Riverside Renovation Committee had three main objectives when taking on the Riverside redesign:
- Completely update the course infrastructure from tee to green to allow for heightened playing conditions
- Accentuate the beautiful Riverside terrain in a more natural way
- Enhance the playing interest and enjoyment for all players
With aging greens, irrigation systems, bunkers, and drainage systems, the team was tasked with updating the infrastructure and, in the process, enhancing the golf course to make it more enjoyable and exciting for all golfers. Drainage was one of the main focus points. As all Georgia golfers know, the native Georgia clay is not conducive to drainage. Davis skillfully reshaped the beautiful Riverside land allowing for excellent surface and sub-surface drainage while accentuating the natural beauty and playability of the entire course.
Rerouting holes 3-5 and 12-14 was required to highlight the course’s flow and beauty. Removing lower tree canopies and about 1000 yards of Chattahoochee River views reveals the magnificence of the land and creates distant views all over the course. “When you stand on the golf course, we want you to feel like you’re a part of a big broad landscape,” Davis said.
Updating the infrastructure was of utmost importance and involved reshaping, repositioning, and rebuilding greens, tees, fairways, and bunkers, installing a new state-of-the-art irrigation system and reducing the total square footage of both bunkers and greens. Every bunker built has some strategic purpose of having a physical impact on how the game is played; even though the square footage dropped significantly from 125k to 70k, the course is not under-bunkered by any stretch of the imagination. Building the bunkers into slopes, fairways and greens creates a more natural landscape and flows to the layout. The result is a “more classic feel and playing quality, like a 1920s-era course that hasn’t been touched, which is exactly what we were trying for”, said Davis.
Building smaller greens complemented by shortcut areas around the greens extends the playing surface and provides multiple options when missing greens in certain spots. Smaller greens help to create a significant challenge for lower-handicap golfers while creating playability for the average golfer.
“The golf course has movement to it, and that was one of the ways we could add interest by creating certain lies and directing the ball in certain ways the ball bounces and rolls out. It’s a course you’ll have to learn to play over time because you must know what happens when you land the ball. Will it kick, right? Will it kick left? What’s the best approach, given the way the ground moves? That was fun, but the emphasis was on ensuring this place drained appropriately.” Said, Davis.
Heavy emphasis was put on making the golf course more interesting. Trying to make the course more difficult was not part of the objective. It was mainly to make it more exciting and fun to play while providing the flexibility in the design to tweak the golf course making it championship-level. It becomes much more important to get on the correct angles playing into the greens by growing the rough just a little. Riverside is meant to challenge in more subtle and strategic ways and has more flexibility to be set up to be very playable; this is not a course that can be dominated by length. Golfers must be precise to score well. Within his design, Davis has accounted for how changes in how the course is maintained and set up can drastically change the level of challenge, creating an extreme amount of strategic flexibility in setting up the course.
“The more you play this course, the more you realize if you get in trouble, you need to get out instead of trying to get aggressive. We’ve emphasized a wider margin of error in the design to get yourself back out of trouble. We think the membership will enjoy this.” David said.
Without a doubt, Tripp and the Riverside Renovation committee met all 3 of their objectives and then some. In the words of Tripp Davis himself, “I am incredibly pleased with how the work turned out. It is better than I thought it could be.”
Rich History, a Bright Future, and a lot to Offer
The Atlanta Athletic Club boasts a rich championship history playing host to many elite golf events:
- 1950 U.S. Women’s Amateur and 1963 Ryder Cup at East Lake
- 1976 U.S. Open (awarded to AAC because of a letter Bobby Jones sent to USGA)
- 1981, 2001, and 2011 PGA Championships on its Highlands Course
- 1990 U.S. Women’s Open on its Riverside Course
- 2014 U.S. Amateur, with stroke-play qualifying on the Riverside Course and match play on the Highlands Course
Upcoming Championships at AAC:
- 2025 U.S. Girl’s Junior Amateur
- 2030 U.S. Amateur – the 100th anniversary of Bobby Jones’ Grand Slam (British Open, British Amateur, U.S. Open, U.S. Amateur)
- 2035 U.S. Women’s Amateur
The Atlanta Athletic Club, which will celebrate its 125th anniversary in 2023, has a mission to deliver an exceptional family-focused experience that consistently exceeds the expectations of all those served while preserving the heritage, traditions, and reputation for championship golf. Consistently ranked among the top family athletic clubs in the country, Atlanta Athletic Club is renowned for personalized service and serving as a social and recreational hub for members.
Along with two 18-hole courses, Atlanta Athletic Club has a nine-hole par-3 course, fitness center and spa, outdoor clay courts and indoor tennis facility, Olympic-sized pool, and magnificent clubhouse, with indoor/outdoor social spaces and dining facilities. For additional information on Atlanta Athletic Club, access the website at www.atlantaathleticclub.org.