Achasta Golf Club

A Jack Nicklaus Signature course tucked into the North Georgia mountains, Achasta routes along the Chestatee River with riverfront holes and elevated ridge terrain that provide dramatic elevation changes throughout the round. The design integrates Bermuda grass greens and strategic bunkering consistent with Nicklaus's mountain course portfolio.

Achasta Golf Club in Dahlonega sits in the Blue Ridge Mountain foothills of North Georgia, approximately one hour north of Atlanta — a Jack Nicklaus Signature Design that represents the first course developed under a partnership between ClubCorp and Nicklaus Design, threading through the mountain terrain with the Chestatee River as its central design element, crossing that river seven times across the 18-hole layout. The course opened in 2000 on property in Lumpkin County where the Chestatee River — a tributary of the Chattahoochee that flows through the gold rush country of north Georgia — provided the natural organizing element of the Nicklaus design. The river crossing count — seven crossings in 18 holes — gives the course a recurring relationship with the Chestatee that no other North Georgia course can replicate. The fifth hole plays entirely on an island in the river, a configuration that requires golfers to commit fully to approach shots surrounded by water on all sides. Nicklaus's design for Achasta was executed with Troy Vincent and Greg Letsche. The layout employs the Signature Design process — Nicklaus personally involved in key strategic decisions, with particular attention to risk-reward architecture that rewards aggressive play but punishes error. The routing is built on G-2 bentgrass greens and Bermuda grass fairways, with forced carries, water hazards, and strategic bunkering distributed across a course that moves repeatedly through and alongside the Chestatee corridor. The mountain terrain adds the tactical dimension of elevation changes and variable winds not available to flat-state layouts. Achasta has ranked among the top designs in Georgia in independent course surveys, including a #2 ranking in the state in 2014 and a top-twelve position as recently as 2024. The course was also ranked 22nd nationally for pace of play in 2015.