Ansley Golf Club: Settindown Creek Course

Ansley Golf Club offers two distinct golf experiences: the intimate, century-old Midtown course in Atlanta's Ansley Park neighborhood, where Stewart Maiden's golden-age design delivers walkable charm and downtown skyline views across nine holes played twice, and the Bob Cupp-designed Settindown Creek in Roswell, an 18-hole championship layout where strategic water hazards, creek-side routing, and quick bent-grass greens have tested U.S. Women's Amateur competitors and Georgia's top amateurs alike.

Ansley Golf Club is one of Atlanta's oldest private golf institutions, founded in 1910 as an amenity to the Ansley Park real estate development and later expanded into a two-course club through the acquisition of a championship course in Roswell, Georgia. Edwin P. Ansley broke ground on the first clubhouse in 1910 as part of his broader Ansley Park residential development in Midtown Atlanta. The golf club was formally named Ansley Park Golf Club in 1912 and operated from that year under its original nine-hole layout. The original course design is attributed to Stewart Maiden of Carnoustie, Scotland—the Scottish-born professional who also served as the teaching professional at East Lake Golf Club and famously tutored Bobby Jones as a young player. Ward Northrup later contributed to the Midtown course design as well.

The club's early membership drew from the professional and business community of Midtown Atlanta, and the nine-hole course in the dense, elegant Ansley Park neighborhood became a landmark of the district. The club was renamed Ansley Golf Club in 1953. The nine-hole Midtown course, situated on a compact property in the heart of Atlanta, plays through the mature tree canopy of the Ansley Park neighborhood and offers views of the Midtown skyline from several holes—a setting that gives it an unusual urban golf character in the American Southeast. The club celebrated its 100th anniversary in October 2012 with a centennial gala. In 1999, Ansley Golf Club acquired Settindown Creek Golf Club in Roswell, Georgia, significantly expanding its footprint and competitive profile. The Settindown Creek course had been designed by Bob Cupp and opened in 1988.

Two-thirds of the holes play through the flood plain of Little River, with the front nine routing alongside the river itself, while the back nine rises onto more elevated, wooded north Georgia terrain. The mixture of river-bottom holes and upland woods gives Settindown Creek a topographic variety unusual for a Georgia layout. The Settindown Creek course hosted the 2005 U.S. Women's Amateur Championship, won by seventeen-year-old Morgan Pressel. Pressel defeated Maru Martinez 9 and 8 in the 36-hole final to claim the championship in dominant fashion, cementing the course's place in USGA championship history. Pressel went on to a successful LPGA Tour career, including a major championship victory at the 2007 Kraft Nabisco Championship.

The U.S. Women's Amateur remains the highest-profile national championship staged at either Ansley Golf Club course. Together, the Midtown course's urban historic character and the Settindown Creek course's championship difficulty give Ansley Golf Club a dual identity unique among Atlanta's private clubs.