Atlanta Athletic Club: Highlands Course

The Highlands Course is the championship layout at Atlanta Athletic Club, originally routed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. as part of the club's move to Johns Creek and completed in 1967. Rees Jones led a significant redesign in 2006 in preparation for the 2011 PGA Championship, and the course has hosted the 1976 U.S. Open as well as the 1981, 2001 and 2011 PGA Championships.

Atlanta Athletic Club is one of the oldest and most historically significant private clubs in the American South, with roots in downtown Atlanta in 1898 and a championship golf record at its current Johns Creek location that makes it a well-tested major championship venue in the eastern United States. The Atlanta Athletic Club was organized in 1898 in downtown Atlanta as a multi-sport athletic organization, expanding rapidly as Atlanta grew into one of the South's most dynamic cities. The original membership drew from Atlanta's business and professional community, and the club's programming extended well beyond golf to include tennis, swimming, and other athletic pursuits consistent with its name and its founders' vision of a comprehensive athletic club. By the mid-twentieth century, the club had outgrown successive downtown locations and identified the need for a suburban property that could house a first-class golf facility alongside its other athletic programs. The club relocated to what was then an unincorporated area of north Fulton County near Duluth — an area that would eventually incorporate as Johns Creek in 2006 — in the late 1960s, building three nine-hole golf courses on the new property in 1967. Robert Trent Jones Sr. designed the original 27 holes for the Atlanta Athletic Club, creating courses that used the rolling Piedmont terrain of north Fulton County to produce a variety of hole types suited for both member play and potential championship hosting. Jones was at the height of his career influence when he designed these holes, having already completed the renovations at Oakland Hills and Baltusrol that had established his reputation as the dominant force in American course design. When Joe Finger added a fourth nine on a high section of the property in the early 1970s, the holes were consolidated into two 18-hole courses: the Highlands Course and the Riverside Course.

The Highlands layout assembled holes from the higher sections of the Jones routing and the Finger nine; the Riverside Course used the lower, river-adjacent sections of the property. The Highlands Course hosted the 1976 U.S. Open, which holds the distinction of being the first U.S. Open staged in an area south of Washington, D.C. and east of the Mississippi River. Jerry Pate, a twenty-two-year-old tour rookie, won the title on the final hole by hitting a five-iron approach from a water-adjacent lie on the eighteenth fairway to within two feet of the hole — a shot that became one of the iconic images in U.S. Open history. Pate shot a final-round 68 to overcome John Mahaffey, who had led through three rounds but stumbled to a 73 on Sunday, finishing two strokes clear of both Mahaffey and Al Geiberger. The Highlands Course subsequently hosted the PGA Championship in 1981 (David Graham), 2001 (David Toms), and 2011 (Keegan Bradley).

The 2011 PGA Championship was particularly dramatic, with Bradley becoming the first player to make a birdie on the 72nd hole to win a major championship. The 2001 championship is remembered for David Toms's decision to lay up on the 72nd hole and make par to win by one shot over Phil Mickelson — a standout discussed strategic decisions in major championship history. Rees Jones performed major renovation work on both courses, with the Riverside Course receiving a comprehensive redesign in 2002 that Golf Digest recognized among its top ten new private courses of 2004. The Riverside Course hosted the 1990 U.S. Women's Open, won by Betsy King, establishing the club's credentials across both men's and women's championship golf. Both courses continue to reflect Rees Jones's architectural influence more than his father's original work, as the scope of the renovations was extensive enough to transform the strategic character of each layout while preserving the fundamental routing established in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The club hosted the 2014 U.S. Amateur Championship on the Highlands Course, bringing accomplished collegiate and amateur players to Atlanta for a competition that has historically been a reliable predictor of future professional success.

In 2022, the USGA announced that Atlanta Athletic Club would host three additional USGA amateur championships in subsequent years, a further validation of the club's standing as one of the nation's most capable championship venues. The club's operational capabilities — its caddying program, conditioning standards, and hospitality infrastructure — have been refined through decades of championship experience into a system that satisfies the USGA's most demanding requirements. The Highlands Course holds a position among the top courses in Georgia in Golf Digest's state rankings and appears in national private course rankings that reflect its championship history and the quality of its Rees Jones renovation. Few private clubs anywhere in the country can match the breadth of its major championship hosting record across both men's and women's professional and amateur competition — a record that spans seven decades and encompasses five different professional and amateur championships. The club's setting in what has become one of metropolitan Atlanta's most affluent suburbs ensures both the membership base and the community support necessary to sustain championship golf at the highest level.