Daniel B.
Yelp
I enjoyed our round at Reunion Country Club. This golf course is located almost an hour north of Atlanta in the city of Hoschton, next to Braselton and Chateau Elan. If you're looking for a different golf course to play in the metro Atlanta area, this one is worth trying. It was in very good shape when we played it and service was great.
Reunion Country Club opened in 2001 and is part of a planned residential development. The course snakes its way through a subdivision filled with single-family homes. However, most of the holes are tree-lined. Along with an 18-hole golf course and practice facility, the club has five tennis courts, a pool, and a grand-looking, antebellum-style clubhouse known as "Reunion Hall." The hall looks like it was lifted directly from a Southern college campus with its tall white columns in front and cupola on top.
In front of the clubhouse are townhomes, the Reunion "Athletic Club" (gym), "Meeting House" (activity space), and other spaces. It has a neat look to it, sort of like a small village or town square. It's unique as far as public clubs in Georgia go.
Unlike other public clubs in Georgia, the tennis courts and pool at Reunion appear to be maintained and actively used. During my visit, I saw many families at the pool (or going to and from) and saw several groups having lunch at the clubhouse bar and grill (both golfers and non-golfers alike). So, this club seems to be doing okay though they were advertising golf memberships for $205-259 per month inside and outside the clubhouse as well as at the halfway house.
After taxes, we paid $64.09 per person for 18 holes on a Saturday morning with cart and a small bucket of range balls included. I found it best to book our round directly through Reunion's website (http://www.reuniongolfclub.com/) rather than using a service like GolfNow or TeeOff.com. GolfNow had some good deals on prepaid tee times, but after taxes and fees, they weren't much better than the regular rates. There were no fees nor money due upfront by booking through Reunion's site.
The pro shop is small, but stocked with the essentials. There is no men's locker room, just a restroom. At least they have a compressed air gun to clean your shoes. I like the golf carts here. They looked relatively new when we rode them. They were Yamaha Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI) carts with nice rims, comfy, contoured seats, USB ports, phone slots, and more.
A Range Servant is used to dispense range balls (token system). The balls were average quality. The range is all grass with separate sections for members and non-members. During our visit, the section of the range we could use was pretty beat up and mostly dirt. The practice putting green is sizable and it was in great shape, though the grass on the edges just outside the green had brown, burnt-out patches. This was the case for the course as well. We'd come across dirt patches every so often, usually around the greens. It looks like there used to be a practice bunker by the practice green, but not anymore. It's now a grass bunker.
James Morra was the guy who checked us in at the pro shop. He was very friendly and made us feel welcome. The starter, ranger, and beverage cart girl were affable too. Pin sheets were located in the carts and our tee time was posted on our carts by the starter. There are up to five pin positions.
After one playthrough, I have to say I don't think this course has the most interesting or scenic layout around, but it's fun enough. If I recall correctly, there are only two bodies of water on the course, greenside ponds on Nos. 5 and 8. No. 8 is one of the more scenic holes on the course, a par-3 with a forced carry over water. No. 11 tee has a nice view too, an elevated one which overlooks the greens at Nos. 8 and 10. Power lines run through the course on these holes (8, 9, 10, 11). You get so close to them on 11 tee that you can hear the lines buzz. There are blind tee shots and elevation changes throughout the course though none I would describe as particularly dramatic nor atypical of a Georgia course.
The course has four colored tees and two combo tees so there are plenty of tees to choose from. From the tips (blacks), the course measures 6,939 yards with a 73.5/143 rating/slope. We played from the whites where the course measures 6,003 yards with a 68.7/129 rating/slope. I would say this course is above average in difficulty, but there are still many scoring opportunities for the average golfer. The greens are huge, so your long-distance putting skills will probably be put to the test. Some of the bunkers are quite large too and can be challenging to get out of.
Condition-wise, the course was fine. There were no glaring issues. The greens were the best part. They rolled true. While there were some rough patches around the greens and on the fairways, and the tee boxes weren't pristine, the general conditions were certainly acceptable for a daily fee course in the $60 tier. I'd come back.
