By Mike Blum
The metro Atlanta area features a sizeable number of private country clubs whose names are well known in golf circles across the country.
Clubs that have hosted major championships, pro tour events, national amateur tournaments.
You won’t find Dogwood Golf Club on that list, but it doesn’t need to be.
The club fulfills a much needed niche for golfers who will never achieve the economic status necessary to join one of Atlanta’s many outstanding upscale private clubs.
Dogwood holds a unique spot among Atlanta’s golf clubs. Dogwood is only private three days a week – Friday through Sunday. From Monday to Thursday, Dogwood is open to the public, with weekend tee times reserved for its members and their guests.
The club, which is located in southwest Cobb County near the communities of Austell and Powder Springs, has been around since the late 1960s, but remains little known outside its immediate area.
Dogwood first began to attract some attention after the course was upgraded in the early 1990s, with some more work on the course about five years including the addition of a number of new tee boxes which added some necessary length.
The course is still on the short side by modern standards, measuring 6,500 yards from the blue tees and 6,060 from the whites. But Dogwood is accurately described as “deceptively difficult,” by Ryan Medford, the club’s head professional, and is an interesting layout that will appeal to the club’s daily fee visitors, as well as providing its members with an entertaining challenge that will remain enjoyable after repeated rounds.
Among Dogwood’s assets are its affordability, location and welcoming atmosphere, with its down-to-earth members more than hospitable to the daily fee players who visit during the week.
“It’s not hard to find a group to play with,” Medford says.
With no tennis courts and no pool, Dogwood is strictly a golf club, offering a number of social events as well as featuring an excellent grille that offers some of the better hot dogs, hamburgers and club sandwiches you’ll come across in a golf course setting.
Dogwood also has an active tournament schedule for its membership, averaging about 11 club events per year.
Geographically, Dogwood is conveniently located to five different interstates, even though it doesn’t appear to be that close to anything. The club is easily accessible from other parts of Cobb County on major roads, with I-20 to the south and I-285 to the east just minutes away.
Dogwood draws most of its play from the surrounding area, but is building a growing base in east Cobb, and is not that far removed from the suburbs of north Fulton and south Cherokee.
The club’s modest fee structure is also a drawing card, with Medford making the case that Dogwood offers “a lot of bang for the buck. I think we’re a very good golf course for the money.”
Dogwood opened with just nine holes, with nine more added shortly thereafter. Both of the current nines consist of holes from both the original and slightly newer nines, but somehow most of the more difficult holes on the course have found their way onto the incoming nine.
There are few courses that offer more of a contrast in terms of difficulty between its two nines than Dogwood. The front nine, which includes three relatively short and vulnerable par 5s and several inviting par 4s of minimal length, is ripe with scoring opportunities.
The back nine, however, consists of a string of demanding par 4s (excluding the friendly 10th), two fairly lengthy par 3s and just one par 5. Even though the front nine is a par 37 and the back nine a par 35, the back is actually longer by a few yards from the tips.
For the most part, Dogwood is a reasonably narrow, tree-lined layout with no development along the course. With its compact nature and absence of serious elevation changes, Dogwood is a very gentle course to walk, with the first 10 holes equally friendly from a golf standpoint.
About the only real concern on the first 10 holes is keeping it in play off the tee. Water is in play on a handful of holes, but does not seriously impact play. With almost all the par 4s and 5s turning at least slightly in one direction or the other, positioning off the tee is vital, with some of the holes including trees along the edges of fairway that can definitely obstruct paths to the green.
On several holes, the trees may be predominantly on one side of the fairway, allowing some off-line tee shots if you hit them in the right place.
Four of the first five par 4s (concluding with the 10th) are short and vulnerable, with the seventh hole the “longest” at 375 from the blue tees and 355 from the whites. Apart from fairway bunkers on both sides, the seventh doesn’t offer that big a challenge, although a smallish green with little depth does not present the easiest target to hit.
The par-3 third (183/172) requires a carry over a creek 10-to-15 yards short of the green, but not much else to be concerned about, with one of the gentler greens on the course.
With a few exceptions, the greens at Dogwood are on the small side, with most featuring back-to-front slopes of varying degrees that can make it difficult to get putts to the holes with back pin positions. At the same time, when the hole is cut near the front of the green, you can expect to face some putts where a delicate touch is required, along with a good feel for the degree of break.
The Penncross bent grass greens have held up well in recent years and typically offer quality putting surfaces. Dogwood is known for the first rate condition of its fairways, which Medford says, “in the summer can get so dense and lush, it’s like walking on carpet.”
The course conditions don’t change once you make the turn, but the nature of the challenge certainly does when you arrive at the 11th tee. Enjoy the 10th, a par 4 measuring just over 300 yards from the tips, because you won’t encounter another hole nearly as friendly the rest of the way.
With a creek bisecting the fairway, the 11th requires a lay-up off the tee, making for a much longer and more difficult second shot than you’d expect for a hole of such modest length (372/328). One of the tougher greens on the course adds to the challenge.
The 12th is the first of two unimposing but relatively difficult par 3s on the nine, both of which exceed 200 yards from the tips. A mature tree just off the right side of the 16th is one of several on the course capable of causing problems if you stray just a bit off line, with those trees he;ping provide much of the character to Dogwood’s distinctive layout
Both 13 and 15 are fairly lengthy par 4s that require second shots over hazards, although the one on 13 is well short of the green. A green with plenty of slope is more a concern on 13 than the hazard, but the approach to the 15th (425/395) is all carry, with a well-struck tee shot vital to avoiding an uncomfortably lengthy approach.
For some reason, the 14th is listed as No. 1 handicap hole, lacking the potential perils found on the ones immediately before and after. It’s shorter than both (385/372), and while it does have a creek winding through the fairway, it’s not that far removed from the tee. Trees on either side that are within easy reach, and the uphill second to another green with pronounced back-to-front slope makes are the main challenges, with the hole part of one of the tougher three-hole stretches you’ll face in the metro area.
After another strong par of length (the 17th measures 430/400), Dogwood closes with the only par 5 on the back nine, with the hole requiring a decision from the tee. A creek that crosses the fairway forces a substantial carry for shorter hitters, but the hole is short enough that lay-ups off the tee will not exact much of a penalty.
The 18th is one of just a handful of holes at Dogwood that feature greenside bunkers that have to be carried to reach the putting surface, joining the short par-5 second and par-4 10th. With the absence of much sand around the greens, there are not many demands on the short game, as just a handful of the greens are pushed up above the surrounding areas.
Dogwood is rated at 71.2/126 from the blue tees and 69.3/122 from the whites. The senior tees are 5,390 yards (66.4/115) with the forward tees 5,078 (69.7/119).
The club is a strong supporter of several high school golf programs, with many weekday afternoons including a match during the spring season.
For information on Dogwood, call 770-941-2202 or visits its web site at www.dogwoodgolf.org.