Golf on Atlanta’s south side has changed significantly since the golf boom of the 1990s, but the one consistent presence has been that of Lake Spivey.
The club opened as a 9-hole course in 1963 and added two more nines at 11-year intervals (1974 and ’85), before reverting to 18 (actually 19) holes in 2007. Lake Spivey has been around longer than any other daily fee course in south metro Atlanta, and other than its renovation almost six years ago, has been a stable operation in an area where most courses have either closed or experienced financial difficulties.
Lake Spivey has long been a family run operation, one of just a handful of courses in Atlanta that fits that description. Geoff Hamilton, the son of the club’s owner, manages the facility, and the Hamiltons have been innovators in Atlanta’s golf community. Lake Spivey was the first course in Atlanta to install Crenshaw bent grass greens, and their consistently excellent conditioning over the years has been among the reasons for the club’s success.
The club has long held the reputation as one of the metro area’s friendliest operations, and its location is perhaps the most accessible for courses south of Atlanta to golfers north of the city. Both Lake Spivey’s membership packages and daily fee rates are extremely reasonable, and the club has been cited by Golf Digest as Atlanta’s best value.
For more than 20 years, Lake Spivey was a 27-hole course with three complementary nines, even though each opened in a different decade. Economic reality required ownership to sell some of the land on which the course was built, resulting in the loss of holes from the both the Lake and Hill nines, the original 18.
The newer Club nine remains intact, and is now the front nine, with the back nine a mixture of holes from the two original nines. The only remaining hole to have been altered to any significant degree is the par-4 11th (formerly Hill No. 7), which has been converted from a par 5.
When the re-worked 18 was unveiled in 2007, the 11th was one of two former par 5s that were transformed into tour-length par 4s, changing the character of the otherwise inviting layout.
Both holes retain the hefty yardages listed after the re-design, but rarely if ever are played from those distances, making both considerably more playable for the distance challenged among us. That is particularly key for the 11th, which remained a virtual par 5 for many at 438 from the blues and 412 from the whites, with water fronting the green.
The former eighth hole on the Club nine is now the 18th, and changed from a par 5 to par 4 with very little difference in yardage from the back two sets of tees (now 471 and 461). When the course is playing fast and firm during the Summer (in between days of heavy rain), the hole does not play its listed yardage from those tees and has no hazards in play. But it remains a lot of hole, even from shorter tees, with its angled, sloping green well-protected by a sizeable front bunker.
Lake Spivey’s front nine features an excellent mix of holes, beginning and ending with a pair of potentially perilous par 5s. A creek snakes along the left side of the first, with out of bounds uncomfortably close down the right side. The long green angles from right to left and will produce some very lengthy, demanding putts, particularly when the pin is cut back left.
Although most of Lake Spivey’s greens don’t appear to have an excess of slope, you can expect to encounter a decent number of putts with significant breaks. With the course listed at around 6800 yards from the gold tees, 6400 from the blues and 6000 from the whites – but effectively playing a little shorter – the challenge of the putting surfaces more than compensates for the overall modest length.
The ninth is one of Atlanta’s most entertaining par 5s, with a wide expanse of fairway but OB again a concern down the right side. The primary danger is a pond which guards the green front and left, with an especially scary back left pin that can make for some very testy short game shots for those who bail out to the right.
All the par 4s on the nine are bunched from holes 3 to 7, with none of the five longer than 376 from the blues. The short third appears inviting, but its wide, shallow green can be tough to hold, and is among the toughest to putt on the course. The slightly longer fourth is among the tighter driving holes, with a narrow green pinched on both sides by bunkers.
Tree lines on both sides require accuracy on both 5 and 6, the latter the longest of the five, with the long, narrow green at the sixth guarded by trees short right and sand left.
The stretch of par 4s concludes with the seventh, which features a trio of side-by-side-by- side bunkers stretching across the fairway near the landing area. Bigger hitters can fly them, with the rest of us having to either skirt them to the side or come as close as possible to them without going in.
Some well-placed bunkers on the short-to-mid-length par 3s are very much in play, with the large expanse of sand fronting the eighth green obscuring the view of the right side of the expansive putting surface.
One of the strengths of Lake Spivey is the quality of its conditions around the greens, which make the short game shots you’ll encounter a little easier to negotiate.
Like the front nine, the back begins with a hazardous par 5, with water down the right of the 10th causing many tee shots to find the trees that are tight to the left. The hole doglegs right over the water, with another hazard looming on the left for those whose who get a little aggressive with their lay-up. The uphill third requires a deft touch to set up a possible birdie opportunity.
After getting past the shortened but still dangerous 11th, the par-5 12th offers a scoring opportunity, provided you can avoid the OB stakes just off the right side of the fairway. The rolling terrain will pose a problem for those going for the green in two, with trees and sand the main concerns.
Both par 3s on the nine require carries over water, but neither shot is especially lengthy. The 15th, which was an uncomfortable opening hole on the Club nine, is just 150 from the blues, but with a green fronted by water and wood planks and bordered by a small bunker and a steep hill, there is little room to safely miss.
Length is not a concern on the three par 4s leading up to the 18th, but accuracy, especially on 16 and 17, is vital. Both turn slightly to the left, with trees very much in play off the tee, along with a bunker at the corner of the dogleg on 17. As with most holes at Lake Spivey, bunkering is at a minimum on all three, but there are several, the 18th among them, that take some effort to keep it out of the greenside sand.
Among the more appealing aspects of Lake Spivey is its 19th hole, the ninth from the Club nine. The tee, which is well above the landing area, does not provide a view of a pond right of the fairway, but there is more room to that side than you might think. Find the fairway and it’s a short second into a multi-tier green guarded by sand short and left.
The 19th can be used to decide bets or toss out a score from either 11 or 18 to keep the par at 72 and prevent possible serious damage to your scorecard.
Although Lake Spivey is among the shorter and more inviting courses on Atlanta’s south side, it is far from a pushover. Thanks to the mostly narrow corridors and testy greens, the course is rated at 72.7/136 from the back tees, 71.0/132 from the blues and 68.9/127 from the whites, with the numbers from the latter two sets of tees reflecting the scorecard yardage on holes 11 and 18.
The gray (senior) tees measure 5558 yards with the forward tees 4879. The 12th plays as a par 5 for the women and the 18th as a par 4.
In addition to its daily fee play, Lake Spivey has an active membership, with men’s women’s and senior groups.
“It’s easy to get involved,” Hamilton says. “People love groups. One reason why people leave golf is they lose their groups. We’ve always got groups to play with, and that’s a big asset.”
Typically, the men’s group plays on Saturday and Sunday, the seniors on Tuesday and Thursday and the women also on Tuesday, with all three having their own tournament schedules.
Lake Spivey, which has a strong presence in the local community, also has a growing junior program, headed up by head professional Jeffrey Biggers and assistant Derrick Ayers.
The staff at Lake Spivey has long had the reputation for its welcoming attitude, and that hasn’t changed over the years, although there was an added challenge about a decade ago. Prior to the club going from 27 holes to 19, Lake Spivey expanded its reach by taking over River’s Edge, a struggling daily fee course in Fayetteville.
The Hamiltons made a valiant effort, but were unable to turn around the fortunes of a course once considered among the best in the south metro area. The next group that took over River’s Edge had no more success, and it eventually closed, as a number of south side courses have during Lake Spivey’s half century in business.
Without the burden of operating River’s Edge and having 19 holes instead of 27, things are not quiet as hectic at Lake Spivey as they were a decade ago. But keeping things operating smoothly in an economy that is not exactly ideal for golf still keeps Hamilton and his staff on their toes, as they strive to continue the deserved success the club has enjoyed over the years.
For information, call 770-471-4653 or visit www.lakespivey.net.