Atlanta Athletic Club
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| Par - 3 15th, Highlands Course. | |
| Club information | |
|---|---|
| Location | Johns Creek, Georgia, United States |
| Established | 1898 (1904 for golf course) |
| Type | Private |
| Total holes | 45 |
| Website | Atlanta Athletic Club |
| Highlands Course | |
| Designed by | Robert Trent Jones, Joe Lee |
| Par | 72 |
| Length | 7,613 yards (6,961 m) |
| Course rating | 77.0 |
| Riverside Course | |
| Designed by | Robert Trent Jones |
| Par | 72 |
| Length | 7,428 yards (6,792 m) |
| Course rating | 76.2 |
| Par 3 Course | |
| Designed by | Ken Mangum |
| Par | 27 |
The Atlanta Athletic Club (AAC), founded in 1898, is a world-renowned private athletic club in Johns Creek, Georgia, a suburb 23 miles north of Atlanta. The original home of the club was a 10-story building located on Carnegie Way, and in 1904 a golf course was built on Atlanta's East Lake property. In 1908, John Heisman (the Georgia Tech coach for whom the Heisman Trophy was named) was hired as the AAC athletic director.
While it was downtown its team placed third in the 1921 Amateur Athletic Union National Basketball Championship defeating Lowe and Campbell Athletic Goods 36-31 in the third place game.[1] At the time colleges, athletic clubs and factory-sponsored clubs all competed in the same league.
In 1967 the AAC sold both properties and moved to an expansive site in a then-unincorporated area of Fulton County that had a Duluth mailing address and would eventually become Johns Creek in 2006. The vacated East Lake site became East Lake Golf Club and was refurbished during the 1990s. It is now the home of The Tour Championship, a PGA Tour golf tournament.
The AAC hosted the 1963 Ryder Cup at East Lake, the 1976 U.S. Open, the 1981, 2001, and 2011 PGA Championships on its Highlands Course, and the 1990 U.S. Women's Open on its Riverside Course. The Riverside course, renovated by Rees Jones in 2002, was recognized among the top 10 new private courses in 2004 by Golf Digest.
The AAC has hosted many non-golf events including the first two Southeastern Conference men's basketball tournaments in 1933 and 1934. In 1984 and 1985, the AAC hosted the U.S. Open Badminton Championship. During the 1990s, the AAC hosted the AT&T Challenge, Atlanta's ATP professional tennis stop.
The AAC offers two 18-hole golf courses, a health center, indoor and outdoor tennis, a par-3 course, Olympic-sized pool, as well as fine dining.
Famous members of the AAC include golfers Bobby Jones, Charles R. Yates, Alexa Stirling, Mark Price, Steve Byron, Richard Elliott, and Dan Reeves. In the 2004 film Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius the AAC was used to film many of the golf scenes.
[edit] Major tournaments hosted
| Year | Tournament | Winner |
|---|---|---|
| 1976^ | U.S. Open | Jerry Pate |
| 1981^ | PGA Championship | Larry Nelson |
| 1990# | U.S. Women’s Open | Betsy King |
| 2001^ | PGA Championship | David Toms |
| 2011^ | PGA Championship | Keegan Bradley |
| 2014 | U.S. Amateur |
Bolded years^ are major championships on the PGA Tour. Years in italicized years# are LPGA major championships.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- AAC Home Page
- Highlands Renovation in Preparation for 2011 PGA Championship
- AAC voted #1 Athletic Club
Coordinates: 34°00′14.40″N 84°11′34.96″W / 34.004°N 84.1930444°W
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- Golf clubs and courses in Georgia (U.S. state)
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