East Lake Golf Club

East Lake’s first course opened on July 4, 1908, to a Tom Bendelow plan commissioned by the Atlanta Athletic Club in 1904. East Lake Golf Club In 1913 the Club hired Donald Ross to “completely rework” Bendelow’s layout. His submitted routing—preserved in the club’s archives—reorganized the holes into two self-contained loops with both the ninth and eighteenth returning to the clubhouse, correcting Bendelow’s finish across the lake. The club states explicitly that “Ross’s routing plan (which still exists today) had each nine concluding at the Club.”

The precise construction chronology of the 1913 redesign is not fully documented; the club’s original clubhouse burned in 1925 and, according to the PGA TOUR, much of Ross’s paperwork likely perished, leaving only the routing drawing and later aerials as primary evidence. For that reason, 1913 is securely the plan date, while the exact month the rebuilt holes opened is uncertain.

Mid-century preparations for the 1963 Ryder Cup brought George Cobb to East Lake in 1959–60. Contemporary and modern accounts differ on scope: some describe “minor alterations,” while other reporting and agronomic histories indicate lengthening to ~6,942 yards, a switch from bermudagrass to bentgrass greens, additional bunkers, and rebuilding of green surfaces. All agree the work was aimed at championship readiness.

After decades of decline, Tom Cousins bought the club in 1993 and engaged Rees Jones. Jones’s portfolio states he “restored Donald Ross’ original golf course layout” in 1994 and subsequently coordinated the 2016 reversal of the nines (to finish on a risk-reward par-5). Other sources place the primary 1990s reopening in 1995, underscoring modest disagreement about the precise year. The most recent work—central to understanding what of Ross survives today—was a full restoration led by Andrew Green between the 2023 and 2024 TOUR Championships. Using a 1949 aerial as a template because early documentation was scarce, Green rebuilt every tee, green, and bunker, while keeping the Ross routing intact. The project also reset grasses (TifEagle bermuda putting surfaces; Zorro/prizm zoysia in fairways and surrounds) and adjusted some pars for championship play.

Unique design characteristics (as expressed on this course)

Ross’s reorganized routing centered play on the clubhouse hill and the lake, producing two returning nines that still govern circulation. This structural hallmark—visible on the club’s 1913 drawing and reaffirmed by modern routing—remains the most direct, intact expression of his hand.

A distinctive island-green concept over East Lake also ties to Ross’s tenure. Bendelow first set an island green as the target of a par-5; Ross’s 1913 rerouting repositioned that target as a par-3 on the outward nine (today’s back after the 2016 switch). The Rees Jones archive and modern features writing both attribute the island green’s origin to the earlier course but its par-3 use to Ross’s plan; in current numbering it is the fifteenth.

Andrew Green’s 2024 work sought to recapture Ross-era green sizes, axes, and peripheral contours using the 1949 aerial. That is why several greens now present pronounced quadrants and fall-offs rather than the smaller, ovalized surfaces that had evolved later. The par-3 second’s new, two-section putting surface is a clear case, echoing locations once split between “summer” and “winter” greens common at East Lake mid-century.

Bunker forms and placements now reference Ross’s idiom as seen here: diagonal fairway bunkers pushing preferred angles (for example, the renewed fairway hazards on holes like 1 and 8) and greenside pits that defend specific corner hole locations rather than encircling whole fronts. Green has said his bunker work at East Lake drew from Ross precedents; the club and PGA TOUR documented removals, relocations, and new hazards that sharpen lines of play while remaining within Ross corridors.

Individual holes that most clearly convey Ross at East Lake today are: No. 5, a dogleg-left restored to the turning shape Ross laid out rather than the later straightaway; No. 15, whose island target derives from Bendelow but whose par-3 role in the routing is a Ross decision; and the ninth/eighteenth pair, which still complete each loop at the clubhouse per the 1913 plan (even though the tournament reversed the nines in 2016 to finish on today’s par-5 eighteenth).

Historical significance

East Lake matters in Ross’s corpus as his principal Atlanta commission, a course he reshaped into a coherent, clubhouse-centric championship venue. The 1913 re-routing supplied the stage for Bobby Jones’s formative golf at the height of the Golden Age.

As a tournament venue, East Lake hosted the first USGA championship in the South when it staged the 1950 U.S. Women’s Amateur, the 1963 Ryder Cup, the 2001 U.S. Amateur, and the PGA TOUR’s season finale many times (first in 1998; the annual host from 2004 through 2027, after which the TOUR Championship moves to rotating venues). This competitive résumé underscores the course’s enduring strategic backbone—i.e., the routing—despite evolving features.

In published rankings, Golf Digest listed East Lake among “America’s 100 Greatest” from 1997–2012, peaking at No. 60 in 2001–02—useful context for how raters have situated the course among classic designs even as renovations continued.

Current condition / integrity

The routing is Ross and is still in place. Multiple sources (club history; 2024 technical reporting) agree that while corridors were kept, every feature—greens, bunkers, tees, many fairway widths and mowing lines—was rebuilt in 2023–24. Greens are now TifEagle bermuda; fairways and surrounds are zoysia varieties selected to increase firmness and expand short-grass recovery. Hundreds of trees removed in recent years reopen long Ross sightlines across the property.

What remains recognizably Ross today: the two-loop routing with both nines returning to the clubhouse; the lake-centric sequencing late in the round; and the par-3 island-green concept employed within Ross’s routing (today’s 15th). What does not: original Ross putting surfaces and bunkering—reworked by Cobb before the 1963 Ryder Cup (including a grass and green rebuild era), reshaped again by Rees Jones in the 1990s with later tweaks (including the 2016 nine-reversal and added tournament tees/bunkers), and comprehensively rebuilt by Andrew Green in 2023–24.

Specific 1990s–2010s interventions that altered Ross features included the 2016 reversal of nines to finish on a par-5, regrading the finishing fairway for more aggressive second shots, new tees on 16 and 17, and a repositioned right-side bunker on 12—changes made explicitly for TOUR Championship setup flexibility. Rees Jones, Inc. In 2024, Green’s team converted the former long par-4 fourteenth to a par-5 for championships (the TOUR reverted it to a long par 4 for 2025 onward; it played 530 yards as a par 4 in 2026), made the eighth optionally drivable, rebuilt the island fifteenth as a bunkerless target integrated more naturally into the lake edge, and expanded the 18th-hole lakeside influence on lay-ups—all while citing Ross’s aerial-recorded bunker distributions and green outlines as cues.

Because the fabric (greens/bunkers) is modern while the framework (routing/relationships) is Ross, the course’s integrity relative to 1913 is best expressed qualitatively rather than as a percentage: Ross’s routing is intact; his exact greens and bunker forms have been superseded by later eras, most recently Green’s 2024 restoration that attempts—using 1949 evidence—to re-express Ross’s intent within today’s agronomy and championship requirements.

Sources & Notes

1. East Lake Golf Club, History pages (timeline; 1908 opening; 1913 Ross hire and routing). https://www.eastlakegolfclub.com/history/ and 1913 “Historic Dates” subpage. (Accessed Aug. 2025).

2. PGA TOUR features on the 2024 restoration (loss of early documentation in 1925 fire; use of 1949 aerial; scope of rebuild; hole-by-hole intent). (Aug. 26, 2024; “A new East Lake” hub).

3. Golf Course Architecture, “Renovated East Lake makes debut at Tour Championship” (Aug. 29, 2024): routing retained; all features rebuilt; bunker philosophy; specific hole changes (No. 2, 8, 15, 18); ecology items; turf conversions to TifEagle/prizm/zoysia.

4. Atlanta Magazine, “A closer look at … $30M renovation” (Aug. 28, 2024): project cost context; grass conversions (MiniVerde→TifEagle; Meyer→Zorro).

5. Global Golf Post (Aug. 27, 2024; and Aug. 26, 2024 editions): restoration aims; restoration of Ross dogleg at No. 5; clearing to reveal creek between 6–7; broader agronomy notes.

6. Rees Jones, Inc., course portfolio (East Lake page): 1994 restoration statement; 2016 nine reversal with finishing-hole regrade; added tees/bunkers; attribution of the island green’s origin and its reuse within the Ross routing.

7. GCSAA Tournament Fact Sheet, East Lake Cup 2024: current grasses (TifEagle greens; zoysia surrounds; Zorro/Tahoma 31 tees).

8. Club website, Course page & tournaments listing: scorecard; championship history including 1950 U.S. Women’s Amateur, 1963 Ryder Cup, 2001 U.S. Amateur, and TOUR Championship hosting.

9. Golf Digest, “Why the Tour Championship is going to look drastically different” (Aug. 15, 2024) and “Best island greens” (Mar. 12, 2025): 2024 restoration overview; historical note that Bendelow’s island green became Ross’s par-3 within the rerouting.

10. Golf Digest course listing for East Lake (ranking history, 1997–2012; peak No. 60).

11. On the extent of Cobb’s 1959–60 changes, sources vary. Golf Course Architecture characterizes them as “minor,” while turf/industry reporting and period recollections indicate lengthening, bunker additions (~30), and conversion to bentgrass greens for the 1963 Ryder Cup. This directory flags the scope as disputed pending fuller archival confirmation.

12. On the 1990s restoration date, East Lake’s website references a 1993 restoration under Rees Jones, Jones’s own site lists 1994, and several outlets note a 1995 reopening; this directory treats 1993–95 as the restoration window.

Note on attribution: Where modern features (greens, bunkers) are credited to Andrew Green (2023–24) or Rees Jones (1990s/2016), the narrative ties them back to the Ross routing and, where documented, to Ross-era aerials and on-site evidence rather than implying survival of original Ross construction.