Atlanta Athletic Club

Atlanta Athletic Club

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, Sr., back 9 Joe Lee, front 9 Rees Jones (2006 redesigned)
Par	72
Length	7,613 yards (6,961 m)
Course rating	77.0
Riverside Course
Designed by	Robert Trent Jones, Sr. Rees Jones (2003 redesign)
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 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 Auburn and Georgia Tech football 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. 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 a big 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, currently the final event of the PGA Tour golf season.

The AAC hosted the 1950 U.S. Women's Amateur and 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 AAC used both of its current regulation courses to host the 2014 U.S. Amateur, with stroke-play qualifying on the Riverside Course and match play on the Highlands 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 has two 18-hole golf courses, a health center, indoor and outdoor tennis, a par-3 course, Olympic-sized pool, as well as dining.

Famous members of the AAC include golfers Bobby Jones, Charles R. Yates, Alexa Stirling, basketball player Mark Price, football player and coach Dan Reeves, and Michael Nicklaus, youngest son of Jack Nicklaus. In the 2004 film Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius the AAC was used to film many of the golf scenes.

Scorecard

Atlanta Athletic Club - Highlands Course

Tee	Rating/Slope	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Out	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	In	Total
Champ	77.0 / 152	446	543	478	219	567	426	197	470	429	3775	436	457	555	391	468	260	485	210	576	3838	7613
2011 PGA	-- / --	454	512	475	219	565	425	184	467	426	3727	442	457	551	372	468	260	476	207	507	3740	7467
Gold	75.9 / 149	442	540	475	194	548	425	183	446	426	3679	421	443	523	387	451	227	409	207	557	3625	7304
Blue	73.9 / 141	398	512	445	165	541	403	179	421	407	3471	405	421	495	364	413	204	373	186	528	3389	6860
White	71.3 / 134	368	471	407	142	501	370	162	376	372	3169	379	393	474	339	365	175	336	154	500	3115	6284
Green	68.8 / 127	324	448	363	128	469	330	135	349	351	2897	362	339	448	307	335	145	296	124	462	2818	5715
Handicap	Men's	13	3	5	15	1	9	17	7	11		12	6	2	14	8	16	10	18	4
Par	2011 PGA	4	4	4	3	5	4	3	4	4	35	4	4	5	4	4	3	4	3	4	35	70
Par		4	5	4	3	5	4	3	4	4	36	4	4	5	4	4	3	4	3	5	36	72
Handicap	Women's	9	3	7	15	1	13	17	5	11		6	8	2	12	10	18	14	16	4
Green	74.5 / 142	324	448	363	128	469	330	135	349	351	2897	362	339	448	307	335	145	296	124	462	2818	5715
Black	71.6 / 131	310	441	324	92	436	296	90	295	307	2591	353	318	389	292	323	103	266	103	397	2544	5135

Major tournaments hosted

Year	Tournament	Course(s)	Winner
1976^	U.S. Open	Highlands	Jerry Pate
1981^	PGA Championship	Highlands	Larry Nelson
1990#	U.S. Women’s Open	Riverside	Betsy King
2001^	PGA Championship	Highlands	David Toms
2011^	PGA Championship	Highlands	Keegan Bradley
2014	U.S. Amateur	Riverside (stroke play) Highlands (match play)	Gunn Yang

Bolded years^ are major championships on the PGA Tour. Years in italicized years# are LPGA major championships.

External links

• AAC Home Page
• Highlands Renovation in Preparation for 2011 PGA Championship
• AAC voted #1 Athletic Club