Cateechee Golf Club - Hartwell, GA

[Richie3Jack]

Hartwell is a very small town, but there's Lake Hartwell and if you enjoy time out on the lake and some quiet time, it's a good deal. Cateechee has some condos and I think they've got a good price for it. Since it's out in the middle of nowhere, it's not very expensive place to be.

The web site can be found at www.cateechee.com

Anyway, the course is a pretty solid design with a lot of beautiful holes since it's quite hilly there. The back tees play about 7,000 yards and a 144 slope. The course is in fantastic shape. Greens are a 12 on the stimp and roll as smooth as you can imagine. The fairways, tees, etc...all very plush. Has a state of the art GPS system in each cart (you can't walk there, too hilly) and there are no homes on the golf course.

I'd say holes 1, 2, 10, 13, 14, 17 and 18 are absolutely picturesque. I give this about as big of a recommendation as I can give a resort course.





3JACK

[gmbtempe]

Is every course in Georgia 140+ slope? There are about 200 courses in Az and I would say only 10 or so crack the 140 slope barrier. Even TPC Scottsdale is only 138.

[Richie3Jack]

No.

My club is owned by a corporation that really came up with a brilliant business model for a golf course. they own 25 other courses in the Atlanta area. I pay $150 a month for the membership, then I pay $25 each time I play...that includes a $10 green fee and a $15 cart fee. They basically bought out a bunch of courses that were distressed properties, so we have a lot of solid clubs that were originally private clubs back around 2000 or so.

Windermere is a DL III design. Olde Atlanta is an Arthur Hills design. Eagle Watch is a Palmer design. Hamilton Mill is a Fred Couples design. The Frog is a Fazio design.

When I first moved to Atlanta, any semi-decent course would cost at least $10K for *initiation*, then a steep membership monthly dues. They thought if they got a good designer and made a plush club, everybody would joine. The market simply couldn't hold that. The corporation that owns my course just basically bought out those courses and now has made it affordable for most people to play.

I think it's a business model that should be the future for golf course ownerships. The corporation is doing quite well and the members are generally happy because they have a course that is affordable and if the tee times fill up, they can just go to another course. And if membership increases, the corporation will just buy a new course and then that will get filled up. Really smart concept, too bad other companies are not smart enough to think like this.

The Frog is a 142 slope, but if I play semi-decent, I can shoot under par there with ease. In fact, the only tough hole on the front side is #8, a really long par-3. Sometimes #1 is tough, depending on the lie you get off your drive.

Eagle Watch is one of my all time favorite courses and has a 142 slope, but that's not that hard either. Cateechee with a 144 slope is far harder. Hamilton Mill has a 139 slope and is far more difficult than Eagle Watch or the Frog which have higher slopes.

Part of the problem is the way they are rated. If the course has a lot of water, even if it really doesn't come into play that much, the slope rating really gets high. Hamilton Mill doesn't have a lot of water, but it's pretty long and has some really wicked lies and very tough greens. Almost every time I get done playing Hamilton Mill, my game really improves right thereafter because it's that big of a test of golf. I'd say it definitely favors the bombers because it is pretty open, but even the big bomber will have difficulty with the lies and greens.

I'm moving down to Orlando on Thursday. Here's the club I will be playing www.eastwoodgolf.com

It says it's a 75.3 index from the back tees, but a 133 slope. I'll have to report on my thoughts of its difficulty vs. the courses in Georgia's difficulty.



3JACK

[gmbtempe]

the private/public deal is so different in Az, what would be considered one of the elite golf states in the country.

There are very few private clubs in Az and the ones that do exist will run you 30k to 100k to join and lots of cash every month.

The private level course, say like Greyhawk where they play the Fry's Open is the prototype course, daily fee that will run you 50 in the summer and 200 in the winter. Most clubs will not let you use the range to practice so hitting balls is somewhat limited to public facilities.

Is eastwood set up like the Georgia deal?

[Richie3Jack]

Apr 17, 2010 16:19:29 GMT -5 gmbtempe said:

Is eastwood set up like the Georgia deal?

For the most part, no.

They charge a rate at the beginning of the year. $1,300 for the membership. $500 for the range. $1000 for unlimited cart.

Once you're a member, you are also a member at North Shore Golf Course, about 45 minutes away. However, you do have to pay for a cart over there.

I was looking to get back into walking. But in North Georgia it's simply not possible unless you are just about in world class shape. Even still, many courses won't allow a walker.

In Orlando, it's all flat over there. Much like it was in NY where I grew up and then in Myrtle Beach where I went to college. Can't wait to get back...I really missed flat land in my time in Atlanta because everything is a hilly, crowded, traffic jam mess. You can't even take a nice walk around the homes most of the time.

Anyway, since it's going to be May soon, Eastwood told me that they would pro-rate the fee. I'm just going to do the membership and the range. $1800 for a full year is $150 a month, so there's 8 months left, so I have to pay them $1,200.

I talked to the GM and he said they'll let me pay 1/2 now and then 1/2 later. I'm happy he allowed for that, but it's no small wonder IMO that 50% of the courses in the US lose money. What other membership plan forces you to pay in full at the beginning? I couldn't imagine a gym membership like that, I would never do it.

Anyway, it's supposed to be a really nice course. I drove by it awhile ago when I was looking to move and it looked nice.

Florida has a ton of water. Almost every 500 yards there seems to be a lake around. It's also very windy there. Georgia is pretty windy as well and really hilly. But the greens are probably in better shape in Ga. than in Florida from my experience.






3JACK

[gmbtempe]

I have walked a lot this winter, got the Click Gear cart which makes life much easier, totally worth the money.