Thursday, December 6, 2012

East Lake Golf Club

Mention Bobby Jones, Chef Michael Deihl, and transforming one of the worst public housing projects into a thriving community and you're talking about East Lake Golf Club. And they offer a Clubhouse Tour on the third Sunday of each month at 3:00 p.m. Just be sure to call ahead and make a reservation.


East Lake Golf Club, Clubhouse
East Lake Golf Club, Clubhouse
Now then, while I don't claim to be an athlete, I do enjoy golfing...at least 'my' version of golfing...and no, I'm not talking about putt-putt. When I lived in D.C., I went on a couple of company golf outings. I was rather proud of myself the second year when I didn't lose a single ball to the woods or a pond!

But, those outings didn't have the historic ties that East Lake does.


East Lake Golf Club was the home course of Atlanta golf legend Bobby Jones and is the oldest golf course in Atlanta...and in Atlanta, we love our golf! Even though the Masters are held in "neighboring" Augusta, Georgia, we provide a lot of attendees and enthusiasts at the Masters, as well as at our numerous local golf courses.


Bobby is actually all over Atlanta. The Atlanta History Center has an entire museum dedicated to him, his grave site at Historic Oakland Cemetery is one of the most visited, and—little known—East Lake Golf Club memorializes Bobby in quite a wonderful way. 


And the Club has an amazing philanthropic mission...and a brilliantly successful mission at that. The East Lake Foundation is responsible for many a wonderful thing, particularly for turning one of the worst public housing projects in the country into a thriving, multi-class, education-focused community. I'm beyond impressed with their story!


What first got me interested in the Club was my friendship with Chef Michael Deihl, who is the Club's Executive Chef and the President of the Atlanta chapter of the American Culinary Federation. He's one of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet and holds very close to his heart the philanthropic mission of the Club. 


Chef Deihl was on vacation with his family when I visited the Club, a very well-deserved vacation, I might add.

Before I visited the Club as a tourist, I'd met Chef there for an interview. I was very happy to learn that tours were available. 


The tours, by the way, are self-guided, so plan for plenty of time to read placards, news articles, trophy inscriptions, and you'll definitely want to bring a camera. While you can't go out on the golf course itself, there are numerous vantage points around the Clubhouse from where you can make some nice shots.


Here's a series of photos of the Clubhouse and the Course...



East Lake Golf Club, Clubhouse
East Lake Golf Club, Clubhouse


East Lake Golf Club, "The Many Faces of Bobby Jones"
East Lake Golf Club,
"The Many Faces of Bobby Jones"


East Lake Golf Club, One of the Many Trophies
East Lake Golf Club,
One of the Many Trophies

East Lake Golf Club, Golf Course
East Lake Golf Club,
Golf Course


East Lake Golf Club, Golf Course
East Lake Golf Club,
Golf Course
You'll find more photos of East Lake Golf Club over on the wanderlust ATLANTA Facebook Page and if you have a third Sunday afternoon coming up that's unscheduled, may I recommend a tour of the East Lake Golf Club? You'll find it quite beautiful and socially impressive.

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