At one of metro Atlanta’s most historic and prestigious golf courses, the vast, muddy, red-clay expanses of last winter have given way to the bright greens of early summer.

As our latest aerial tour over Atlanta shows, the massive, multi-million-dollar makeover of historic East Lake Golf Club has entered the back nine, so to speak, following a year-long closure scheduled to end this summer. 

East Lake closed after the conclusion of last year’s Tour Championship in August to embark on a course overhaul that aims to echo the links played by Atlanta golf icon Bobby Jones and other legends in decades past. It’s scheduled to be finished in time for the 2024 Tour Championship.

Broad view over the course's water features, looking west, with downtown and Midtown in the distance. Urbanize Atlanta

An aerial photo from 1949, recently uncovered by course officials, has been used as a blueprint to revive East Lake’s former playability, look, and feel. That included bunker reshaping and relocations, tree removal, and more mounding and greens to reflect characteristics of the bygone era.

Maryland-based Andrew Green of A.H. Green Design—coined “golf's new hottest architect” by GolfDigest—led the renovation.

Originally designed by Tom Bendelow in 1904, East Lake (and its recognizable Tudor clubhouse) officially opened four year later, before undergoing a Donald Ross redesign in 1913, followed by other changes in the 1960s.

Atlanta developer Tom Cousins bought the club in 1993 and hired Rees Jones to restore it, and in 2016 the nines were reversed.

Renovations around East Lake's iconic Tudor clubhouse, where Atlanta golf legend Bobby Jones was in attendance as a child in 1908 when the building originally opened. Urbanize Atlanta

Looking west, East Lake neighborhood treetops and Stone Mountain are visible. Urbanize Atlanta

According to a club announcement last year, several holes have been adjusted to reflect Ross’ original routing, and the driving-range lake was extended to be more in-play at hole No. 18. Meanwhile, the green at par-3 hole No. 9 was been lowered and moved to the left, also to bring a water feature more in play.

All changes, per the club, were made as a nod to history and to appeal to players of all skill levels, including “the PGA Tour’s best players each year during the Tour Championship.”

Have a closer look from above the historic course in the gallery above.

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