On the tee with Jayzee: Reunion Golf Club
Note: This article appears in the May 31st issue of The Paper.
Stop two on my summer long golf tour landed me at Reunion Golf Club, which is located in the Reunion subdivision off of Thompson Mill Road in Hoschton. Having never played the Reunion course, I had heard that it was a very challenging course that if you were able to shoot in the 90s there, then you could shoot in the 80s any where else. “Well that’s just great,” I thought to myself.
Upon arriving at the course, I immediately felt out of place.
The pro shop itself is located in what is properly called, “Reunion Hall,” a building that resembles a courthouse more than it does a pro shop. Once inside, the feeling of un-comfortableness subsided, as I noticed that while it may look like a courthouse from the outside, the pro shop of Reunion is anything but a place of law and order.
The place has any and everything you could ask for in a golf course. To one side is a small dining area where you can get your eat on before or after you play the course. The meals are all reasonably priced, and with the purchase of any entrée you get chips, a definite plus for a guy of my physique.
(Note: Reunion also has a half-way house called “Mulligans,” where you can purchase food and drinks and that you pass twice during your round, from No. 7 to No. 8 and from No. 11 to No. 12. While “Mulligans” is only open four days a week, the beverage carts run daily, and on this day where seen four times during the four hour round.)
On the other side of the hall, lies a sitting area lined with tables, chairs and flat screen TV’s. “Why go out in the heat,” I thought. “Everything I need is right here.”
Gloves, shirts, shoes and clubs are also all available for purchase in the clubhouse of Reunion, not to mention a place where you can fill out a form for a chance to win a trip for two to Scotland to see the British Open (drawing is June 7).
One thing that I found out that differentiates Reunion from any other local course, is that every so often the course (along with the other Affiniti Golf Clubs in the Southeast) have drawings for exotic trips such as Scotland, Australia and Hawaii.
Lessons and Camps
Another thing that sets Reunion apart from other courses I have been to is its dedication to improving not only your skills, but the skills of junior golfers.
This summer Reunion is hosting the 2007 Junior Players Club (JPC) Summer Program conducted by Mike Stowe, one of the three golf professionals the club has. The JPC will have eight different sessions from June until the end of July that range from beginner level to elite level players. Prices for the four-day camps range from $195 to $395. (For more information visit the camp’s web site, www. Juniorplayersclub.com.)
When not teaching the younger generation of golfers, Stowe, as well as fellow professional Don Cathey work with us regular golfers to help us improve our game.
Cathey, who works with Mill Creek High golfers Emilie Burger and Shawn Yim, hosts a weekly camp for ladies and men. Both camps are open to the public and are an hour long and cost $20. The ladies camp is Wednesday’s from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and the men’s short game camp is Thursday’s from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. (For more information contact Cathey at (678)-642-0346 or puregolf@aol.com.)
Cathey and Stowe are also available for private lessons. Both teachers cost $80/hour, with discounts if you purchase more than six lessons.
Lessons with Stowe will also provide you with a learning tool, that he says is, “not available from any one else on the east coast.”
Each lesson with Stowe is video taped from both the front and back of your swing, and then analyzed and critiqued by Stowe. He then will voice over his critique on the video, which you can view as often as you want on his website. For more information on lessons with Stowe visit www.mikestowegolf.com.
The Course
Bypassing the lessons, I headed out to the course after a brief hacking session on the driving range at Reunion. With me today is a newly purchased $20 driver from Wal-Mart, which will come in handy early on in the round.
I was placed in a group with three other gentlemen, who had played the course before (a benefit to me) and who were more than likely skipping out of work on this Friday of Memorial Day weekend.
Not yet comfortable with the new driver, I took to the tee box with my trusty 3-wood ready to attack this 548-yard, par-5 opening hole. I reared back as I normally would and made solid contact with the ball, sending it a good 220-yards down the fairway. But as my ball was flying ever so beautifully down the fairway, I noticed that something else was flying in a path right behind my ball. The club head of my trusty 3-wood.
Laughter broke out between me and my new friends as there is no greater bond on the golf course than the accidental destruction of a golf club. Needless to say, my day at Reunion had not started the way I expected.
Surprisingly enough I bogeyed the first hole, and followed that up with a nice double-bogey on the par-4 second hole.
After struggling through the first two holes, we arrived at No. 3, a 194-yard downhill par-3. With much confidence, I hit a 6-iron to the back of the green and two putted for my first par of the day. My day was turning around, or so I thought.
Over the next three holes I found the water more times than I ever thought I could. Part of that has to do with my amazing ability to play golf, and the other part has to do with the way that Mike Riley designed the course at Reunion, putting water hazards in the most random places.
One of those random water hazards is found on No. 6, a 384-yard par-4 with a flat fairway on the left side and a large hill to the right. Trying to utilize the roll I would get off the hill, I hit my drive to the right side of the fairway. Little did I know that the roll I was counting on would cause my ball to roll right into the man made pond in the middle of the fairway. So for all of you planning on heading out to Reunion, aim right on No. 6.
After six holes I was already 10-over-par.
Now, I have played many rounds of golf in my life, but I had never played on a course that has two greens for one hole, like No. 7 at Reunion has. According to Reunion’s head professional Nick Short, the No. 7 hole at Reunion is the only course in the metro Atlanta area with a hole with two greens.
On this day, the hole was playing to the green to the left, shorting the hole by over 30-yards and making this par-5 reachable in two shots, just not by me.
I bogeyed No. 7, as well as the par-3 No. 8 (which I hit on the green and three-putted), and finished up the front nine with my second par of the day, ending the first nine at 12-over-par.
Obviously not on my way to the most stellar of rounds, I decided to just forget about my score and focus on how well kept, yet challenging the course at Reunion is.
The most challenging hole according to Short, was No. 13, a 434-yard, par-4 with a fairway that slopes left toward the sand traps. Once you past the sand traps, your second shot (or in my case, fourth shot) is at a triple-tiered green.
Short was right, as I triple-bogeyed this hole.
Another challenging hole at Reunion is No. 15, a 425-yard par-4 that doglegs almost 90-degrees. On the tee box you can’t see the green, and after your drive, your second shot must travel over two sets of hazards in order to reach the green. No luck on this hole either, as I walked away with yet another double-bogey.
I bogeyed the final two holes of the course, including the dreadfully long par-5 finishing hole, and walked away with a 96 for the round.
Ironic, because 96 is probably how much money I will need to spend in order to get a new 3-wood.