East Lake remake almost done, and the changes are profound

One month out from the start of the Tour Championship, and still it’s laborers, not golfers, who have dominion over the East Lake Golf Club.

No warning cries of the wayward swing – “Fore!” – to be heard on Monday. Rather the “beep, beep, beep” of heavy machinery in reverse.

Since Viktor Hovland finished off his breezy 2023 victory in the PGA Tour’s playoff finale last Aug. 27, there hasn’t been a round of golf played on Bobby Jones’ golfing nursery. It’s been all about remaking the course from the roots up – replacing every blade of grass, removing hundreds of trees while keeping around 2,700 in play, remodeling every green, performing a reported $30 million worth of personality- and profile-altering surgery on the place.

One month to go, and, of course, “There’s still work to be done,” said the club’s general manager, Chad Parker, pressing onward.

But all parties were comfortable Monday categorizing the remaining work as mostly superficial and proudly showing off an East Lake that will be a stranger this year to all the pros who have played it previously.

As for any notes the more experienced among this year’s top 30 players may have collected on East Lake, those may now be burned on the sacrificial pyre of change.

“Nothing is the same, not a single golf shot on the property,” said the architect in charge of the remodel, Andrew Green.

Green was brought in largely for his gentle hand in dealing with classic old courses (East Lake dates back to 1908). As Parker told Golf Digest back when work began, “We wanted to see if we could recapture more of the feel of the golden age of East Lake. That’s where we think Andrew is going to be able to work his magic.”

Green wasn’t exactly charged with the landscaping equivalent of putting tail fins back on cars or rotary dials back on phones. But he did perform a Doris Kearns Goodwin-type deep dive into the history of East Lake, reading everything he could on it and relying on a rare 1949 aerial shot of the grounds for his inspiration.

The final judgment on the place will be offered by 30 demanding critics beginning Aug. 29. How it all will affect scoring is to be determined. “I don’t have a real sense whether there will be lower or higher numbers shot,” Green said.

“I will feel it’s a success if we see a variety of shots played by the champion,” he said. “Not only different clubs off the tees, but around the greens being able to get up and down from not only the traditional heavy Bermuda grass rough but also the (new) short grass areas. The bunkers aren’t nearly as deep as they were before but I still think there is a lot of challenge there.

“An exciting finish and we’ll all have big smiles on our faces.”

Credit: Jason.Getz@ajc.com

Among the most noteworthy changes Green wrought:

-- The course this year will play to a par 71, rather than 70, with a lengthened No. 14 now a par 5, at around 540 yards. A better birdie chance down the stretch, with eagle in play.

-- There are new calculations to be made at the daunting eighth hole, with East Lake guarding its left flank. The green was moved forward 40 yards, making it a potentially drivable par 4 for those bold enough to block out the water and shape a drive up the right side.

-- The tee box at the long par 3 ninth was shifted well to the left, bringing with it a new set angles and difficulties.

-- One of the changes most obvious to longtime fans is at the practice tee. The pond in front of the tee area was dredged and is no more. The decades of duffers warming up there left behind “millions” of drowned range balls, Parker said – without exaggeration he insisted. Those were thanked for their service and given a quiet burial beneath the new range.

-- Stretching along 70 yards left of the fairway at No. 17 is a new “trench bunker,” deep and long and better off avoided. A new, deep bunker in front of the par 3 11th will also try a golfer’s soul.

-- Previously, the edge of the greens were ringed by high Bermuda rough. Many of those have been shaved down, which will present players with options beyond just gouging out the ball.

-- Aesthetically, with the removal of some trees, particularly on the front 9, the backdrop should be more dramatic. Views of both the Atlanta skyline and East Lake’s classic Tudor-style clubhouse are to be more plentiful. “It’s a stunning oasis in the middle of all this development,” Green said. “(The skyline) is your Pacific Ocean, as it were.”

Just one month left to finish all this work.

“I can’t wait for no more hard hats, no more safety vests, no more red clay – just green grass and a lot of birdies,” Parker said.

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