Charlie Yates Golf Course Review

Charlie Yates Golf Course Review

Public

$24-$50

Eastside of Atlanta

This review is sponsored by Eastside Golf. Although Eastside has outgrown Atlanta - as evidenced by their recent store opening in the Detroit Airport - they never forget their roots in the A. From street clothes, to country club acceptable wear, Eastside is a go-to for all ATLiens.

Professional photos provided by Chase Gozy.

Charlie Yates GC is a 9-hole course on the east side of Atlanta, and features 6 par 3s ranging from 100 yards to over 200, and 3 short Par 4s. It's owned by East Lake Golf Club and managed by Bobby Jones Links. With a grass range and practice area, it tends to be a local go-to because of the convenience, but is it worth the top end $50 price tag?

The Range

Initial impressions of the facilities are very good. Clubhouse is solid with nice bathrooms, but the food/beverage options were pretty limited.

I'm always a sucker for a grass range, and in general the practice options for Yates are really good. Large putting green and an area for chipping and bunker practice. A large bucket at $18 is on the high-end, but they do have range memberships that can bring that total price down to around $12/ large bucket which is pretty good.

I thought the overall layout was about as good as I could hope for out of a 9 hole, par 30 course. I got pretty much every type of par 3 I could imagine... forced carries over water, short, long, uphill elevation, and downhill elevation. Throw in a couple drive-able par 4s and I'm having a blast. The only problem with drivable par 4s is that they will often clog up the pace of play - and Yates can definitely be a slow round at times.

Hole 8

I think my favorite hole is 8. ~205 playing down to around 180 due to the elevation. Love an elevated tee box plus it's very scenic with the pond behind the green.

I thought conditions were pretty good. Greens weren't very fast, but the grass was healthy. Props to Bobby Jones Links for switching the greens from bent grass to Prizm Zoysia. I can't imagine how beat up bent grass greens would be considering the amount of traffic. Tee boxes were fine, although hitting off a mat on the short par 3 is kind of annoying. I hit out of a couple bunkers and they played as expected.

The $24-$29 walking rate is a pretty good value overall and I’d recommend it. Now, that is 35-50% more expensive than other 9-holers nearby (not including Bobby Jones), but the conditions are better. 35-50% better? Debatable.

My biggest issue is the $15-$20 cart fee, per rider. That’s 2x and even 3x the amount of some other 9-holers. Obviously, the carts aren’t 200% better. In my opinion, that's taking advantage of people that have no choice but to ride in a cart for a myriad of reasons. I'd love for this review to pressure them to drop those cart fees.

If you can walk or snag a deal for under $35, it's worth the price. It’s not an amazing bang for your buck, but taking into account the practice area and overall conditions, it’s worth it.

Behind the scenes and course vlog:

If anyone can find one for Yates let me know... otherwise, first person to do so will get posted here!