The Legends Course at Château Élan: Course Review

The Legends Course at Château Élan

Private

$100-$130 Guest Fee

50 mins from ATL

This review is sponsored by US AM Tour - Atlanta Chapter: An amateur golf tour where players of all levels can experience competitive golf at some of the best courses in the area. For up to date news, tournament schedule, and how to become a member, check out their Facebook page. If you become a member, be sure to say ATL Golfs referred you!

(Click here to watch a video of my experience competing on the US AM Tour!)

Disclaimer: I played The Legends as part of the US AM Tour, not as a guest. So I didn't get the full experience of the amenities. Check out the video below for a more detailed, behind the scenes look.

Château Élan has 3 courses, but The Legends is the crown jewel. "Legends" Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, and Kathy Whitworth each chose 6 of their favorite golf holes to inspire the layout, the most famous being August National hole 12 and 13. At a $40k* initiation it's considered a mid-tier private club around Atlanta. Is it worth it? (*I've heard a rumor the fee has increased as much as $75k but I haven't been able to confirm that)

The 3 Legends

The drive up to the clubhouse is great. Love the 3 statues of Sarazen, Snead, and Whitworth. It's an instant indicator that you have arrived at The Legends course.

Unfortunately, it was a rainy day so I was unable to experience the range/practice area. However, I spoke with someone who practices their often and they said, "It's really good. Just renovated the range, and it has a a huge chipping/bunker/short game area."

I really enjoyed the layout as it felt like there was a good variety: left and right doglegs, uphill approaches (1 and 18) and downhill (2), short and long par 3s, and holes that simply required a solid drive and approach, while others required more strategy such as the par 5, hole 14. There weren't any crazy dramatic elevation changes, but enough to make you think about your yardage. I also found the bunkers to be very strategically placed which often had me second guessing on the tee.

Stone wall on 6

Conditions were awesome as expected. In particular, I loved the aesthetic touches... The stone bridge on 5 and the stone wall against the green on 6 stood out in particular. Luckily, The Legends switched from bent grass to Bermuda greens back in 2011, otherwise they would probably be dealing with the bent grass issues that many other clubs are facing at the moment. The greens were actually pretty firm despite the rain and rolled true. Tee boxes were even and well manicured. Hard to judge the bunkers adequately when it had been raining so much, but the fact they weren't under water was impressive. I even had to hit out of a few and after a quick "rake and place", they played fine. The fairways also drained impressively well.

I spoke to other golfers who have played more of the upper tier private courses in the area than I, and they feel the guest fee provides a great bang for your buck, and I tend to agree. I've literally spent that amount to play public courses that weren't even close to this standard.

Considering the fact I didn't even get the full experience of being a guest and still felt that the course alone was well worth the guest fee, I would definitely recommend it if you have the opportunity. It's hard to imagine $100 going further.

*Facilities are NA because I didn't get to experience them.

Behind the scenes and course vlog:

My experience competing on the US AM Tour: