GOLF COURSE REVIEW - McLEMORE RESORT (HIGHLANDS COURSE)
Course Architects: Rees Jones and Bill Bergin
Year Opened: 2019
Location: Rising Fawn, Georgia
Slope: 140. Rating: 72.4
Par: 71
Yardage: 7,005
Hole-by-Hole: 1 - Par 5 575 Yds 10 - Par 4 359 Yds
2 - Par 4 449 Yds 11 - Par 3 223 Yds
3 - Par 3 148 Yds 12 - Par 5 570 Yds
4 - Par 4 364 Yds 13 - Par 3 172 Yds
5 - Par 3 201 Yds 14 - Par 4 410 Yds
6 - Par 5 548 Yds 15 - Par 4 423 Yds
7 - Par 3 192 Yds 16 - Par 4 464 Yds
8 - Par 4 462 Yds 17 - Par 5 569 Yds
9 - Par 4 441 Yds 18 - Par 4 435 Yds
Par 35 3,380 Yds Par 36 3,625 Yds
Awards Won: Best finishing hole in America since 2000 - Golf Digest, Top 100 Greatest Public access courses - Golf Digest (2021), Best Courses you can play in Georgia - Golf Digest (2022), Ranked #99 by Golf Magazine - Best Courses you can play (2024-25), Four Diamond Resort by AAA.
Website: themclemore.com
HISTORY: Opened in 2005 as Canyon Ridge Golf Club, the Scenic Land Company purchased the tract of land in 2017 and rebranded the property as McLemore Resort.
The powers that be, brought in the U.S. Open doctor Rees Jones along with Georgia native Bill Bergin to renovate and redesign the golf course. Jones has renovated and redesigned 15 major championship venues and five Ryder Cup sites and has over 225 golf courses to his credit. Bergin, a former professional golfer, has played in more than 250 tournaments worldwide, including five majors. Now boasting a 30-year career in golf course design, Bergin has worked on over 120 projects around the country.
Two years later, the course opened to incredible fanfare, as Jones and Bergin opened up the views even more than before and built a brand new 18th hole, perched on a ledge of land overlooking the valley below. How good was the closing hole? Golf Digest deemed it to be one of the best 18 holes built in the United States since 2000!
This was a complete renovation of the existing course. Jones and Bergin adjusted green locations and enhanced the putting surfaces and improved fairway and greenside bunker placements.
“This isn’t just a golf course,” said Jones. “The experience that I want the golfers to have is that they know they’re in a special place. This is more than just playing golf. This is a golf experience and I think that’s why players are going to play here on a continuing basis.”
“This course, what makes it special is its ebbs and flows between holes that you can score well and holes that will challenge you, and it moves great,” said Bergin.
“The views are phenomenal,” Jones added. “I think in some degree, that’s half the experience of playing golf, is being at a place where you just enjoy being there and just have views that calm you.”
The Highlands Course sits on the bluffs of Lookout Mountain, which overlooks McLemore Cove with Pigeon Mountain in the distance. The layout features a wide variety of holes, best described as Canyon, Highlands and Cliff.
“The design of this golf course, makes this place so peaceful, in that every hole is a separate hole,” said Douglas R. Amor, Head Professional at McLemore. I mean that we don’t have a bunch of holes that are combined together. We don’t have too many holes that parallel each other. It’s like once you get to a hole it’s off by itself and you don’t see another group and it just provides a quiet setting.”
Perched some 2,300 feet above sea level, McLemore feels as close to the gods as one could feel. They say that when the first luxury hotel was built on Lookout Mountain back in 1928, that it was called the “castle in the clouds.” Since its recent opening, McLemore is the first luxury hotel to open on Lookout Mountain since the Great Depression.
It’s know wonder why the McLemore motto is “Above the Clouds.”
COURSE REVIEW: The opening hole on the Highlands Course is a sweeping dogleg left par five. From an elevated tee, the first can be stretched to 575 yards from the tips. Avoid the fairway bunker down the left and the pair of traps right and you should be able to negotiate the longest hole on the course. Your layup is simple to a ample landing area with one bunker down the left. Your approach is with a short iron to putting surface that slopes from back to front. Birdie on the first is certainly an option.
Number two is one of many signature holes at McLemore. Downhill from the tee, this par four swings to the left. Play down the right side of the fairway, avoiding the lake on the left. With a successful tee shot, you’ll need a mid to long iron to carry the water and with no bail out area to the right, you’ll need to be spot on with your approach. The green is slightly elevated and quite small, so precision is key.
Next up is the downhill third hole, a smallish par three that requires an accurate club selection, as two bunkers protect the putting surface that runs back to front. A meandering creek also must be avoided to have any shot at saving par.
You’ll need a two hundred yard carry to reach the fairway on the uphill, par four fourth. Just 364 yards in length, this hole plays much longer than the yardage indicates. A generous landing area awaits, so split the fairway and you’ll have a short iron to the slightly raised and long green. One word of caution, do not miss left, as sand and thick brush await.
The lengthy, uphill par three fifth can be stretched to 201 yards and plays every bit of it. Left of the green is a grass depression and right sand. Another back to front green is quite wide, so make sure you select the right club.
The sixth is a wild-ride par five that plays downhill from tee to green and swings hard from left to right. In addition, your tee ball is a blind shot to a very wide fairway, but make sure you play towards the left portion of the landing area, as any shot slightly offline to the right will end up in deep trouble. Although reachable in two, the smart play is to layup, as the drop off from the fairway is quite large. With a safe play, you’ll have just a short iron to an accessible putting surface that slopes from front to back and left to right. A great birdie chance, but be thankful with par.
Another wonderful par three, the seventh plays slightly down to a very wide green with a pair of bunkers in the front. Miss short and you’ll either end up in a creek, as the false front will repell your approach. The wide putting surface runs back to front and is quite slick.
Number eight is a dogleg left par four, that requires another big blast off the tee to reach the fairway. Bunkers on either side, pinch the landing area, so be precise off the tee. The real challenge is your approach with a medium to long iron to a well-guarded green. The surface is slightly elevated, so make sure your club choice is correct.
One of the most difficult holes on the course is the ninth, a dogleg left par four that plays uphill and requires a forced carry over rocks and a canyon. Even with a big tee shot, you’ll have a long iron or fairway metal to the green. The putting surface is long with sand left and a shaved area to the right. Making a par is round saver.
After a short drive to the tee, the 10th is a short, downhill par four of just 359 yards. Although the fairway is devoid of sand, trees guard both sides of the landing area. A short iron should remain to a green that slopes from back to front. Stay below the hole for your best shot at birdie. One of the easier holes on the course.
The longest par three on the course at 223 yards, the 11th plays slightly downhill from the tee. Bunkers on both sides of the green will keep the player honest. The putting surface is fairly long, making club selection key.
One of the most demanding holes on the course, the par five 12th is a brute at 570 yards. Uphill off the tee, you’ll need to split the fairway and avoid the trap left and the thick trees and creek right. Your second shot will need to play down the right side of the fairway, as the landing area bends to the left. A greenside bunker left, as long as the putting surface, captures plenty of errant shots, so miss right if you must. With a short iron, you should be able to attack.
Playing downhill, the par three 13th features a rock outcropping and a pond short of the green. One of the most undulating greens on the course, you must stay below the hole, otherwise your putt might roll off the front of the putting surface. A back-left pin can stretch this hole nearly 20 extra yards.
The 14th is a straightaway, uphill hole that is one of seven par fours over 400 yards in length. Out of bounds left and trees right will keep the player on their toes. Take an extra club or two to reach the green. Just avoid the bunkers around the green and you’ll be able to make a par. Not that birdie is out of reach, but four is more realistic.
Sloping from left to right, the downhill 15th features a wide landing area with a pair of bunkers left and a meandering water hazard down the right and across the fairway. An uneven lie will remain, so adjust your stance accordingly and choose the right stick to reach the green. Two bunkers, one on either side guards the promised land.
At 464 yards, the 16th hole is a very difficult par four that bends slightly to the right. Usually played into the wind, you’ll need a big tee ball to have any chance of getting home. One reason are the two fairway bunkers. The second reason is the creek that fronts the putting surface. The green is one of the smallest on the course, so holding your approach with a long iron might be difficult. What a great hole to make a par.
The penultimate hole on the Highlands Course is a lengthy par five that doglegs to the right and plays downhill from the tee. Avoiding the three fairway bunkers is your first objective. Next is your layup, which needs to avoid the well-positioned traps on either side of the fairway. A short iron is all that remains to one of the longest greens on the course. Another back to front putting surface puts a premium on accuracy.
Certainly, the signature hole at McLemore is the par four 18th. This beauty features sensational views of the valley below that affords the player miles of miles of landscape. After taking several photos, it’s back to business with your tee shot. Favor the right side, as the fairway tilts hard from right to left. Your tee shot must play uphill and over a rock outcropping for your best angle to the hole. Even with a quality tee shot, a medium to long iron remains to an uphill putting surface that lays ever so close to the cliffs edge. As mentioned before, stay below the hole in this back to front putting surface for your best shot at par. Interestingly enough, the old fairway from the original 18 was converted to a six-hole short course.
FINAL WORD: The key at the Highlands Course is to choose the right set of markers to play from. With six sets of tees, you certainly have your options. From 4,253 yards to 7,005, not to mention a couple of combo choices, there is no reason to go overboard.
“The beauty that I find up here is how we have been able to integrate golf, which is green and pure and un-obstructive and we’ve been able to combine that into a rocky setting with distant vista views that you can see forever,” added Armor.
“We have three types of holes here at McLemore,” continued Armor. “The cliff holes are the three holes that offer you the great vista views that run alongside the eastern brow of Lookout Mountain. Our Canyon holes, in the middle of the course, they run down where you’re going to get the greatest elevation changes. Our Highland holes are back up on our plateau. Those have the Scottish feel with natural areas and tall grass and more of a flat kind of golf course. Beautiful in its own way. Clearly three distinct type of holes.”
McLemore is mountain golf at its finest. Not only for the views and vistas. Not only for the design. Not only for the serenity. The Highland Course is so much more. Absolutely spectacular.
“When you see McLemore, it doesn’t need anything more, said William Duane Horton, President of McLemore Club. “It already has everything more than what we could even imagine. It’s truly an island in the sky, that is already perfect the way it is.”
I look forward to a return visit. Since I took photos of every vista and view, I’m ready to concentrate on my game … if I can!