Candler Park Golf Course

Candler Park Golf Course should not be judged against regular, full-​size courses. It’s a neighborhood executive (9-​hole par 3 and par 4) course that offers easy access to inexpensive golf, and it’s pretty well maintained for what it is.
This is a municipal golf course. In the recent past the city has left it to fall into disrepair, but since American Golf Corporation was hired as managers, the condition of course has improved.
$ 10 will get you a round of nine holes. Perhaps if the weather is cold and few people are out, the course manager will offer to let you play another nine at no charge, as he did with me.
Good exercise, too, with lots of ups and downs. Fairways are fairly wide, greens are mostly flat but reasonably smooth. There are no real doglegs (# 6 bends a bit) but on a couple of holes, you can’t see the pin from the tee box. For such a compact course, it offers a decent challenge to your golfing skills. Plenty of trees to foil your game if you miss the fairway. Watch out for local residents cutting through or walking their dogs.
They have a small practice putting green where you can also practice short chips.
The parking lot is tiny and I wouldn’t even bother with it. There’s always street parking along Candler Park Dr.
Recommended.

Color me impressed. I just moved here from the drought-​stricken confines of Austin, where I happily sauntered on to my neighborhood 9-​hole after work for a couple of semi-​rocky pins most afternoons before sunset. I miss it, but Candler Park makes up for the nostalgia. This one tries you at the final third, which is how an executive pasture course probably should pull one off.
Most noticeable item: you are walking, and the back 3 are ALL up and downhill. Hope you don’t have a pacemaker installed. Sure, you can use a pushcart but I didn’t see any of those out today.
The layout is fine, the holes are pretty short overall (all par 3 or 4, max is 345), and the landscaping is more than adequate. Fairways are pretty generous for such a compact course, essentially carved out of a billionaire’s backyard — for me to hit 9 of 9, well, that’s not saying a lot in this case.
The city needs a reason to keep this one open — come out and show some support. Under $ 10 including tax on a weekday for 9 holes? Get over here, stat.
If anybody has a house for sale along Clifton Terrace Ave, let me know…
Distances…1.288 2.180 3.150 4.140 5.165 6.345 7.318 8.210 9.185 Out.1981 HopeYouLikeUglyData

This gets five stars based on it possibly being the cheapest golf course in the US. I made that up, but $ 11 is ridiculous! It is an easy course with very little water, sand traps, or any other challenges. Sure it’s not the most exciting course, but is historical, super cheap, and fun.
It is walking only, which I like as well. I feel like I have to get a cart when they are available to keep the pace up, so it’s great to have everyone forced to walk. It has a few hills and amounts to a light to moderate workout as you finish walking up the ninth fairway.
If you are a fancy golfer who likes caddies, very challenging courses, or paying major cash, this probably isn’t for you.
Candler Park Golf Course is rock solid. The haters need to hit the road.

I love CPGC so much that I have an annual pass. $ 400 for a year of golf is outstanding value. If you don’t have an annual pass, I think it’s still only around 11 – 12 for a round.
In a way, I don’t want to write this review, because I don’t want the course to get packed. Selfishly I love to golf there when not many others are around. Go during the day on a weekday; go midday at weekends (when there’s a big football game on or something); go when there’s been a sprinkling of rain. At all of these times, the course is usually beautifully quiet.
Most of the criticism you see on Unilocal tends to be from golfers who expect the finest conditions. If you want that from your golf, go to the suburbs, and pay $ 50+ per round. Fine by me. I don’t want to pay that much money for my golf. Yes, Candler’s greens are slow, but they are not unpredictable. Hit it harder. Get over yourself. You’re also on a course that has challenging uphill, downhill and sidehill lies. In other words, it tests your golfing nerve.
Did I mention that it has been an amazing learning course for my two sons?
I don’t really understand the review on here that disses the 9^th hole for being architecturally unsound. It’s a hard hole, that’s for sure; and it is tiring walking uphill at the end of your round. But its hilly nature is hardly out of place, since you’ve already walked uphill to the first green, downhill to the 3^rd green, and uphill for the whole 7^th.
I think the prettiest holes are the 2^nd (tee is highest point on the course) and the 7^th (great horizon as you walk up the fairway).
The staff are unfailingly unfriendly and most of the people you’ll meet on the course are genuine, no-​BS types. My only gripe is that occasionally groups can be a bit noisy; I do think that golf is essentially a polite sport, and one should be conscious of others on the course.

I think this is a very well kept pitch n’ putt and the only knock I’d have on it is that the greens are maybe a little too long because you really have to put some weight into your putt sometimes. Beyond that, the course is in very good shape, it’s extremely affordable and it’s easy to get to if you live in the city. It’s a walking course only so you WON’T see the guys who think that a round of golf should take all day long. It’s a good course for the hard core golfer to go out, not be bothered too much, and work on their irons. Like I said, don’t base your putting on how these greens role, but you are going to be challenged hitting smaller greens and dealing with constant elevation changes. Also, there are several par 3s that don’t give you a whole lot of area to miss your hit at so be careful or you might lose a ball or two. Some of the better greens in the city out of the municipal courses, that’s for sure.

$ ⁹⁄₉ hole/​par 31 city walking course… well maintained, a no brainer, great staff… get right on… regulars are great.

The people here are doing great things to upkeep this course. The grounds are lush and the scenery is beautiful. Holes 6 – 8 make you forget you are in the middle of the city. AND it’s cheap, yo. Talk about accessibility for all– even for broke grad students. My BF bought an annual, all you can play membership for under $ 400. We call it our country club. we so classy.

So I just played a round and I wonder what people hate about this place.
1. It’s inexpensive — 11 + tax, Are you kidding me?! That is a very fair price and I am willing to make some concessions because of this
2. It’s actually in good shape. the fairways are ok, the greens are really slow but a surprising lack of ball marks.
So the layout is not that exiting. everything is pretty straight, no dog legs so the most excitement is going up and down or over a hill. But again: it’s 11 bucks so you can pay attention on where to put the ball and how long the shots are.
They don’t have a driving range — but if you just want to walk and shoot around for fun that is fine by me.
So I have played a few places around town and this one is now my favorite. Also the location is convenient to grab a bite before at restaurants nearby.

My boyfriend has been a member for the past 4 years. He LOVES this place! Yes, it is a bit funky and it’s not the most perfectly kept corse, but it’s inexpensive and right by our house. He goes often, plays with regulars or newcomers. People sometime have a dog with them (properly trained dogs that don’t chase after your gold balls), and sometime you see wildlife like beavers, hawks, and chipmunks. Oh, and sometimes you’ll see an old man collecting gold balls for resale from the woods. The things is, it’s a funky, fun place that I consider one of the coolest parts about living in Atlanta. Cheap golf on a Saturday morning– kinda awesome! AND, you get to be out in nature and you’re right in the middle of the city. Woo hoo!

Wouldn’t play again if I got paid to.
Yes I’m quite the golf course snob. Extra snobbiness comes from my field of architecture and construction.
This place is in horrible shape. The greens are aerated using those typical LA20s… you know, those ones that leave holes in the grass just about the size of golf balls? The greens are like fairways or even first cut rough.
Hole 9 is a complete failure in landscape architecture. You play 8 holes in a nice downgrade and then all of a sudden you hit this one and have to damn near mountain climb your way up.
It’s just not fun playing a course that is not being taken care of with any actual love.

I thought a more recent review of Candler Park Golf Course was in order since I’ve only seen one review from this year and golf courses can change year to year. This course is a great place to go if you want to spend $ 10, hit some balls on a course, and then pretend to putt. There are some decent holes with ok greens, but some of the greens are just plain awful. The last two times I’ve played, the green @ #3 was moved to #1 fairway, and the green at # 8 was cut into the fairway because they had laid new sod. This green was smaller than my bedroom, so you can imagine how effective it was…
Having said that, charging more than $ 10 would be a big mistake, but it would be nice to have some decent greens to putt on. I know this is golf sacriledge, but I would be in favor of them installing synthetic greens. You putt on them for practice, why not use them on a course that can’t afford to maintain grass greens? Crazy idea, but I think it would improve the experience greatly and reduce Candler’s maintenance budget.

I played here many times back when I was in college and learning how to play golf. There have been some changes to the course, most notably that they have cut some really beautiful trees down. The tree on 5, that made it very hard to get to the green, is gone. Also the tree on 8 that helped you know what to aim at is gone. And 6 has changed dangerously, as you have to walk back near the green of 5 after your tee shot.
I think every city needs a course like this. Cheap, great for beginners. But it’s just not kept up well. For $ 10, you pay for what you get.

Greens are in horrible shape… all of them. Still fun to get some longer game practice in. Wish they’d lower the fees until they start taking better care of the place… still ten bucks, resident or not.

Well I really wanted to give this place a fair shake so I held off on my first review when I heard they were re-​doing the greens.
I went back and they redid maybe one of them. The greens are in such horrible shape here don’t plan on putting on them. I picked up my ball everytime I was on. I’m not kidding you when I say that hole 1 was basically sod squares laid down 1 inch apart from each other on the green.
Saying its a deal even for 10 bucks is a stretch. We went on a Thursday and it was still $ 10, I thought it was $ 7 during the week? Not like it changes much. In the end, its just not worth my time to go play here.
I really wanted you to be manageable Candler, but its obvious that the city has forsaken you. I bid you farewell as Thursday was the last time ill ever walk your fairways.

this 9 hole course is pretty cheap, only 7 bucks during the week and 10 bucks on the weeked if you are an atlanta resident. its an executive course with the long hole being around 350 or so. this place is great if you just want to play without a lot of hassle but just be patient with the upkeep of the course because it aint in the best of shape. but its good enough for 7 bucks! oh and beware of the homeless guy trying to sell you used balls after the third hole. make sure he doesnt get over on you!

So I’m recently getting into golfing, and have seen a total of four courses in my life. Therefore it is your duty as a responsible reader to figure at least half of what I’m saying is suspect. Maybe 60%.
I digress; I went to go play a round by myself on President’s day because none of my other friends work on bank holiday schedules. I’ll say this first and foremost: This is a very fast course. I was able to walk it and finish in about an hour and a half or so, and I’m pretty slow as far as consistency on the course goes.
This place is perfect for you to practice; no dress code, $ 10 to play, and the guys behind the counter are ultra nice, as well as the players. The two behind me didn’t even make fun of me as they patiently waited while I tried to find my ball out in the rough…
Which brings me to my chief complaint: Good god man clean up the greens. It was a perfectly sunny day, but the grass was littered with plants and leaves and brush, much of it reflecting white sunlight. This makes it difficult to locate your ball once it crests a hill (of which there are many). I managed to lose one even after I saw where it fell. Ridiculous!
Also, not much creativity with the hole layouts; too few bunkers, too many tees backed up to greens so if you overshoot you’re in big trouble.
All in all, a great place to sneak away from work to play, but for an extra $ 2 you can go play at John A. White which is a much nicer course, and it has a driving range unlike Candler.
Also for those of you with disgusting slices (you know who you are) watch the first tee… they have a net there to catch errant balls but I ended up yelling ‘Fore’ to some poor golfer on the putting green as mine flew over it. Just sayin’
One last thing for you lazy folk; No carts, and the 9^th hole is at the bottom of a giant hill back up to the clubhouse, so prepare to work those quads.

Candler park is a joke, but not in the bad way. It’s fun to go out there with your friends because it’s $ 9 and really simple and not to mention convenient. All of the courses owned by the American Golf Corporation and I believe this along with North Fulton are included, are going through some well needed renovations. This is a good course though because it is cheaper than a bucket of balls and closer than any driving ranges I know of.

This review is kind of a preservation project, for I believe Candler Park is about to lose some of its Pasture Golf charm (
).
In other words, the grounds are starting to get too nice.
Here’s what I love about Candler Park Golf Course as it is today (and was just a short time ago):
1) It is perfect for idiots like me who generally hate golf on principle… because of the scene, not because of the game.
2) It allows me to use my 30 year-​old clubs and carry around my pleather golf bag with pride.
3) The golf pro has gang tats on his neck.
4) Graffiti on one of the maintenance sheds.
5) Georgia rock stars play here, from Kevin Kinney, to Drive-​by Truckers, to Michael Stipe of REM.
6) On hole 2, there is a gully on the right side of the fairway that is easy to slice into. Years ago there was an old nasty gazebo there, where a homeless guy would steal your ball… and then sell it back to you on the 3^rd tee.
7) Everyone is laid back here. No stress. No one cares how much you suck at golf. No golf shoes? Cool. Natty Dreads? No problem, mon.
8) Fewer white people. When lots of white people congregate around golf and start talking, there is potential for darkness and evil. Lord of the Rings evil.
9) Unlimited play for $ 7 (for the time being… that’s about to change).
11) The groundskeeper is a variation on Bill Murray in «Caddyshack». He has caps on his teeth, a thinning mullet, and may be seen wearing an Allman Brothers tee shirt and camo pants. He takes excellent care of the course with the resources he’s got… and he can whack the shit out of the ball.
12) Hot moms running on Terrace Ave by #5.