Bobby Jones Golf Course - The Magnolia Nine

Bobby Jones Golf Course is an ultra-common name in the Atlanta golf community, but do not be fooled by the hype the recent renovation has given the course.

Playing here is not the same as playing a full golf course. In fact, it is not very close at all. I genuinely do not understand where the $23 million went to this course.

A list of things not up-to-par.

1. No tee boxes (hard ground with "general tee-box areas"

2. Fairways are just as hard as the tee boxes and the grass is absolutely minimal

3. Because the course is reversible, it's impossible to determine your fairway and sometimes even the direction of the hole.

4. The clubhouse is a trailer

5. One of the holes has a massive fenced off area for storage that is directly in the path your ball needs to go...

6. THE PRICE IS ABSURD FOR THIS COURSE

If this course cost $30 for 18 holes it might be reasonable, but to charge upwards of $65 on the weekends is borderline robbery. I consider this course to be a "winter-only" course for me until the rates drop or the quality increases drastically.

The new design is the best they could do with the land, but for $50+ for 9 holes I’ll drive out of Atlanta. If it’s your first time out and you don’t have a regular in your group good luck navigating the course. The tee boxes are barely recognizable and there are two separate 9’s for 9 greens. If my buddy and I weren’t playing with a regular I would have walked off. I understand that they are a new course, but they need to get organized or charge significantly less money.

Only being open for a month this place is headed in a great direction. Greens rolled true and quick. The design is nice I played the Magnolia routing and would have loved to play the Azalea in the same day so I might be back to try that shotgun they do for that. The carts were awesome and I was surprised I liked the Norman Experience. Great walkable course though.

The practice facility is top notch. With a full-size range, short game green, and putting green, you can practice whatever club you want to work on.

The nine hole reversible course offers new challenges in terms of length, protected greens, and difficult approach shots. The bermuda greens roll well and will only get better.

Pay attention to the GPS in the carts, it will help you find the fairway for each hole. Because the course is reversible, fairways aren't clearly marked with rough. The entire course is one cut of grass. There may have been some fringe around greens but none to indicate fairway v 2nd cut v rough.

For Atlanta golfers -- and visiting golfers, for that matter -- the new Bobby Jones Golf Course is a gift that should keep on giving. It's just one of a handful of reversible golf courses throughout the country, but it's very unique, even among that group.

This is a completely new design by the late Bob Cupp. And there are really no similarities between what was here before and what Cupp and later his son Bobby Cupp completed. It's nine holes one way and nine mostly entirely different holes the other way, so you definitely feel like you're playing two entirely different golf courses when you play the Magnolia Course vs. the Azalea Course.

My only issue with the course right now is the design of the ninth holes on both courses. Both are par 5s that are pretty much right next to each other (the Azalea is considerably shorter and perhaps reachable in two), but they don't seem well defined, Our group, even with the help of GPS in the carts, was confused on how we should play the holes, especially off the tee. Playing the course multiple times would probably clear up the confusion, but this is the only reason I didn't give the course five stars right off the bat. With that said, if I lived in Atlanta, I would play this course regularly.

Some other cool innovations included the LongLeaf Tee System. Each hole has eight different teeing options, which are suggested not by handicap, but by the golfers' average drives, so all players can reach greens in regulation.

The facility now has great practice facilities, which is a huge boost to this part of Atlanta, which lacked any sort of quality range for at least 10 miles.

And now golfers (as well as tennis players) have new, safer parking options, thanks to parking garage that sits underneath the 12 new hardcourts that were added to Bitsy Grant Tennis Center. It's a symbiotic relationship between golf and tennis I've never seen before.

And finally, conditioning on the fairways and greens is perfect. The Tif-Eagle greens rolled flawlessly. And because of the new model (this course is run by a foundation with involvement from multiple golf associations and serves as the home to the Georgia State University golf team), you can expect conditions to remain top notch. And with dynamic green fees ranging from $40 to $80, including the advanced Greg Norman Experience-equipped Club Cars, that's a pretty good deal.