Atlanta Athletic Club (AAC), founded in 1898, is a private athletic club in Johns Creek, Georgia, a suburb 23 miles north of

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. The original home of the club was a 10-story building located on Carnegie Way, and in 1904 a golf course was built on Atlanta's East Lake property. In 1908,

John Heisman John William Heisman (October 23, 1869 – October 3, 1936) was a player and coach of American football, baseball, and basketball, as well as a sportswriter and actor. He served as the head football coach at Oberlin College, Buchtel College ...

(the Georgia Tech football coach for whom the

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...

was named) was hired as the AAC athletic director. While it was downtown, its team placed third in the 1921

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It has ...

National

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

Championship defeating Lowe and Campbell Athletic Goods 36–31 in the third place game.Lowell & Campbell – nba.com – Retrieved September 11, 2009
/ref> At the time colleges, athletic clubs and factory-sponsored clubs all competed in the same league. In 1967, the AAC sold both properties and moved to a big site in a then-unincorporated area of

Fulton County Fulton County is the name of eight counties in the United States of America. Most are named for Robert Fulton, inventor of the first practical steamboat: *Fulton County, Arkansas, named after Governor William Savin Fulton *Fulton County, Georgia *F ...

that had a Duluth mailing address and would eventually become Johns Creek in 2006. The vacated East Lake site became

East Lake Golf Club East Lake Golf Club is a private golf club 5 miles east of downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1904, it is the oldest golf course in the city. East Lake was the home course of golfer Bobby Jones and much of its clubhouse serves as a tribu ...

and was refurbished during the 1990s. It is now the home of

The Tour Championship The Tour Championship (stylized as the TOUR Championship) is a golf tournament that is part of the PGA Tour. It has historically been one of the final events of the PGA Tour season; prior to 2007, its field consisted exclusively of the top 30 ...

, currently the final event of the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

golf season. AAC hosted the 1950

U.S. Women's Amateur The U.S. Women's Amateur is the leading golf tournament in the United States for female amateur golfers. It is played annually and is one of the 13 United States national golf championships organized by the United States Golf Association (USGA). F ...

and 1963

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named af ...

at East Lake, the 1976 U.S. Open, the 1981, 2001, and 2011

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major championships ...

s on its Highlands Course, and the 1990

U.S. Women's Open The U.S. Women's Open, one of 15 national golf championships conducted by the United States Golf Association (USGA), is the oldest of the LPGA Tour's five major championships, which includes the Chevron Championship, Women's PGA Championship, W ...

on its Riverside Course. The AAC used both of its current regulation courses to host the 2014

U.S. Amateur The United States Amateur Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Amateur, is the leading annual golf tournament in the United States for amateur golfers. It is organized by the United States Golf Association and is currently held each August ov ...

, with stroke-play qualifying on the Riverside Course and match play on the Highlands Course. The Riverside course, renovated by Rees Jones in 2002, was recognized among the top 10 new private courses in 2004 by ''

Golf Digest ''Golf Digest'' is a monthly golf magazine published by Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit under its Warner Bros. Discovery Golf division. It is a generalist golf publication covering recreational golf and men's and women's competiti ...

''. AAC has hosted many non-golf events including the first two

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

men's basketball tournaments in 1933 and 1934. In 1984 and 1985, AAC hosted the

U.S. Open Badminton Championship The U.S. Open Badminton Championships is an annual badminton tournament first held in when the American Badminton Association (now USA Badminton) opened the U.S. National Badminton Championships to foreign competition. During the 1950s and 1960s i ...

. During the 1990s, AAC hosted the AT&T Challenge, Atlanta's ATP professional tennis stop. AAC has two 18-hole golf courses, a health center, indoor and outdoor tennis, a par-3 course, Olympic-sized pool, as well as dining. Famous members of AAC include golfers Bobby Jones,

Charlie Yates Charles Richardson Yates (September 9, 1913 – October 17, 2005) was an American amateur golfer. He is noted for winning the 1938 Amateur Championship, captaining the United States Walker Cup team and being the long-time Secretary of Augusta Nat ...

Alexa Stirling Alexa Stirling Fraser (September 5, 1897 – April 15, 1977) was an American-Canadian amateur golfer. She won the U.S. Women's Amateur golf championship in 1916, 1919, and 1920. She also won the Canadian Women's Amateur title in 1920 and 1934. ...

Watts Gunn Watts Gunn (January 11, 1905 – November 5, 1994) was an American amateur golfer. He had a long golf career that began in his high school days at Lanier High School in Macon, Georgia. He went on to become a successful player in college at Ge ...

, Dot Kirby, and Tommy Barnes; football player Daddy Barcomb; tennis player Nat Thornton; and basketball player

Bob Kurland Robert Albert Kurland (December 23, 1924 – September 29, 2013) was a American basketball center, who played for the two-time NCAA champion Oklahoma A&M Aggies (now Oklahoma State Cowboys) basketball team. He led the U.S. basketball team to go ...

. In the 2004 film ''Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius'', many of the golf scenes were filmed at AAC.

Pictures

File:Statue of Bobby Jones at the entrance to the club.jpg, Statue of Bobby Jones at the entrance to Atlanta Athletic Club. File:AAC - 2001 PGA Championship - -15 Highlands.JPG, The 15th green on the Highlands course. File:AAC 17 Highlands.jpg, #17 on Highlands. File:AAC 17th green of Highlands.jpg, Behind the 17th green on the Highlands course. File:Back of the clubhouse from the practice putting green.jpg, Back of the clubhouse from the practice putting green.

Key dates

*1898 – first organizational meeting and granting of club charter *1899 – Official opening of 56 Edgewood Avenue facility *1902 – Move to new clubhouse at 37 Auburn Avenue *1924 – purchase of Carnegie Way property (10 story downtown club) *1926 – opening of Carnegie Way property *1930 – winning of Grand Slam by Bobby Jones Jr. *1963 – purchase of River Bend property in Duluth *1967 – opening of the new 27-hole golf course at River Bend *1968 – vote by stockholders to sell East Lake Country Club *1969 – selection of Atlanta Athletic Club Country Club as name for River Bend club *1971 – decision to sell Carnegie Way town club *1973 – destruction of Carnegie Way town club *2016 – second redesign of Highlands by Rees Jones

Scorecards

Major tournaments hosted

References

External links

*
Highlands Renovation in Preparation for 2011 PGA ChampionshipAAC voted #1 Athletic Club
{{Authority control Golf clubs and courses in Georgia (U.S. state) Golf clubs and courses designed by Tom Bendelow Tennis venues in the United States Basketball venues in Georgia (U.S. state) Tourist attractions in Fulton County, Georgia Buildings and structures in Fulton County, Georgia Johns Creek, Georgia Sports venues completed in 1898 1898 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)