James Etheridge

The Oaks Course has closed. The last rounds open to the public were November 14^th. The course remained open for members until Sunday the 21^st. That is a shame. Located just outside of Covington, Georgia at the intersection of Crowell Road and Brown Bridge Road, the Oaks was convenient with reasonable green fees. The course was set up for ease of walking, if you chose. Junior and family tees were on each hole. American Junior Golf Association competitions were played there, as well as high school and college matches. Fishing tournaments were held on the lakes.

The original nine holes were laid out in the 1930s by none other than the legendary Bobby Jones. His friend, Jack Porter, owned the Porterdale Mill. Porter asked Jones to help him conceive a golf course for the employees of the mill. The course went by a number of names including Fox Run and Silo Cay, named undoubtedly so for the large concrete silo on the south side of the property adjacent to the practice range and Brown Bridge Rd. The course was re-designed by Dick Shultz in 1989 and re-named The Oaks Course, due to the number of graceful and stately oaks on the property. Several holes from Mr. Jones original layout were incorporated into the course.

Those stately and graceful oaks will be gone before long and in their place will be about 140,000 square feet of retail space near the intersection. There are 142 single-family lots for homes planned at the rear of the site adjoining the Newton Woods subdivision. Townhomes and a 360-unit apartment complex will fill the remaining part of the site. Apartment complex is the magic word here. Almost half of the site is in a floodplain. Plans also call for a nine-hole par 3 golf course on that part of the property. Can’t wait to tee it up there.

A Porterdale City Councilwoman stated, “It is going to be a wonderful development and will be a great asset.” I wonder if a 360-unit apartment complex would be a great asset in her neighborhood.

I understand that golf is a business. I understand that a golf course is difficult and expensive to maintain. I understand that if someone offers the owner a lot of money for the property that it is difficult, if not impossible, to turn down. I get all that. That being said, I have seen three golf courses that I loved and played destroyed, two of which as a member. Even though I understand these things, it doesn’t make it any easier.

It would be different if The Oaks was a run-down goat track. That most certainly was not the case. The property was immaculate. The fairways were full and lush. The greens were some of the best I ever putted, quick, consistent, fair and challenging. The bunkers were always well maintained. The clubhouse was modeled after the iconic Augusta National clubhouse and surrounded by azaleas. Wildlife was abundant. Deer wandered on the fairways and in the woods. Geese, blue herons, turtles and largemouth bass occupied the lakes. They will be gone soon, displaced onto the roads and into neighborhoods because their have been habitats destroyed.

We played our semi-annual high school golf reunion at the course in September, the day after we lost a great friend and fellow Warhawk, Mike Ham. The tournament was played in his honor and I am thankful that we were able to play it at The Oaks.

It is going to be difficult to drive by the property once it becomes overgrown. It will be even more difficult when the single-family lots, townhomes and an apartment complex are built. Whenever possible, I will probably drive miles out of the way to avoid the intersection. The old concrete silo will no doubt be gone too, removed all for the sake of wonderful development and the great asset of progress. That is a shame.

An addendum:  After comparing aerial views of the course from 1955 and 2017 via Historic Aerials https://historicaerials.com/viewer (which is a great website, by the way), the holes preserved from the original layout were holes # 3, #5 and #6.  The first fairway and the 18th green appear to play as one hole, with the tee boxes being at the far end of the fairway.  The address for the Oaks is 11240 Brown Bridge Rd, Covington, GA 30014.  I used the spotlight option to compare.  – J.