My buddy turned his Sea Ray into the cove and roared down the shore with the golf course on the left and me behind on a pair of Cypress Gardens water skis. He laid the boat on its side and made the tight turn around the cove. I shot outside the wake, moving like a missile and yelling, “Fore, Arnie, Fore!” The year was 1974. The golf course was PineIsle and I was a nineteen year old idiot with more testosterone than sense. Little did I know then that I would one day be on that golf course on that very same hole, cursing the young fools flying by on water skis and disrupting the proceedings.
PineIsle Resort was on an island in the south end of Lake Lanier. It was built in the early Seventies and was a luxury resort in every sense of the word. It featured a hotel and conference center, a spa, tennis and golf. The golf course was designed by Gary Player and featured eight holes along the water. It was beautiful, challenging and was a regular stop on the LPGA tour for a number of seasons.
PineIsle actually received a plug in the movie “Smokey And The Bandit.” The movie was, of course, filmed in Georgia. At one point Burt Reynolds roars his black TransAm down an expressway entrance ramp. He and Sally Field were supposedly in Arkansas but in reality were on I-85 at Pleasant Hill Road. This was when there was nothing but woods at I-85 and Pleasant Hill Road. There is a green billboard in the background, visible quite prominently, advertising “PineIsle Resort and Spa.”
I played quite a bit of golf at PineIsle. They were mostly corporate events but also a few casual rounds with friends. The first time I played there was in the late Eighties. It was a Printing Industry of Georgia event. There were about twenty five groups in the tournament, half of whom were gathered around the first tee. Our group was the first off. We drew tees to see who would hit first and I drew the short one. I stepped onto the box shaking like a leaf. I was about to hit a tee shot down a tight fairway that had a slight dogleg to the right and a large fairway bunker with, what was to me at that particular point in space and time, the whole world watching. Somehow I managed to steer the ball into the fairway. Then I had to go sit down.
A group of friends and I were playing there once and were getting ready to hit our tee shots. Three deer came out of the woods on the right hand side and stopped in the middle of the fairway. They were about two hundred and fifty yards out and right in the middle of the landing zone. One was a big buck with what appeared to be about an eight to ten point rack. There were two does behind him. It was a misty and overcast day, and they all three stood looking at us in the mist. The buck’s neck and shoulders were bulging, and he let out a loud snort. There was no doubt as to who was in charge. We stood there looking at them and them at us. One of our foursome decided to go ahead and tee off. His shot landed about ten feet from the buck short of the buck and to his left. The buck looked at the ball, then back at the tee. He didn’t move. He just stared at us. After a bit, they all three continued on across the fairway and into the woods. It was nothing short of magnificent.
When we returned to the clubhouse I met and talked with Tommy Aaron, who was the Touring Pro out of PineIsle. It was and still is the only time I shook hands and had a conversation with a Masters Champion. I told him about the deer. “Oh, yes,” he said, “there are a lot of them out there. The island is protected, so the animals are pretty comfortable around people.” He wasn’t kidding either, because on another tee box a squirrel came up and sat on the marker while I was hitting my shot. He made tick-tick sounds all through my setup, then jumped and chattered loudly after I sliced my shot in the woods. So I not only met a Masters Champion but was also heckled by the wildlife.
PineIsle is no more and that’s a shame. The resort closed and the hotel and conference center went the way of the wrecking ball. The golf course is still there but overgrown. The middle of the eighteenth fairway is now a wedding venue. I keep hoping against hope that the course will open again someday. PineIsle was too good to be a victim of progress and swallowed up by the woods. Maybe The Legacy Course next door could use an additional eighteen holes. It’s just a thought, even if the squirrels are unfamiliar with gallery etiquette.