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Carol Naughton

Director of The East Lake Foundation


Segments & Pages

The East Lake Story, Carol Naughton's Bio, Facts About East Lake

  • This is the home course of legendary amateur golfer Bobby Jones, and now the permanent home of THE TOUR Championship.
  • Bobby Jones played his first and last game at East Lake. His father first brought him to the club in 1908 and he played his last round on August 15, 1948.
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    This is the only American course in history to have produced two British Amateur champions: Bobby Jones in 1930 and Charlie Yates in 1938. East Lake’s public Charlie Yates Golf Course was named after this avid supporter of the East Lake revitalization who died in October 2005.
  • This course is home to 21 regional and 21 national golf champions.
  • Alexa Stirling, a contemporary of Bobby Jones, was East Lake’s first national golf champion. She won the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 1916, 1919 and 1920.
  • Tom Bendelow designed the original course in 1906, which was then remodeled by Donald Ross in 1913. In 1994, Rees Jones was commissioned to recapture the original Ross design.
  • The Tudor-style clubhouse that stands today was designed by renowned architect, Philip Shutze, who also designed Atlanta’s Swan House and the Academy of Medicine.
  • The East Lake property was a rural amusement park when purchased in 1904, and later became a country club. John Heisman, the Georgia Tech football coach for whom the Heisman Trophy was later named, directed the club’s athletic program.
  • Some say one of the swimming instructors at East Lake in the early part of the 20th century was Johnny Weissmuller, a five-time Olympic Gold medalist swimmer who later played Tarzan in the movies. In addition, Zelda Fitzgerald, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s wife, is said to have once flung herself into the pool, fully gowned.
  • The golf club is named to several Top 100 lists including: a Top 100 Golf Course in the World (Golf Magazine 2003); a Top 100 Classical Golf Course (Golf Week, 2004); a Top 100 Golf Course (U.S.) (Golf Magazine, 2003), a Top 100 Golf Course (Golf Digest, 2003-2004); and a Top 100 Golf Shop (Golf World Business, 1997-1998, 2000, 2002-2003).
  • Some say that playing a round of golf at East Lake is like taking a trip into the past. It is the only walking golf course with caddies in metro Atlanta. Its hallowed grounds have been called the “home of golf in America” and “a place in the sun shared only with St. Andrews.” (Attributed to Henry Atkinson, founder of present-day Georgia Power).
  • Celebrating its 100th Anniversary in 2004, East Lake is not only a historic golf club, but a philanthropic one as well. The golf club’s corporate members have contributed more than $18 million to the East Lake Foundation to help transform one of the nation’s worst public housing projects into a thriving, mixed-income community.

Related Links

The East Lake Foundation