Shhh!  Not a Word to Anyone

By David Cooper

Okay, this is a secret.  Or so it would seem.  So whatever you do, don't tell anybody about golf in southern Georgia. 

Canadians by the thousands drive south to Florida in late February and early March to get away from the white stuff and onto the short green stuff.  But when you get there, the golf courses are covered with pasty skinned Candians.  Tee times are hard to come by, green fees are high, and five-hour rounds are the norm.

Not in Georgia.  Georgia Veterans Memorial Golf Course is virtually empty through the week.  Yup, empty.  No people.  The local players are busy preparing for planting season right now (watermelon is a big local crop according to head golf pro Ryan Snyder).

It's about 16 kilometres west of Interstate 75 in Cordele, and only 160 kilometres from the Florida state border, and about six hours from Denedin (FL) where I was headed. But it's a world away from busy Florida golf.

The day I was there (a Monday in the middle of February) eight people played...all day.  The course is walkable but not as flat as a Florida course.  It's in beautiful condition, with bent grass fairways and dwarf Bermuda greens.  The fairway grass is dormant in early February, but very playable, while the greens are green and roll very niceley.

The price?  Well it just gets better...a senior couple can join the club together as members for one month for $125 for both of them.  Walk the course for free from then on or pay the cart fee...$13 each per 18 holes.  Call the clubhouse for up-to-date rates.  First time I played there I got in around three and a half hours...came in and for the cost of the cart...went out AGAIN and played another 18. 

The golf course is part of Georgia Veterans State Park, one of eight state parks with golf courses on them.  Also in the park is Lake Blackshear Resort, a lovely modern resort on the shores of Lake Blackshear.  It has a marina, main conference centre, and several nice restaurants.  My only complaint, they gave me too much food in Cordelia's.  That's right, giant portions so that everone leaves with takeout containers.  It was a welcome change from the I-75 hotels I'm used to when travelling to spring training to photograph the Toronto Blue Jays.  I paid an off-season rate of $89 for a villa room with a screened-in porch and a view of the lake in one of their low rise Florida condo sytle units. 

Eight of the state parks in Georgia have golf courses on them.  All the snowbirds go racing by them trying to get to Florida as fast as possible.  When they get there, the courses are more money and less fun.  So a word of advice - slow down and smell the magnolias!