Champions Retreat Golf Club

Champions Retreat is on the north side of Augusta in Evans near the river. It's a private club, built for Master's week and entertaining corporate clients, maybe for all the big shots who haven't received their invitation to join Augusta National. There's three nine-hole courses, designed by Nicklaus, Palmer, and Player, and is not open to the public, unless you're invited to play by a member or stay in one of the cottages here on the grounds. The Bluffs is the Nicklaus course, and is a tree lined, hilly course, with its share of uphill, downhill, and sidehill shots, with a number of doglegs. The Island course is by Palmer, and is routed along the Savannah River on one side, and the other side by the Little River. It's a parkland style of layout, relatively level land, with a number of risk/reward type shots. The Creek nine is the Player course, and it's mostly along wetlands, lakes, and tree lined fairways. All three courses are excellent, challenging routings in a natural environment without much development as of yet. The Bluff/Island is 7,265 from the tips, 75.9/144; the Island/Creek is 7,203, 75.3/143; Creek/Bluff is 7,258 yards, 75.8/144, but the course has 4 other sets of tees at lower yardages.