In the last post we approached Augusta and The Masters from the Columbia area, today, we’re approach Augusta from the south in small towns like Swainsboro, Statesboro, and Sandersville where, as in Columbia, significantly lower hotel rates and reasonably good public access golf is available. All there areas are around 1 1/2 hours from Augusta and the traffic into the city if you’re trying to be there before the gates open is a breeze compared to 1-20.

Near Sandersville, there the Twin City CC, a classic middle Georgia parkland layout through the pine trees. In Swainsboro just off I-16, there’s the Swainsboro Country Club, a semi-private Arthur Davis design just south of the airport where you’ll find narrow doglegs through the pines and a very welcoming clubhouse.

Just down I-16 towards Savannah is the Willow Lake Golf Course in Metter. It’s set in scenic countryside and characterized by narrow pine tree lined fairways over slightly rolling hills with numerous water hazards and well protected greensites.

Finally, we’re just south of Statesboro where we find the 2013 restoration and renaming of Georgia Southern University Golf Club. Georgia Southern with an enrollment of over 22,000 has invested heavily in the update to the golf course and it’s impressive. The strategic layout meanders through a residential development with most of the holes bordered by homes without impacting play. It’s a parkland layout with scattered trees lining the broad fairways, water in play on the majority of the holes, and well bunkered fairways and greens. It’s an Arthur Davis original design from the 1980s updated by Robert Walker.