Big Canoe Golf Club offers an enjoyable setting:         

Stand on the second tee of the Cherokee nine at Big Canoe Golf Club and you will experience one of the most spectacular views you will ever witness on a golf course. The tee on this 500-yard par 5 is a full 400 feet higher than the landing area, which is dwarfed by the scenic splendor around it. From the tee you have an almost unlimited view of the surrounding area.

As awe-inspiring as the view is, the hole is also a delight to play, and is one of many great examples at Big Canoe of the entertaining nature of golf in a mountain setting. With 27 holes, the original Choctaw and Creek nines and the newer Cherokee, Big Canoe offers a terrific variety of golfing challenges and scenic splendor.

Joe Lee, who has designed a number of top Atlanta courses, put his typically thoughtful stamp on Big Canoe, creating a layout that is not too severe for the player of average ability, while still providing a test for lower handicappers. Like most mountain-style courses, Big Canoe does not have a great deal of length, with accuracy off the tee by far the most necessary asset.

The original 18 was constructed in the early 1970s, and measures 6,420 yards from the blue tees and 6,063 yards from the whites. The blues are rated at 70.2 with a slope of 132, with the whites 68.9 and 129. Because of the family oriented nature of the Big Canoe community, the course gets a considerable amount of play from its female membership, with the Choctaw/Creek nine 5,159 yards with a rating/slope of 70.1/123.

Because of its more mountainous setting, Cherokee is rated and sloped as the toughest of the three nines, although it's the shortest of the three from the white and red tees. It is longer from the back tees than Creek only because of the double downhill ninth hole, which has a difference of well over 100 yards between the blue and white tees.

Lee has provided ample room to drive the ball on the original 18, although you will be penalized if you stray off the fairway. Almost all of the fairways are tree-lined and many of them have significant mounding on one side, but there are only a handful of holes that can be considered especially tight. As usual, Lee makes judicious use of fairway bunkering. Almost every green is well guarded by sand, although Lee generally allows open access to at least part of the putting surface.

Cherokee, which opened in 1990, is tighter off the tee and also features more undulation on the greens. The Choctaw and Creek greens are mostly level with an exception or two, and all three are maintained at a high degree of quality, providing the opportunity for holing your share of putts, provided you are on the correct side of the cup.

The Choctaw nine is the longest of the three, and includes a solid group of par 4s, highlighted by the tough seventh (424 blues/412 whites). With a hill to the left and trouble right, a drive in the fairway is a must, and will be followed by a long second to a smallish green surrounded by sand.

Choctaw's most visually appealing hole is the downhill, par 3 ninth, with a ravine and 150-foot drop between tee and green. Correct club selection can be tricky because of the elevation change and a shallow target, and concentration can also be difficult to maintain because of the view.

Although there is water in play on the first three holes on the Creek nine, it is the tamest of the three. None of the par 4s has much length, but both par 5s have some bite. The best and most scenic hole of the nine is the par 5 second, which is bordered down the left side by a lake, with a creek snaking in front of the green. Mounds to the right make playing too far away from the water a liability. Also, be aware of the large, two-tier fifth green. Going from the lower level up the slope is problem enough. Putting from above the hole is even worse.

Cherokee gives you an immediate taste of its mountain flavor with its short but testy first hole, where you must hit it straight over mounds that block a view of the landing area, followed by an uphill, short iron approach to a green where anything short will roll well down a steep hill and long isn't much better.

The eye-popping second hole can provide a great ego boost to anyone who can hit it solid off the tee. It doesn't take Tiger Woods to drive it 300-yards-plus and leave a long-iron second to the 500-yard hole. With a very shallow green just over a pond, any attempt to get home in two must get there on the fly and have some spin on it to avoid a testy shot from back bunkers.