In 1930, in Northeastern Pickens County, Col. Sam Tate opened a 10,000-acre resort for wealthy Atlantans called Tate Mountain Estates. The Estates featured a dude ranch, kids camp, private 38-acre lake, trapshooting, archery, fox hunts, and a massive 20 plus bedroom lodge named Connahaynee. The other premier amenity was the 18-hole, par 71 course built by Stiles and Van Kleek.
John R. Van Kleek was a well-known golf course architect. His firm was headquartered out of Boston, Massachusetts and St. Petersburg, Florida. Of the course of their career, Stiles and Van Kleek designed and built over 140 premier courses throughout the United States. Some courses of note are The Cranwell Golf Club, Taconic, and Wahconah Country Club. (Bobby Jones played his last round of golf here.)
The Lake Sequoyah Golf Course at Tate Mountain Estates was built mostly on the northeastern corner of Lake Sequoyah, itself named after the famous Cherokee who created the syllabary allowing the Cherokee to read and write in English. Its greens were made from Bent Grass and Fescue.
Charlie Yates was a frequenter of the course. Yates of course, being great friends with Bobby Jones, played with Bobby at TME. Charlie held and still holds the record for the course. The course had a Caddyshack located at the tee of hole number 1. There people could purchase balls Spalding Kro-Flights or Acushnet balls. A wooden bridge spanned the course between holes 11 and 12 and 16 and 17.
The original architectural drawing of Lake Sequoyah Golf Course - courtesy of SOAR archives Kennesaw
Asheville Postcard Co. - Hole No. 2, Lake Sequoyah Golf Course
Within a few years of Lake Sequoyah’s Golf Course opening, Charlie Yates and Bobby Jones can be seen sitting in the first row of the first Masters Tournament in 1934.
Sadly, the Great Depression had wreaked havoc on the finances of Tate Mountain Estates and by the mid-1930s the course began going out of operation. Even though the course was completely out of operation by the early 40s, it was maintained well into the 50s.
About half of the courses 18-holes are visible in this 1955 USDA aerial photograph.
The old wooden span across the course
Today the residents of Tate Mountain Estates use parts of the course as a place to walk and enjoy nature. As you walk along the wooden bridge, if you listen closely, you can still hear echoes of the ghosts of Yates and Jones, as they bantered in their prime.
The remnants of some of the course can still be seen from satellite in this 2021 Google Earth image.