Bent Tree

Getting To Know: Bent Tree Golf Club

An Insightful Interview With Nick Egner, Assistant Golf Professional

By Brian Weis

Whether you have played a course 20+ times a year or looking to play the course for the first time, insights from an insider can help enhance your golf experience. Below is an interview with Nick Egner who shares some valuable tidbits about the course, memorable holes and must eats and treats at the 19th.

Give Our Readers An Overview of the Golf Course/Property
Bent Tree a Joe Lee design, opened in 1972, as one of North Georgia's most exclusive golfing communities. The golf course meanders through the base of several mountains, past waterfalls, mountain streams, and brooks, boldly confronting the broad shoulder of Sharp Top Mountain. Bent Tree is a challenging 18 hole par 72 course with four sets of tees to ensure enjoyment for all levels of play. Bent Tree is a deceptively tranquil setting for a course that requires accuracy at every turn. Bent Tree invites you to experience North Georgia's best kept secret.

If Someone Was Looking To Golf In The Area, Why Should They Play Your Course?
Bent Tree Community, Inc., is located in the Foothills of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains in North Georgia, only an hour from Atlanta. Owned and operated by Bent Tree property owners, this debt-free gated community boasts some of the finest and most affordable amenities in the region. Nature and wildlife abound throughout these rolling hills, streams, waterfalls, and coves.

Relax in the peace and beauty of the North Georgia Mountains.

What Tips or Local Knowledge Would You Provide To Help Them Score Better At Your Course?
The greens are very true, but very hard to read. Almost all putts break towards Sharp Top Mountain. So, I would recommend located Sharp Top Mountain as soon as you arrive at Bent Tree.

Recent Awards or What You Are Most Proud About The Course?
Voted Golf Week Magazine's "Best Mountain Course" of 1992.

Listening to all the members that have been around the club for a long time, our beautiful golf course is in the best shape it has ever been. Our Golf Course Superintendent John Leech and his staff, are ensuring the golf course is in immaculate shape.

What Is The Signature, Most Talked About, or Most Photographed Hole?
Our signature hole is the 210 yard Par 3 Number 7 in which our profile picture captures.

Our most talked about hole is actually the next hole, the 616 Par 5 Number 8, which requires 2 perfect shots just to have 150 yards into a small and severely sloped green from back to front.

What Is Your Favorite Hole? Any Tips to Play It?
Our 474 Par 5 Number 14 is my favorite hole to play on the golf course. As you can tell by the yardage, it is a short par 5 that actually plays downhill the whole way. A BIG drive down the left side of the fairway, with assistance from "the speed slot", can leave you with a mid or short iron into the green guarded by bunkers over a small creek. If you do not hit a good drive, it is a hard lay-up to a fairway that runs downhill severely. Good luck getting a flat lie in the fairway down in the lay-up zone.

Must Have Dish or Drink after the round at the 19th Hole?
My favorite dish at the 19th Hole is cheese quesadilla. It is a simple dish that you may add chicken to, but the simplicity of the dish is what makes it so good.

Who Holds Course Record and What Was Their Score?
Our Head Golf Professional Russell Smith holds the course record with a 64 shot back in 1999.

Back Tee Stats
Par: 72
Yardage: 6410
Slope: 132
Rating: 71.8
More Information
Bent Tree Golf Club
1885 Little Pine Mountain Road
Jasper, GA, 30143
770-893-2626
www.Golfbenttree.com

Revised: 02/20/2013 - Article Viewed 31,188 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.