McDonough · Henry County · Golf
Georgia National Golf Club
The 18-hole championship course on Lake Dow Road in McDonough, open to public play, with a full practice area and a clubhouse grille.
Georgia National Golf Club sits at 1715 Lake Dow Road on McDonough's northeast side. It is a semi-private club that welcomes public play year-round, and this page gives the honest lay of it: the course, the practice facilities, the clubhouse, and the visit math.
The course
A Denis Griffiths design from 1994
The 18-hole course was designed by architect Denis Griffiths, ASGCA, and opened in 1994. It plays to a par of 71 and measures about 6,874 yards from the championship tees (roughly 6,900 from the very tips, depending on the source), with a published course rating of 73.5 and a slope of 133 over Bermuda turf. In plain terms it is a real championship test from the back tees and a very playable round from the middle and forward sets, which is the honest way most public players should read it.
The club is operated by Green Valley Golf Group, a family-owned company based in McDonough that runs five metro Atlanta courses, with Georgia National as one of its home properties. The routing plays through the treed Lake Dow country, so expect tree-lined holes and Bermuda fairways rather than open parkland.
Practice facilities
The range and the short game, on site
Before the round
The club keeps a driving range, a putting green, and a chipping and short-game area on site, which makes the warm-up honest instead of the parking-lot putt-practice most public courses offer.
Rentals
Golf carts and club rentals are available, so a traveler without a bag can still get a full round in. Confirm availability when you book, especially on weekends.
The clubhouse
A dining room and a bar and lounge with grill service
The clubhouse includes a dining room, which the club also uses for events and parties, and a bar and lounge with grill service, the natural stop after the back nine. The dining room can host gatherings of roughly 70 people, and the grille is the everyday answer for the 19th hole. Hours are seasonal and event-dependent, so the honest advice is to confirm what is open before you plan a meal around the round.
Dress and etiquette
The traditional course rules still apply
Georgia National runs a traditional country-club dress code on the course and practice facilities: collared shirts are the requirement, and published listings say to leave the denim, running or jogging shorts, swimwear, tank tops, t-shirts, and flip-flops at home, with no metal spikes on the turf. The polite version: pack the collared shirt and a pair of proper golf shorts, and you are covered.
Etiquette follows the same standard: repair ball marks, rake the bunkers, keep the pace, and let faster groups play through. It is a public course that asks to be treated like a private one.
Tee times and rates
Book online, confirm the rate before you go
Tee times are bookable online through the club's own site and the standard golf booking services, which makes the weekend round a five-minute job from the couch. The club does not publish a fixed public rate; third-party estimates run roughly $40 to $65 a round including a cart depending on the time of day and season, so confirm the current price when you book. Twilight and weekday times are the lower end, weekends the higher.
The quick answers
- Course: 18 holes, par 71, about 6,874 yards from the championship tees.
- Public play: yes, semi-private and open year-round.
- Practice: range, putting green, chipping and short-game area, cart and club rentals.
- Dress: collared shirts required, no denim or athletic shorts per published listings.
- Booking: online tee times through the club and golf booking services.
Inquiries and help
Need a tee time confirmed, a group rate, or the current hours? Send a note through this page and it goes straight to the club's desk. Phone numbers and emails are not published here, on purpose.
The plan
The honest visit plan
- Book the tee time online ahead of the weekend; walk-up availability is thin when the weather is good.
- Pack the collared shirt and proper shorts, and skip the jeans, per the published dress code.
- Get there early enough for the range and the putting green; the short-game area is a real warm-up.
- Plan the meal after the round at the clubhouse grille, and confirm the grille hours that day.
- From McDonough's square it is a short drive out Lake Dow Road, and the airport run is the same I-75 corridor visitors already know.
An editorial guide, not a listings site. Course details verified at publication and subject to change; confirm rates and hours with the club. Updated September 22, 2026.