In 2006 The Waterfall Club, in the North Georgia mountains, was the first golf course I ever photographed, and last Summer I returned to photograph this beautiful golf course, designed by Scott W. Pool, to give it another go.  

My first taste of golf course photography came courtesy of Scott Pool, who was introduced to me by mutual friend, Jack Sauers, as the “best golf course designer you never heard of”.  At the time, Scott was building two courses for Killearn, south of Atlanta… Eagles Brooke and Durham Lakes.  I was designing web sites, and Scott hired me to build one web site for his golf course design business and a second for GreenScan 3D, his revolutionary LIDAR scanning service for the golf industry.  

Honestly, I can't recall whether Scott asked me to photograph his courses as part of our web development agreement or whether I sold him on the idea.  But I had a camera... my sole qualification... and an interest.  And that's how my golf course photography career began.  Not a bad thing to have such a beautiful property as my first subject.  I took photos of the courses under construction, and I took my camera along when Scott and I visited Waterfall to play golf.  As to the photos… I did everything wrong, but I loved taking the photos and working with the images in Photoshop was fascinating to me. 

From the time I decided that golf course photography was my sweet spot, I’ve wanted to go back to Waterfall with professional equipment and a much-improved skill set.  So when I was contacted by Rob Hewlett, one of the clubs owners, about shooting Waterfall, I was all in.  This really is one of the most scenically beautiful properties in the Southeast.  And the course, itself, is spectacular.  Add to that the fact that superintendent, Ian Murphy, and his team are taking great care of the course, and the result was a great collection of images.  Many thanks to Jason LeBlanc, Club Manager, and his entire team for a great visit to a wonderful club.