Druid Hills Golf Club
- Bryan Jones
- Jul 18
- 5 min read
Updated: Aug 1
Improving the Member Experience and Optimizing Building Stewardship
On a crisp February day in 2022, Jones Pierce Architects walked the grounds of the Druid Hills Golf Club alongside the club’s leadership to understand how their member needs had evolved. Ed Klein, the acting club president, and Joey Wheeler, the general manager, shared how the club had become a vital community anchor during challenging times. The pandemic shifted how members used the space, with younger families driving new demand for enhanced dining, childcare, fitness, and flexible work areas.
"Our goal is only to improve the member experience", Ed and Joey explained. They observed how members changed their use of the club during COVID and wanted to plan for the future aligning the club’s facilities to the needs of their new members who are trending younger. A multi-phase masterplan was set in motion.
That spring and summer, JPA gathered documentation of existing conditions, conducted interviews with staff and member activity groups, and analyzed each building of the entire complex. We identified the spaces being used effectively as well as the areas requiring improvement. Working together with an engaged long-term planning committee, we designed solutions for the underutilized spaces and proposed strategic additions to maximize the use of their existing facilities. The club decided to move forward, prioritizing perhaps the most impactful solution.
This suggested tearing down their underutilized Pool House and replacing it with a new building with better pool amenities (restrooms, showers, check-in, laundry) and other functions that could serve the entire campus as fitness and event spaces.
The project, identified as Phase 1, also included improvements to the pools, pool entrance and deck, and a covered walkway between existing and new structures.
The new 3-story building, dubbed "The Clifton," created 14,838-square-foot of fitness and pool support facilities. The design relocated the fitness center from the clubhouse's basement to a light-filled space on the upper level, as well as provided an exercise roof porch overlooking the pool. One member during the grand opening shared that they might “actually consider working out” since the space is oriented to take in incredible views down the 9th fairway to the north, with the Emory skyline beyond.
On the pool level, we added private family bathrooms, along with new multiple-user pool bathrooms. The Clifton’s main lobby serves as a waiting area as well as a check-in for the fitness center promoting enhanced supervision and security which was important to the club. Also on the pool level, there is a flex room - which overlooks the 9th fairway and can be used for events. By implementing a strategy of in-season and out-of-season pool fences, access to the flex room is available year-round, providing additional amenities for the members.
The terrace level features a new laundry facility for towels, expanded personal training and group fitness rooms, new fitness locker room and bathrooms, along with storage… lots of storage.
This complex new building required integration with the existing pool deck, which sat above most of the club's utilities.
We designed a colonnade envisioning all the classical examples of arcades and respecting the orders proportions. Originally, it was not tied to the Clubhouse due to roughly a 4ft of elevation difference between the roofs and the inability to connect them whilst respecting classical architecture principles. Also, there were the challenges of costs and the club’s stance of remaining true to their allocated budget.
The construction committee was engaged in value engineering, seeking deductions rather than additional payments, this extra cost was considered and one member- ‘the covered connection whisper' – kept carrying the torch for the change. He even pulled us aside at one meeting to say: "You know, we have to provide a covered connection between the club and The Clifton, or we're all going to look silly at the end of this project. You must connect the new building to the club."
After many design iterations, we included a connected design as an alternative in our final drawings. Six months before completion, we were still meeting on-site with the contractor, their subs and structural engineers to determine the best strategy to modify the arcade's elevation over a ramp and integrate it with the existing front porch of the club. The connection whisper was right. We can't imagine the arcade not connecting, tying the club together as a unified design.
The construction timeline was ambitious, spanning from Labor Day 2024 to Memorial Day 2025. This complex new building required integration with the existing pool deck, which sat above most of the club's utilities. The club’s construction committee, the design team including all consultants, Harris Interiors and Hooten Land Design work diligently to finalize all drawings to meet the timeline.
The contractor, Hodges & Hicks, joined the team on October of 2023 and immediately proposed a change to the start date by separating the pool house facilities from the construction site, starting demolition and site work in the summer of 2024 to gain schedule advantages and install foundations during the optimal building season. Those extra months were critical to complete the project on time.
We maintained bi-weekly owner-architect-contractor meetings and weekly coordination sessions to manage RFIs and submittals effectively.
The results from the grand opening on June 15, 2025, exceeded expectations. The club graciously invited us to see the building in action. At least the grand opening night's action, with good food and beverages, helped motivate the crowd on a hot summer evening.
The Clifton's success reflects the power of true collaboration between the owner, committee members, and the design team. From Ed Klein and Joey Wheeler's initial vision to the insights of the long-term planning committee, every voice contributed to shaping the final design. The member who whispered about the covered connection proved prophetic—that the arcade doesn't just bridge buildings; it creates seamless integration that makes The Clifton feel like it has always been part of the club's DNA. The result fulfills the original goal: improving the members’ experience through architecture that looks as though Druid Hills Golf Club was always meant to be this way.
Project Team:
Owner: Druid Hills Golf Club – Joey Wheeler, GM, and the long-term planning committee
Contractor: Hodges & Hicks General Contractors – J.T., Harrison, Ben, Kerry, Sebastian, Mark, Lance, and Little John
Program Manager: Impact Development Management – Ryan Moot and Andrew Spencer
Interior Design: Harris Interiors – Suzanne Jacobs and Kelly Harris
Landscape Design: Hooten Land Design – Don & David Hooten
Architect: Jones Pierce Inc. – Bryan Jones, Angel Shockey, Karlla Dreser, Eric Anderson, Connor Smith
Special thanks to our consultants:
· James Breeden and Bobby Englehart at Stability Engineering - Pool decks over pool vaults, wood frame construction, and weekly meetings to keep it all going. Thank you.
· Alex Burke, Allen Sasser, Ashley Austin, and Ken Bove at Conway and Owen – Pulling off working with separate interiors and architects, working to the finish line at the same time.
· Jonathan Hicks at JVG Consulting Engineering – New pool and original pool decks that drain.
· Mike Barrett at Barrett Design Group – There are still old school specification people who don't make mistakes and do what they say they are going to do when they said they would do it.
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