The Canyon Ridge Club golf course opened for play in June of 2005 and immediately became one of the best golf courses in the Chattanooga area. The holes are routed through a dramatic setting of mountain meadows, streams and natural rock landscapes. Elevated tees provide magnificent views in every direction. No two holes are alike, and the pure scale of the land makes each hole feel worlds apart from the others. An ever changing wind cools the course in the summer and challenges the golfer to choose the correct club or face the consequences.
The course will challenge the scratch golfer from the back tees while still providing a very playable test from the shorter tees to accommodate the average golfer. In addition to extraordinary golf, the Canyon Ridge membership offers access to world class amenities which currently include the heated pool, state-of-the-art tennis courts, hiking trails and the pointe pavilion.
Golf FAQ's
Location? Canyon Ridge golf course is located 30 minutes south of Chattanooga on Lookout Mountain - 3.1 miles south of the 157/136 interchange on hwy 157.
Open to the Public? Yes. The Canyon Ridge golf course is open to the public. A tee-time is required so please call ahead.
Gated? Yes. Be prepared with your name & tee-time at the front gate call box when you arrive.
Type of Greens? The Canyon Ridge greens are A-1 bentgrass. The greens at Canyon Ridge are certainly among the best kept greens in the Chattanooga area.
Practice Range? Yes. However, for non-members our driving range & putting green are for warm-up only.
Architect? Rick Robbins of Robbins & Associates International. Robbins worked for Nicklaus/Sierra Development Corporation where he helped in the development of many Jack Nicklaus Communities
and then to Golden Bear Design, where he became a Senior Design Associate in the Hong Kong office before starting his own firm in 1991. Robbins has 28 open golf courses both in the USA & Asia. He also has 10 projects currently under construction.
Canyon Ridge Golf Course Review
Fore Georgia Magazine
Located on top of Lookout Mountain (only 30 minutes from Chattanooga), Canyon Ridge has the setting and the views of a mountain-style layout, but veteran golf course designer Rick Robbins has eased some of the severity that can occasionally make a round on a mountain course a little too frustrating.
Only a handful of holes feature significant elevation changes, with the par-5 sixth about the only hole you may not have kind words for after you play it. The golf experience at Canyon Ridge begins with a spectacular view from the elevated tee at the par-5 first, with an even more eye-popping vista from the green.
Most of the elevation changes will be negotiated in carts between holes, as Robbins has kept the playing terrain, especially the landing areas, reasonably level. Although some of the fairways have a modest amount of roll, you will not be subject to slightly off-target shots plunging down steep inclines, with the relatively ample corridors allowing for some leeway off the tee.
While Canyon Ridge lacks the severity of a typical mountain layout, it has more than its share of hazards along the way, some a lot harder than what you’re used to encountering. Robbins has allowed the natural elements of the property to come into play, which means lots of rock formations and a number of creeks dotted by rocks that might actually send a mis-hit shot careening off one back into play.
A number of holes are lined by native areas with heavy foliage, fescue, rocks and creeks. A decent amount of accuracy will take most of the trouble out of play, but a decent amount of inaccuracy will have you digging into the bag for another ball. You can play away from the trouble on some of the holes, but there are enough with danger lurking right and left to keep things interesting.
With a fairly healthy amount of trouble within reach, as well as a handful of significant carries from the tee, Robbins has left the greens complexes on the tame side, although a few include sharp drop-offs if you overshoot the putting surface. Bunkering is very modest, with only a few of the gently sloping greens guarded by hazards seriously in play.
As you might expect for a course in the mountains, the terrain at Canyon Ridge is on the firm side, allowing tee shots to get more roll than you might be accustomed from the state’s courses that have been saturated by rain. With almost all the approaches to the mostly mid-sized greens open, you can land shots short to get to front pins, which will typically leave you with some sharp-breaking downhillers from above the hole.
Canyon Ridge measures 6,906 yards from the back tees and 6,465 from the blues, and plays to a par of 71 with five par 3s. The whites are 6,083 and the reds 5,055, but with several holes including alternate sets of tees, the yardages can vary. With the number of elevated tees, the firmness of the terrain and the elevation, Canyon Ridge will not play its length, with accuracy generally a more necessary asset than power. The course has a fairly healthy slope rating of 139 from the back tees, due to the trouble off the fairways and the rock outcroppings and creeks that will manage to painfully interject themselves into your enjoyable day on the links at some point or two.
Courses that require its visitors to travel a significant distance to either play golf are in real need of some attention-getting holes at the start and finish, and Canyon Ridge certainly has that.
The par-5 first features a 100-foot drop from tee to fairway, and is actually pretty inviting if you’re ready to go from your first swing and are able to avoid the first of the rocky horrors just off the right edge of the green.
The 18th is a par 4 of some length with rocks popping up all over the place and a tree in the left side of the fairway that is best avoided. The hole appears perched on the top of the mountain, with a similar view to the one from the first hole. Look to the left, but don’t hit it in that direction if you want to save your ball from a painful plunge to parts unknown.
In between lies an interesting collection of holes, including five holes on the eastern edge of the property that have some definite parkland qualities with wide fairways and minimal elevation changes. Among the best and prettiest holes is the par-4 second, with a pond left of the fairway requiring a wellplaced tee shot, followed by an approach that must carry the first of a number of rocky creeks along the way.
Like the first hole, the 17th is a kinder, gentler par 5, with the green visible from the tee, which is surrounded by fescue that makes for an appealing view of a nonthreatening nature.
The other two par 5s are considerably meaner, although the sixth is potentially inviting if you hit the ball correctly. The tee shot has to put on the brakes before reaching the end of the fairway, which plummets 120 feet down the rocks to the landing area for the second shot. You can’t see the land below unless you step on the boulders at the end of the fairway, so just pick out a distant stand of trees and let it fly. With trouble right and left and a landing area that’s not especially generous, this is your basic hit and hope hole, but with its downhill nature, longer hitters can get home in two and the rest of us can look forward to a short third if we find the lower landing area.
The long, uphill 12th has a ravine through the fairway, a dropoff to rocks and fescue short and left of the green and is just a hard hole. Fortunately, there aren’t many others like it, with a mostly tame group of par 3s devoid of serious length or trouble, and no monster par 4s.
Robbins is to be commended for making Canyon Ridge as playable as it is considering the setting, and this is a course well worth the trip to find it and one you will want to return to for both the quality of the layout and the incredible views.
The Canyon Ridge Club golf course opened for play in June of 2005 and immediately became one of the best golf courses in the Chattanooga area. The holes are routed through a dramatic setting of mountain meadows, streams and natural rock landscapes. Elevated tees provide magnificent views in every direction. No two holes are alike, and the pure scale of the land makes each hole feel worlds apart from the others. An ever changing wind cools the course in the summer and challenges the golfer to choose the correct club or face the consequences.
Located on top of Lookout Mountain (only 30 minutes from Chattanooga), Canyon Ridge has the setting and the views of a mountain-style layout, but veteran golf course designer Rick Robbins has eased some of the severity that can occasionally make a round on a mountain course a little too frustrating.
A number of holes are lined by native areas with heavy foliage, fescue, rocks and creeks. A decent amount of accuracy will take most of the trouble out of play, but a decent amount of inaccuracy will have you digging into the bag for another ball. You can play away from the trouble on some of the holes, but there are enough with danger lurking right and left to keep things interesting.
Courses that require its visitors to travel a significant distance to either play golf are in real need of some attention-getting holes at the start and finish, and Canyon Ridge certainly has that.
