Echelon, Bear's Best, Château Élan and a rental home in Buckhead are the plan. A 16.9% lodging tax plus Georgia's $5 nightly fee, golf bag fees and a car to reach courses 30 to 60 minutes out are what push the total up.
Plan my golf trip for me: budget, dates and courses →Starts with a sample trip. Change any number to match yours. Set up your travel profile to fill these in for you.
Compare hotels in Buckhead →Pick each course you'll play (one round per golfer) and we'll price it for your group. Prices are per golfer for 18 holes, with the season and time of day you choose. Your picks set “Green fees per golfer (whole trip)” in your budget.
418 courses around Atlanta that take public tee times, by city, with peak green fees. Private member clubs are left out.
A long, hilly Rees Jones course built as a high-end private club that now sells public tee times; one of the hardest tests in Georgia.
golfpass.com greenfeetracker.comEighteen copies of Jack Nicklaus's favorite holes from courses he designed around the world.
clubcorp.com golfpass.comLake Lanier resort course with water on a dozen holes and real elevation; public tee times are Thursday to Saturday only.
golfpass.com golfpass.comThe resort's flagship course at a winery northeast of Atlanta, with water on more than half the holes.
golfpass.com golfforkings.pages.devThe resort's tree-lined second course, a little tighter and quieter than the Chateau Course.
golfpass.com golfnow.comA Fazio course west of Atlanta off I-20 with bentgrass greens, big bunkers and elevation changes.
golfpass.com golfnow.comA city-owned Arnold Palmer course at the Georgia International Horse Park; tough, over 7,000 yards from the back, and good value.
golflink.com golf.comA city course in Buckhead: a reversible nine you can play twice as 18, plus a big practice area, minutes from intown hotels.
golfdigest.com golfforkings.pages.devA short, well-kept nine next to East Lake, good for beginners or a quick round near downtown.
golf.com atlanta.comA hilly, tree-lined city course in Buckhead that is walkable and busy on weekends.
greenfeetracker.com atlanta.comA Robert Trent Jones Sr. layout inside Stone Mountain Park with views of the mountain; expect a park parking fee on top.
greenfeetracker.com golfpass.comThe friendlier of Stone Mountain's two courses, with lake views and a shorter, resort-style layout.
greenfeetracker.com golfpass.comA well-kept, friendly public course northeast of the city that golfers rate very highly for conditions.
golfpass.com golfpass.comThree hilly, wooded nines near Lake Lanier, with bentgrass greens and a strong value reputation.
golfpass.com golfpass.comA rolling, well-rated daily-fee course in Forsyth County north of the city.
greenfeetracker.com golflink.comA Cobb County course with eight holes along Lake Acworth; tight, hilly and good value.
golfpass.com golflink.comA demanding course south of Atlanta, handy for an Atlanta Motor Speedway weekend.
golfpass.com golflink.comA state-park course in the woods about an hour east of the city, cheap and rarely crowded.
gastateparks.org greenfeetracker.comThe sample is 4 travelers for 4 nights. Your plan ($7,316) covers the main costs most people budget for, the ones you enter on the left. Costs people forget ($2,893, about 40% more for this trip) are the fees, taxes, tips and extras listed in the calculator. Prices were last checked on October 17, 2026.
Share of the $10,209 real cost. Nights and travelers multiply most of these costs, so changing either one moves the total the most.
13 of this trip's numbers link to a published price or rate. The rest are our estimates, and each one says what it is based on. You can also read how we calculate every trip.
| Cost | Default | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Green fees per golfer (whole trip) | $460 per traveler | Four peak-spring rounds with cart: Echelon $124 (Fri–Sun rate, Green Fee Tracker, Apr 2026), Bear's Best $129 (ClubCorp weekend-morning rate; card dated 2024), Château Élan Chateau Course about $110 (top of the $60–$130 range from Golf for Kings, June 2026) and The Frog about $95 (GolfLink estimate carried from our Georgia course list). Total $458, rounded to $460. Judgment call. Source |
| Rental home per night (whole group) | $450 a night | Atlanta short-term rentals average about $202–$264 a night across all sizes (Airbtics, Sept 2025–Aug 2026; BNBCalc, 12 months to Sept 2026); rates peak in June. $450 for a 4-bedroom home in Buckhead is our estimate. Judgment call. Source |
| Airfare per person | $489 per traveler | US DOT (BTS) average domestic itinerary fare for Atlanta (ATL), Q2 2026: $489.28 (Q1 2026 was $476.37). Source |
| Food per person, per day | $86 per traveler, per day | GSA FY2027 meals and incidentals (M&IE) rate for Atlanta (Fulton and DeKalb counties): $86 a day. Source |
| Cost | Default | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Checked bag fees | $90 per traveler | Major US airlines charge about $35 to $50 for a first checked bag each way, so about $90 round trip. Source |
| Golf bag fees | $110 per traveler | American, Delta, United and Southwest treat a golf bag as a standard checked bag; a second bag is $55 each way. Source |
| Shipping your clubs Off by default | $108 per traveler | Ground shipping for a golf bag starts around $54 each way. Source |
| Lodging taxes | 16.9% of the rental home (whole group) | City of Atlanta hotel-motel tax 8% (raised from 7% in FY2012, City of Atlanta) + 8.9% sales tax on the Fulton County side (4% state, 3% county, 1.5% city, 0.4% TSPLOST; Kintsugi rate table, Sept 2026) = 16.9%. The DeKalb side of the city is 16.0%; suburbs such as Alpharetta differ. Source |
| Georgia hotel fee | $5 a night | Georgia Department of Revenue: a $5.00 fee for each night an accommodation is rented, including short-term rentals booked through online marketplaces. A hotel stay with two rooms pays $10 a night. Source |
| Rental car | $90 a day | KAYAK at ATL (Nov 2026): SUVs average about $69 a day, large cars about $72 and vans about $147; July is the priciest month. $90 a day for a minivan or large SUV in spring. Judgment call. Source |
| Stone Mountain Park parking Off by default | $25 for the trip | Stone Mountain Park daily parking pass: $25 per vehicle (annual pass $40). Source |
| Drinks on the course | $80 per traveler | Our estimate of about $20 a round for beverage-cart drinks and snacks. Judgment call. Our estimate |
| Golf balls | $55 per traveler | A dozen Titleist Pro V1 balls lists at $55. Source |
| Tips for bag drop and cart staff | $20 per traveler | A few dollars at bag drop and the turn; we use $5 a round. Judgment call. Source |
| Side bets and prizes | $50 per traveler | Our estimate for skins, team bets and a small trophy. Our estimate |
| Lessons and extras you picked Off by default | $0 for the trip | Set by the extras you pick in the tee-time planner. Our estimate |
| Travel insurance | 6% of your plan | Squaremouth says a comprehensive plan averages about 6% of the trip cost, usually 4% to 10%. Source |
| Pre-trip shopping | $60 for the trip | Our estimate for travel-size toiletries, sunscreen and small things bought before a trip. Our estimate |
| Pet boarding or sitter | $50 a day, if you check Pets | Dogster puts regular kennel boarding at about $35 to $85 a night. Overnight sitters at home cost more. Source |
For 4 golfers spending 4 nights in peak spring season, with four rounds each, a rental home, flights and food, plan on about $7,320. Once you add golf bag fees, lodging taxes, georgia hotel fee, rental car, drinks on the course, balls, tips and side bets, it's closer to $10,210, or about $2,550 each. Use the tee-time planner above to price the courses you want.
December through February, when rates are at their lowest. The trade-off is dormant Bermuda fairways and frost delays on cold mornings. In summer, late tee times are the bargain: Bear's Best drops from $119–$133 in the morning to $79–$94 at sunset. Source
Yes. Echelon was built as a private club but now sells public tee times. Expect about $104 Monday to Wednesday, $109 on Thursday and $124 Friday to Sunday, with a cart. Source
Public tee times are Thursday to Saturday. Sunday to Wednesday is held for groups and events, which you can book by phone at 678-318-7862. Source
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (ATL), about 15 miles south of Buckhead. Most of the best public courses are north and east of the city, 30 to 60 minutes from Buckhead, so plan on a car.