Bowden Golf Course

Detailed description of Bowden Golf Course

Bowden Golf Course is a Public, 18 hole golf course located in Macon, Georgia.

Bowden Golf Course is an 18-hole course that opened in 1940, making it the second oldest course in Macon. The 18-hole, 229-acre course was laid out in 1938 on the former Miller Field airport. The course was designed by John “Dick” Cotton, a Macon golfer and businessman, who with other local golfers asked for a public course after Macon's Lakeside Course closed in the mid-1930s.

The mayor of Macon at that time, Charles Bowden, agreed to assist in any way, except financially. The city had no money during the Great Depression to build golf courses.

The course opened in 1940, built with help from the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA), but benches and a pump house are the only structures that still date from that time. The other buildings were built in 1974, but the course’s overall design remains unchanged. 

In 1961 Bowden became the first Macon public facility to integrate. The city busses integrated the following year, 1962.

The course has long required annual subsidies from local government. The (2015) budget allocated about $420,000 to subsidize Bowden. The special purpose local option sales tax approved in 2011 included $600,000 for improvements to the course, mostly for a new irrigation system.

Bowden can provide a challenge for players of any ability, with four sets of tees on each hole, ranging in length from 4,940 to 6,626 yards

Bowden has a full length driving range with a large tee area, a chipping green, and a putting green. Lessons available with an appointment.

In 2015, Bowden was nominated for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.

The course was closed for about a year (2017-2018) while undergoing a $340,000 renovation.