On the night the Landing Clubhouse burned, a member family had just hosted a wedding reception at home. Late in the evening they loaded trays of reception food and a cooler of drinks, then drove them to the firefighters still working at the clubhouse. Reynolds later told members that the whole family helped carry them in, "including the new bride still in her wedding dress," according to Lake Oconee News.
The fire on Saturday night, October 10, left the Landing Clubhouse a total loss. Most of the coverage has focused on ESSĒ, and that makes sense. The building held much more than a restaurant, though, and a week later the bigger change for anyone living around the Bob Cupp course is that a routine once anchored in one place now runs through several.
One Building Was Doing Five Jobs
FOX 5 Atlanta reported that crews arrived within about five minutes and found the 20,000-square-foot structure heavily involved in flames. Wind made the work harder. Staff evacuated every patron and checked that each room was clear before they left, and no injuries were reported. Greene County Fire Rescue praised the Reynolds staff for "their outstanding actions in evacuating all patrons," as WSB-TV reported.
The list of bookings Reynolds is now rescheduling shows how much of the neighborhood's week ran through that one address. In its message to members, reported by Lake Oconee News, Reynolds listed:
- Member and guest tee times
- ESSĒ dining reservations
- Fitness classes
- Events
- The Landing meeting room reservations
- Overnight accommodations bookings
The same report says the fire also damaged the clubhouse's guest rooms, its fitness area, and its golf shop.
ESSĒ was a newer addition to an old site. The Landing was the first golf course built at Lake Oconee, in 1986, and opened as Port Armor Golf Club before Reynolds bought it in 2005. The restaurant next to the clubhouse was renovated about two years ago and renamed ESSĒ, from the Latin for "to be." It took second place in the remodeled private food and beverage category of Golf Inc. magazine's 2025 Golden Fork competition. "When the restaurant was renovated, it became a new hub and gathering spot for the Landing community and a very popular spot for our members," Reynolds Director of Marketing Brian Gaydica told Lake Oconee News. In Atlanta News First's coverage, one member described birthday lunches, company meetings, and families at tables with kids doing homework.
The Course Is the Part That Stayed
Of everything the clubhouse supported, golf is the only part still running in roughly the same spot.
As of mid-October, Reynolds' live course-status page gave two instructions for The Landing. All golf check-in happens at the bag drop, and the driving range is set up on the North End. That page updates every day, so check it on the morning of your tee time.
For now the course has to manage without the things players used to find before and after a round, like the golf shop and the locker rooms, plus a lunch table steps from the 18th green. Reynolds says it is still working on "long-range plans to accommodate as many of these member bookings and events as possible."
Dinner Moved Across the Property
Reynolds' first public step on dining was a schedule change. The National Tavern is opening on Monday nights to give members another dinner option. The Tavern is a pub-style restaurant on the 18th hole of the Richland course. It serves lunch and dinner, and Reynolds describes the menu as seasonal ingredients with twists on traditional favorites. Its posted address is 1145 National Drive, and the Summer 2026 menu ran from salads and fish tacos to pizzas and dinner entrées. Reynolds has not published hours for the added Monday service, so call ahead.
Another clubhouse is also out right now, which makes the shuffle harder. The same status page says the Great Waters clubhouse and locker rooms are closed for renovation, with restrooms available at the Waterview Pub. Here is how the other tables at Reynolds are listed on the Reynolds culinary page and the Ritz-Carlton dining page:
| Table | What's listed | Who it serves |
|---|---|---|
| The National Tavern | Lunch and dinner, plus the new Monday dinner | Members |
| Eighty8 Kitchen + Cocktails | Breakfast, Sunday brunch, dinner, cocktails | Members |
| The Overlook at Great Waters | Dinner Thursday through Saturday | Members |
| The Creek Club | Lunch and dinner menus | Platinum Members |
| Richland Pointe | Lakefront dining | Platinum Members |
| Linger Longer Steakhouse | Daily, 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. | Ritz-Carlton |
| Gaby's by the Lake | Daily, 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., walk-in only | Ritz-Carlton |
Before ESSĒ burned, Reynolds called Eighty8 a long-standing social hub. With one clubhouse lost and another under renovation, the tables in this chart may fill faster on busy autumn nights than they did last year. Gaby's takes walk-ins only, so on a crowded evening it is the one table on this list you can't reserve.
The Highway 44 Tables Are Closer Than They Were a Year Ago
Dining outside the gate has grown this year. Three openings along the Highway 44 corridor are all from 2026:
- Tee Time 44, 1027 Georgia 44 in Eatonton, pairs indoor golf with a full restaurant and bar. Its owners held a ribbon-cutting on September 10, and Lake Oconee News lists hours of 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and noon to 11 p.m. Sunday. If your range session has moved to the North End and dinner has moved across the property, this one building does both.
- Pho & More, a family-owned Vietnamese restaurant at 113 Harmony Crossing, opened in March. By July, Lake Oconee News reported that it already had a following.
- Surcheros Fresh Mex held its grand opening April 27 at 109 Thunder Point Drive in Eatonton, according to Lake Oconee Life. Lake Oconee News places it beside Highway 44 near Thunder Pointe.
On Saturday mornings, Oconee Bagel Co. sets up at the farmers market in Harmony Park at Harmony Crossing. It first appeared there in May 2026, according to Lake Oconee Life.
The Next Gathering on the Calendar
The next big date at Reynolds is the Ritz-Carlton's Lighting at the Lake on Wednesday, November 25, at 6 p.m. The Mistletoe Market runs from 4 to 8 p.m. the same evening. The 5,000-square-foot Winter Forest also opens November 25 and then runs daily in two sessions, according to the Ritz-Carlton's holiday page. In other years, Landing neighbors might have met at their own clubhouse that week. This year the lakefront by the Ritz is the obvious place.
As of the October reports, the cause of the fire had not been determined. The Georgia State Fire Marshal's office was reviewing it, and Reynolds staff were assisting on site. Gaydica told Lake Oconee News it was too early to talk about rebuilding, but that the plan is to replace the clubhouse and restaurant. Reynolds' own statement says it will spend "the coming days, weeks, and months" working out "the next generation of The Landing clubhouse," and it has not announced a timeline.
Riezl Baker has lived in Lake Country since 1997 and has watched The Landing change hands, get remodeled, and gain ESSĒ. If the change in routine has you wondering how the neighborhood will look once a new clubhouse goes up, Riezl Baker is glad to talk it through over coffee, wherever the Landing ends up gathering this season.
