Golf Course Architecture • April 17, 2025

Construction of new Andrew Green course begins at Kawonu


Construction has started on the Andrew Green-designed course at Kawonu Golf Club, a new invitation-only private club in Simpsonville, South Carolina.


The development is led by founding partners Scott Ferrell and Barton Tuck. Ferrell has worked for the PGA Tour, TPC and Gary Player Group, while Tuck, with his GolfSouth company, has helped to build and manage more than 60 golf courses in the southeast of America.


“Today is about more than a construction milestone – it’s a tangible beginning of a vision to create one of America’s truly great golf clubs,” said Ferrell at the groundbreaking ceremony attended by the 150 members and founders. “We’ve assembled an incredible team, selected an extraordinary piece of land, and embraced a philosophy that honors both tradition and simplicity. Every detail is thoughtfully designed to provide a world-class experience rooted in authenticity, camaraderie, and a profound love for the game.”


The site features rolling meadows, hardwood forests and lakefront vistas. “This property offers something truly special – a natural canvas with character, movement and soul,” said Green. “We are creating something timeless. A course that’s at once familiar yet entirely new. The goal is to create a layout that surprises, challenges and inspires players every time they step onto the first tee while remaining true to the land’s natural character and unique sense of place.”


Kawonu will have a clubhouse, overnight accommodation, a Founder’s Village located between the ninth and thirteenth holes, a Founder’s Fish House restaurant as well as indoor and outdoor spaces. Architect Joel Newman of Thomas and Denzinger, who has portfolio including Ohoopee Match Club, will design the clubhouse, lodging, training center and comfort stations.


“Kawonu is about more than the game,” said Ferrell. “We’re creating a place where golf serves as both an escape and a return to what matters most. Kawonu will be a retreat where the quality of the course shapes the experience, the beauty of the land, and the people who want to be part of something enduring.”


Kawonu is expected to open in spring 2027.

This article was originally written + published by Richard Humphreys Golf Course Architecture on April 17, 2025 — shared here with full credit to the original source.

By Athlon Sports July 1, 2026
The latest construction milestones at South Carolina’s Kawonu Golf Club reveal more than progress; they offer the clearest glimpse yet of a private golf experience rooted in timeless architecture, thoughtful design and an unwavering commitment to the game. Every now and then, a new golf course comes along that quietly captures the attention of architecture enthusiasts long before a single scorecard is signed. Kawonu Golf Club is becoming one of those places. Nestled on more than 290 acres outside Greenville, South Carolina, the private, golf-only club has steadily built momentum over the past year without relying on flashy announcements or celebrity fanfare. Instead, it has allowed the land, the design team and a clearly defined vision to tell its story. Two recent construction milestones—the beginning of course grassing and the unveiling of the clubhouse complex—suggest that story is entering an exciting new chapter. For golfers who appreciate great architecture as much as great golf, these aren’t simply construction updates. They’re the first tangible signs that one of the country’s most anticipated private clubs is beginning to emerge from the landscape. Anyone who has ever watched a golf course being built knows the most important work often happens out of sight. Before fairways turn green, countless hours are spent moving earth, shaping contours, installing drainage and laying irrigation. It’s essential work, but it requires a bit of imagination to see what the finished product will eventually become. That changes once grass begins to take hold. Since breaking ground in April 2025, Kawonu has completed much of the heavy construction across the property. With shaping and irrigation now largely complete, crews have begun sodding and grassing the championship layout, moving methodically from greens and tees to fairways. The transformation may seem cosmetic to the casual observer, but in reality it marks one of the most significant milestones in the life of any new golf course. Andrew Green, whose reputation has skyrocketed through acclaimed restoration work at some of America’s most revered clubs, has said grassing is the stage where golfers finally begin to understand the rhythm of the routing. Instead of isolated construction zones, the individual holes begin connecting into a cohesive journey across the property. That’s particularly exciting at Kawonu, where Green has routed the course through rolling meadows, mature hardwood forests and the Reedy River corridor rather than forcing the landscape to conform to a preconceived design. Everything we’ve learned about the project suggests the land remains the star of the show. READ FULL ARTICLE HERE.
By Athlon Sports June 9, 2026
After years restoring some of American golf’s most important venues, Andrew Green is nearing a new milestone with Firefly in Tennessee and Kawonu Golf Club in South Carolina. Andrew Green’s name has become almost shorthand for one of the most important movements in modern golf architecture. When a historic course needs to remember what it once was without becoming frozen in time, Green has become one of the industry’s most trusted voices. His restoration and renovation work has touched major championship venues, PGA Tour stages and some of the country’s most studied clubs. But the next chapter is not about restoring someone else’s original intent. It is about seeing Green’s own intent come to life. Over the next year, two very different projects will move from construction story to playing experience. Firefly, a new luxury golf community in Spring Hill, Tennessee, is preparing to open an 18-hole championship course and 9-hole short course in fall 2026. Kawonu Golf Club, a private, golf-only club near Greenville, South Carolina, is moving through grassing and grow-in toward a 2027 opening. Together, they create one of the more compelling architecture stories in American golf. Same architect. Same belief in land, strategy and restraint. Two completely different assignments. READ FULL ARTICLE HERE.