TOWN Magazine • February 28, 2025

Kawonu Golf Club Blends Championship Golf with Captivating Views

Andrew Green says the first time he stepped foot on the land that will one day be the members-only Kawonu Golf Club, he knew.

“For me, the magic of golf is when the ground is graceful enough to keep your ball from flying all over the place but is challenging enough to require you to take a few risks,” Green says. “Kawonu Golf Club will offer golfers that experience.”


But it’s more than a golfer’s eye that Green brings to the table. He’s also the renowned golf course architect behind the 7,300-yard championship course that will soon break ground ahead of an expected 2027 completion date.


“This is a very, very special piece of ground,” Green says. “The first time we visited, the first thing I noticed is that you access it on the higher edge of the entire property, which will allow for commanding views of the entire course for the golfers.”


The ground he’s referring to is about 300 acres of pristine landscape bordered by the Reedy River and Fork Shoals Road in Simpsonville. Within those 300 acres are five small lakes that in recent generations have been popular with duck hunters and will soon be the centerpiece of the Kawonu golfing experience. “Kawonu is the Cherokee word for ‘duck,’” he says.


Beyond the lakes, the course will offer golfers a challenging yet enjoyable experience.

Challenging, Enjoyable Kawonu Golf Club Experience

“This course will present an epic journey through the landscape, and create shots that are unique to the ground,” says the course’s architect. “Each green will shape the strategy of the hole itself, because a great golfing experience tends to work backward from the putting surface to the fairway, to the tee. It will be very fun and engaging.”


The back tees will play more than 7,300 yards on the 18-hole course, but golfers will have four other sets to choose from. “The shortest version of the course plays about 5,000 yards,” he says. “So, there will be a variety of experiences to choose from.”


Another winsome aspect of the course will be a natural sense of community as golfers navigate the layout. “We’re keeping the distances between tee boxes and greens closer together, because it fosters an ability to walk the course and still enjoy it,” Green explains. “Players will not only be able to see where they’ve just played, but where they’re about to play, which is valuable. And it will give groups plenty of opportunity to interact.”

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As for memberships, founding partner Scott Ferrell says a buzz is building. Several notable PGA tour golfers have already joined, with more coming all the time, since they began actively inviting members—primarily through referrals—in May 2024.


“It’s been 30 years since a private club was developed in Greenville,” Ferrell says. “So we’re focusing on a local membership that is overlaid by a regional and national membership base, too. We have members from 18 cities and growing.”


Such a diverse membership will offer players a richer experience on the links, as someone from Greenville might enjoy a round with a member from Chicago, for example. “We’re looking at a membership that is about two-thirds local, one one-third regional and national,” Ferrell says.


The club is a pure golf club and will offer lodging for members and their guests, along with a training center affiliated with the club’s practice facility.


“We want to have golfing at its highest level, and that’s the focus,” Green says. “We want people who love the game of golf to love being at Kawonu.”

This article was originally published by Town Magazine on Feb 28, 2025 — shared here with full credit to the original source.

Kawonu Golf Club Is Becoming One of America’s Most Intriguing New Golf Destinations

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.

Andrew Green’s Next Chapter Arrives With Two Very Different New Golf Courses

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.