scgolfclub.com • April 11, 2024

Press Mention: New private golf club announced for Greenville


Future location of Kawonu Golf Club's clubhouse

It had been over 30 years since a new private golf club was opened in Greenville. The new Kawonu Golf Club is moving from planning to construction in the next year. The new golf club is located near Fork Shoals Road and Highway 418. (Ferrell Photo)

Over the last few months the rumor in clubhouses and golf courses around the Upstate has been about a new course being developed in Greenville.


Rumors had the new course being more demanding than the Ocean Course and more exclusive than Augusta National.


The rumors did not set a date for the new course to host a US Open, but if Scott Ferrell had not publicly announced the plans for Kawonu Golf Club in March, plans for a major in the Upstate certainly would have been added to the rumor mill.

Scott Ferrell, Founding Partner, and Andrew Green, Golf Course Designer, at Kawonu Golf Club

It had been over 30 years since a new private golf club was opened in Greenville. The new Kawonu Golf Club is moving from planning to construction in the next year. The new golf club is located near Fork Shoals Road and Highway 418. (Ferrell Photo)

“Hopefully our announcement will settle down the rumors,” offered Ferrell.

A long time executive with the Gary Player Golf Group Ferrell moved to the Upstate with the company around 16 years ago.


With Player he managed the development of golf properties for the company all over the world, but a few years back decided Greenville would be home.

“We love Greenville and with my background I wanted to see if we could bring a new course here,” he said.


After a great deal of planning and with some help from noted Greenville golf developer Barton Tuck as an advisor the idea of an exclusive club on the order of Congaree in Ridgeland and Sage Valley in Aiken took hold.


Kawonu Golf Club will be the first new course in the Upstate since The Cliffs at Mountain Park opened,


It will be the first new private club to open in Greenville since Thornblade Club over 30 years ago.

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

By The Hole Story Podcast July 6, 2026
Scott Ferrell joins us to share the journey of developing Kawonu Golf Club in Greenville, South Carolina, from land selection to design with architect Andrew Green, and the vision for a golf-only, community-focused experience. LISTEN HERE.
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.