Joel Newman • February 2, 2025

Voices of Kawonu: February 2025

Blending Nature and Comfort: Joel Newman

Joel Newman

Joel Newman, Kawonu Golf Club's newly appointed clubhouse architect, brings a wealth of experience to our project. His approach emphasizes understanding the local environment and history through a "windshield survey", meaning driving around the area to absorb visual cues that will influence the design. Joel's enthusiasm for the Kawonu site is evident as he describes its diverse landscape:

 

"It's a really beautiful site," he notes. "You've got the open, rolling fields... beautiful hardwood forest... and that dramatic floodplain of the Reedy River."

 

Joel's vision centers on the concept of "house" in clubhouse: "It's all about the hanging out, the daily living and eating and gathering," he explains. He underscores the importance of indoor-outdoor connectivity: "The clubhouse should have a seamless connection between the interior and exterior spaces, as well as a strong visual link to the golf course and beyond. This indoor-outdoor connectivity is extremely important for enhancing the overall member experience."

 

As Joel prepares for his next site visit, he's already contemplating the delicate balance between the clubhouse and cabin areas:

 

"That's probably one of the more tricky aspects of any of these clubs - finding the right mix of accommodations. We need to consider the overnight national members who might stay for a night or two, as well as the local members who might gather for a few days and have their activities at the cabin. It's about striking the right balance to serve both groups effectively."

 

With Joel Newman at the helm of our clubhouse design, Kawonu members can look forward to a thoughtfully crafted space that not only complements our world-class golf course but also fosters the connections and experiences that make a golf club truly special.

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.