Apr. 10—JACKSON — If you build it, they will come.
That seems to be the mantra these days as Aiken County becomes a mecca for high-end, private golf courses.
The latest venture is the 21 Golf Club, located in Jackson not far from the Savannah River Site nuclear reservation and a drag strip that has been in operation for nearly seven decades.
If all goes well, 21 Golf Club will follow the model of Sage Valley, Old Barnwell and The Tree Farm: a world-class golf course with luxury accommodations and amenities on the grounds.
Those, of course, were inspired by the granddaddy of private clubs: Augusta National Golf Club, home of this week’s Masters Tournament.
And the latest course plans to draw inspiration from Alister MacKenzie, who co-designed Augusta National with Bobby Jones.
According to plans on file with the Aiken County Planning and Development Department, the 21 Golf Club will feature two courses and a practice range. Work is currently underway.
Buildings include a clubhouse, hospitality house, cabins for member use and an amenities area.
According to Aiken County land records, 21 Club LLC purchased 481 acres from WFC Timber LLC for $3,815,920 on Sept. 10, 2024.
Course details
King Collins Dormer Golf Course Design is the architect for the project. According to the club’s website, 21 Golf Club will have two 18-hole courses.
The first to be built will be The MacKenzie. Inspired by the famed architect’s original plans for a course in Argentina, it will feature nine double-green complexes. It was known as El Boquerón, and the plans were thought to be lost after his death, but have since been rediscovered.
“We understand the responsibility that comes with undertaking a project like this,” said founder Wes Farrell in a January news release. “Our goal is to honor Alister MacKenzie’s vision while adapting it thoughtfully to our site.”
Connor Lewis, who founded the online Society of Golf Historians, is a member at 21 Golf Club and deeply interested in The MacKenzie project.
“I feel like El Boquerón was designed before its time,” Lewis said. “If you look at all the pressures that golf has now, footprint is definitely one of them. Maintenance, man hours, all those different things. Like St. Andrews sitting on a smaller site and using less resources. It’s just phenomenal to me.”
Lewis said that El Boquerón won’t be exactly duplicated, but the new layout will draw heavily from MacKenzie’s philosophy. The club has formed a MacKenzie Architectural Committee to oversee the project.
“El Boquerón was designed around the same time as Augusta National,” he said. “I feel, without overstepping, that El Boquerón vis a vis now The MacKenzie was a culmination of his thoughts on St. Andrews, his history in camouflage, utilitarian design. I can’t get over nine shared greens and how they will play strategically different. It seems to fit the needs of golf today.
The other will be a dedicated match play course known as the Hammer. According to the description, “the course will allow players to choose from several teeing areas to alter each hole’s routing on the fly. The unique design allows for dozens of configurations, routings and loops, and angles, yardage, or par can all be adjusted to whatever best suits the moment.”
There are also plans for an additional reversible three holes — hence the name 21 Golf Club — to be added to the design and can be used to decide matches not settled after 18 holes.
According to a master plan on the website, the Hammer Course will play to a par of 72 and will be 6,825 yards from the back tees.
“Opportunities of this stature in the world of golf course architecture are precious few,” said Rob Collins, one of the architects, in a statement on the website. “The land upon which 21 Golf Club sits is a geologic anomaly in the Southeastern United States.
“The combination of the boldness of the terrain with its deep, deep sandy soils and the seemingly endless and uninterrupted views offer a rare tapestry for our team. We plan to deliver one of the most exceptional and distinctive experiences in American golf.”
Impact on Jackson
Aiken is on the western edge of South Carolina’s Sandhills region, which stretches across the state to North Carolina.
Jackson is close to the Savannah River and features plenty of farmland on its rolling terrain.
Jackson Mayor Gurney Wiggins said he hasn’t received a whole lot of information about 21 Golf Club, but knows that its construction entrance is located off McElmurray Farm Road.
“I think it’s an awesome opportunity,” Wiggins said. “Not only for our constituents, but to bring in people from outside and take advantage of our restaurants and recreation opportunities.”
For decades, golf in Jackson was synonymous with Jim and Lilie Golf Club. Located off S.C. Highway 125, it was a public 9-hole course that played just under 3,000 yards. Golfers could play two loops to make up an 18-hole round.
Now permanently closed, Jim and Lilie was located not far from where Jackson STEM Magnet Middle School now exists.
Wiggins said 21 Golf Club is being built on a tract that was previously a timber operation.
“Kind of hilly terrain, building a golf course would be a challenge,” he said.
And while locals might not be the target audience for 21 Golf Club, there’s no doubt that Jackson will see some benefits.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for our community,” Wiggins said. “I look forward to it.”
Impact on area courses
When private clubs come into an area, there is a perception that it can hurt the public access courses.
Not so in Aiken.
“Golf is on fire right now,” said Jim McNair Jr., who owns Aiken Golf Club.
He said that 21 Golf Club is “moving dirt right now,” and that will help him in the long run.
“That’s going to bring in a little bit of a worldwide clientele because of the MacKenzie plan,” he said.
At private courses such as Palmetto Golf Club, it’s not uncommon to see vans from other private courses dropping off guests to play at the area’s oldest course.
“It’s great for us, it’s great for the area,” said Brooks Blackburn, general manager at Palmetto.
Ditto for Aiken Golf Club.
“Nick Schreiber and I talked the other day, and he said ‘I’m thinking about building a public access at Old Barnwell. Will that hurt you?'” McNair said. “I laughed. I said what you and Zac Blair (The Tree Farm) have done for play at Aiken Golf Club is amazing. We do get a lot of overflow.”
Another new club, Cypress Shoals, was announced in early 2023 for the North Augusta area along the Savannah River. Two-time Masters winner Tom Watson was linked to the new development as an architect of one of the courses.
Plans called for Cypress Shoals to offer two 18-hole golf courses, a hunting and fishing preserve, and private condos. But no updates have been offered since the 2023 Masters.
While the private clubs will offer on-site housing and dining amenities when fully built, that isn’t the case right now.
“The Tree Farm has cottages now, but Old Barnwell doesn’t,” Blackburn said. “Everyone who comes in to play Old Barnwell still has to have restaurants, hotels, Airbnb, all of that.
“So the impact with 21 will be the exact same thing. They’re going to come to Aiken, these restaurants are going to stay busy, the hotels are going to stay booked.”
JACKSON — If you build it, they will come.
That seems to be the mantra these days as Aiken County becomes a mecca for high-end, private golf courses.
The latest venture is the 21 Golf Club, located in Jackson not far from the Savannah River Site nuclear reservation and a drag strip that has been in operation for nearly seven decades.
If all goes well, 21 Golf Club will follow the model of Sage Valley, Old Barnwell and The Tree Farm: a world-class golf course with luxury accommodations and amenities on the grounds.
Those, of course, were inspired by the granddaddy of private clubs: Augusta National Golf Club, home of this week’s Masters Tournament.
And the latest course plans to draw inspiration from Alister MacKenzie, who co-designed Augusta National with Bobby Jones.
According to plans on file with the Aiken County Planning and Development Department, the 21 Golf Club will feature two courses and a practice range. Work is currently underway.
Buildings include a clubhouse, hospitality house, cabins for member use and an amenities area.
According to Aiken County land records, 21 Club LLC purchased 481 acres from WFC Timber LLC for $3,815,920 on Sept. 10, 2024.
Course details
King Collins Dormer Golf Course Design is the architect for the project. According to the club’s website, 21 Golf Club will have two 18-hole courses.
The first to be built will be The MacKenzie. Inspired by the famed architect’s original plans for a course in Argentina, it will feature nine double-green complexes. It was known as El Boquerón, and the plans were thought to be lost after his death, but have since been rediscovered.
“We understand the responsibility that comes with undertaking a project like this,” said founder Wes Farrell in a January news release. “Our goal is to honor Alister MacKenzie’s vision while adapting it thoughtfully to our site.”
Connor Lewis, who founded the online Society of Golf Historians, is a member at 21 Golf Club and deeply interested in The MacKenzie project.
“I feel like El Boquerón was designed before its time,” Lewis said. “If you look at all the pressures that golf has now, footprint is definitely one of them. Maintenance, man hours, all those different things. Like St. Andrews sitting on a smaller site and using less resources. It’s just phenomenal to me.”
Lewis said that El Boquerón won’t be exactly duplicated, but the new layout will draw heavily from MacKenzie’s philosophy. The club has formed a MacKenzie Architectural Committee to oversee the project.
“El Boquerón was designed around the same time as Augusta National,” he said. “I feel, without overstepping, that El Boquerón vis a vis now The MacKenzie was a culmination of his thoughts on St. Andrews, his history in camouflage, utilitarian design. I can’t get over nine shared greens and how they will play strategically different. It seems to fit the needs of golf today.
The other will be a dedicated match play course known as the Hammer. According to the description, “the course will allow players to choose from several teeing areas to alter each hole’s routing on the fly. The unique design allows for dozens of configurations, routings and loops, and angles, yardage, or par can all be adjusted to whatever best suits the moment.”
There are also plans for an additional reversible three holes — hence the name 21 Golf Club — to be added to the design and can be used to decide matches not settled after 18 holes.
According to a master plan on the website, the Hammer Course will play to a par of 72 and will be 6,825 yards from the back tees.
“Opportunities of this stature in the world of golf course architecture are precious few,” said Rob Collins, one of the architects, in a statement on the website. “The land upon which 21 Golf Club sits is a geologic anomaly in the Southeastern United States.
“The combination of the boldness of the terrain with its deep, deep sandy soils and the seemingly endless and uninterrupted views offer a rare tapestry for our team. We plan to deliver one of the most exceptional and distinctive experiences in American golf.”
Impact on Jackson
Aiken is on the western edge of South Carolina’s Sandhills region, which stretches across the state to North Carolina.
Jackson is close to the Savannah River and features plenty of farmland on its rolling terrain.
Jackson Mayor Gurney Wiggins said he hasn’t received a whole lot of information about 21 Golf Club, but knows that its construction entrance is located off McElmurray Farm Road.
“I think it’s an awesome opportunity,” Wiggins said. “Not only for our constituents, but to bring in people from outside and take advantage of our restaurants and recreation opportunities.”
For decades, golf in Jackson was synonymous with Jim and Lilie Golf Club. Located off S.C. Highway 125, it was a public 9-hole course that played just under 3,000 yards. Golfers could play two loops to make up an 18-hole round.
Now permanently closed, Jim and Lilie was located not far from where Jackson STEM Magnet Middle School now exists.
Wiggins said 21 Golf Club is being built on a tract that was previously a timber operation.
“Kind of hilly terrain, building a golf course would be a challenge,” he said.
And while locals might not be the target audience for 21 Golf Club, there’s no doubt that Jackson will see some benefits.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for our community,” Wiggins said. “I look forward to it.”
Impact on area courses
When private clubs come into an area, there is a perception that it can hurt the public access courses.
Not so in Aiken.
“Golf is on fire right now,” said Jim McNair Jr., who owns Aiken Golf Club.
He said that 21 Golf Club is “moving dirt right now,” and that will help him in the long run.
“That’s going to bring in a little bit of a worldwide clientele because of the MacKenzie plan,” he said.
At private courses such as Palmetto Golf Club, it’s not uncommon to see vans from other private courses dropping off guests to play at the area’s oldest course.
“It’s great for us, it’s great for the area,” said Brooks Blackburn, general manager at Palmetto.
Ditto for Aiken Golf Club.
“Nick Schreiber and I talked the other day, and he said ‘I’m thinking about building a public access at Old Barnwell. Will that hurt you?’” McNair said. “I laughed. I said what you and Zac Blair (The Tree Farm) have done for play at Aiken Golf Club is amazing. We do get a lot of overflow.”
Another new club, Cypress Shoals, was announced in early 2023 for the North Augusta area along the Savannah River. Two-time Masters winner Tom Watson was linked to the new development as an architect of one of the courses.
Plans called for Cypress Shoals to offer two 18-hole golf courses, a hunting and fishing preserve, and private condos. But no updates have been offered since the 2023 Masters.
While the private clubs will offer on-site housing and dining amenities when fully built, that isn’t the case right now.
“The Tree Farm has cottages now, but Old Barnwell doesn’t,” Blackburn said. “Everyone who comes in to play Old Barnwell still has to have restaurants, hotels, Airbnb, all of that.
“So the impact with 21 will be the exact same thing. They’re going to come to Aiken, these restaurants are going to stay busy, the hotels are going to stay booked.”
