Congaree Golf Club

Developed by two men who already owned high-end private golf clubs – Friedkin Group chairman Dan Friedkin with Diamond Creek Golf Club and Houston Texas owner the late Bob McNair with The Golf Club at Briar’s Creek – the philanthropic golf facility at Congaree Golf Club is probably unlike any you’ve come across before.

For a start, there are only two members (Friedkin and McNair) and their mission is involve influential individuals who will become “ambassadors,” making a donation to the Congaree Foundation – a non-profit educational initiative – and supporting the educational, vocational and golf instruction opportunities afforded to underprivileged and deserving young people.

Designed by Tom Fazio and opened in 2017, the fairways at Congaree lie within a 3,200-acre property, occupying what was once an 18th-century rice plantation. Thousands of pine trees were removed during construction then the playing corridors were sand capped to promote firm and fast playing conditions. A number of open expanses were also stripped back to fashion big, sandy waste areas.

Large, open-fronted greens allow the ground game to flourish, with closely mown runoff areas collecting wayward approach shots. Rather than tee markers, there are yardage discs on one side of the teeboxes which indicate the distance to the hole, enabling players to choose whatever yardage they like. There are also no cart paths as Congaree is a walking course.

The course can be stretched to a mammoth 7,685 yards, playing to a par of 71, with an interesting mix of pretty par threes, risk-reward par fours and testing par fives. The long par four 8th is the signature hole on the card – golfers navigate round two vast sandy waste areas en route to the green – and the finishing stretch of four straight par fours culminates in a tough approach shot over water and sand to the narrow home green.

In 2021, in an unusual turn of events, the PGA Tour visited Congaree for the Palmetto Championship, a once-only event that replaced the pandemic-impacted Canadian Open. South African Garrick Higgo won the tournament at only his second PGA Tour start.