The Fall Line (West)

Fall Line Golf Club (West) delivers Melbourne Sandbelt architecture to American soil for the first time, opening in October 2024 on a 1,500-acre private property near Mauk in Taylor County, Georgia. Where its companion layout interprets the intimate heathland courses of southwest London, the West takes its cues from the great Australian Sandbelt — broader in scale, longer in length, and defined by a bunker style previously unseen in the United States.

Why Play Fall Line Golf Club (West)?

The West Course occupies the larger, more open terrain of the Fall Line property, with fairways reaching up to 80 yards wide and putting surfaces extended right to the edges of the surrounding bunkers — a Sandbelt hallmark that OCM confirm has not been executed on any American course before. For a private membership capped at approximately 100 individuals, it represents access to a genuinely original design concept.

History of Fall Line Golf Club (West)

A group of Los Angeles-based founders initially approached Gil Hanse to design the club. Hanse subsequently recommended OCM, whose experience on the Melbourne Sandbelt made them well-suited to the property's unusual geology.

OCM selected the Mauk site after evaluating three locations, prioritising consistent undulations, large sand dunes, long views, native pine trees and sandy soil. Construction commenced in January 2022 with routing and clearance, shaping began in July 2022, and the West Course opened for member play in October 2024 — some 12 months after the companion East Course welcomed its first players.

The club's name derives from the geological Fall Line — a 200-mile transition zone between Columbus and Augusta where ancient Atlantic Ocean shorelines deposited sandy soils across a band roughly 30 kilometres (20 miles) wide, creating terrain OCM describe as combining qualities of the Melbourne Sandbelt, London heathland and Pine Valley.

Course Layout & Playing Experience

The West Course is the longer and more expansive of the two Fall Line layouts, stretching to over 7,000 yards from the back tees and playing to a par of 72. Where the East Course measures approximately 6,600 yards across more intimate pine-framed terrain, the West occupies the property's broader ridgelines and open contours — a deliberate architectural contrast between the two 18-hole designs.

OCM drew directly from the Melbourne Sandbelt for the West, referencing the work of Alister MacKenzie and his associate Alex Russell, whose influence on courses such as Royal Melbourne, Victoria, Kingston Heath and Peninsula Kingswood shaped an entire regional style. The West incorporates approximately 75 acres of maintained turf — significantly more than the East — with fairways transitioning directly into sand and native heathland grasses rather than defined rough.

The defining feature is the bunker treatment: flashed sand faces extending to the very edge of the putting complexes, replicating a Sandbelt technique that eliminates the grass buffer typically seen between bunker and green on American courses. The two courses finish side by side at the 18th, providing an immediate visual illustration of the contrasting design philosophies at work across the property.

Verdict

Fall Line Golf Club (West) is a private layout of genuine architectural originality, executing a coherent Melbourne Sandbelt concept on American soil with a precision that sets it apart from any comparable design in the country. Paired with Fall Line Golf Club (East) — its heathland counterpart on the same property — the West forms half of a 36-hole combination with no equivalent in the United States. Still maturing since its October 2024 opening, it is a course to follow closely as conditioning and member reviews develop.