Old Barnwell is inspired. The golf club itself breaks with traditional norms of what is expected from a world-class private club and is as unique as the course itself. One feels similar to Old Barnwell as we have come to feel about Sand Hills in Nebraska - it's too early to know what it will become in golf course architecture lore but it's fair to say it is already one of the finest golf courses in the USA, newly built or from the Golden Age.
Old Barnwell is inspired. The golf club itself breaks with traditional norms of what is expected from a world-class private club and is as unique as the course itself. One feels similar to Old Barnwell as we have come to feel about Sand Hills in Nebraska - it's too early to know what it will become in golf course architecture lore but it's fair to say it is already one of the finest golf courses in the USA, newly built or from the Golden Age.
Less than an hour from Augusta National Golf Club, Old Barnwell is doing its best to take some of the spotlight away from its storied neighbour. Old Barnwell has cemented South Carolina as golf's hottest must-visit golf destination.
Brian Schnieder (Principal at Renaissance Golf Design) co-produced Old Barnwell with fellow golf course architect shaper associate, Blake Conant. Nick Schreiber put the band together and produced something new in the world of golf and golf course architecture - a rare feat indeed.
Old Barnwell founder, Nick Schreiber, has created a golf club to attract members that will bring the community together. Eventually, the club will sport two 18-hole golf courses and allow four, female aspiring professionals with housing and unlimited access to the facilities. A youth caddie program is also being established for 14-20 year olds - who in addition to tips will get paid even if they don't pick up a loop. There is also a budding partnership with two historically Black colleges and universities, who will use the course and facilities and perhaps even play their national championship there. There's even a paid maintenance apprenticeship program for high school students who have an interest in agronomy and greenkeeping. If you haven't picked on it yet, the traditional barriers of entry to the game in the Deep South are actively being removed.
The ultimate goal is to fashion a golf club based on community, reflected in its membership, that is a force for unity rather than division. Golf is used here for good rather than reinforcing the stereotypical norms that still typify many elite, private golf clubs. The goals and aspirations were lofty - idealistic, if not altruistic. Laudable and exemplary, the golf just happens to be damn good.
The first course named Old Barnwell, which opened in 2023, combines the efforts of Brian Schneider and Blake Conant. The two golf course architects had 575 acres of sandy loam to work with it - and they used it fully, creating an expansive feeling golf course with width as a primary component of play.
Uniquely, the scorecard lists the par as 73. Of the 18 holes, there are only three one-shot holes. The back nine has three par 5's with two back-to-back at 15 and 16. The par 4's are varied as you would expect with half par holes a plenty.
Listen to Brian Schneider discuss building Old Barnwell
The routing leaves the clubhouse on the 1st and only returns on the 18th. A berm, reminiscent of those on Hoylake's 1st (member's routing) confronts you as the very first feature to overcome. From the first tee, you can sense Old Barnwell is going to be different to virtually everything you've seen before.
The 2nd is a short par 4 of just over 300 yards and the 3rd's green site could be found in the Outer Hebrides at Askernish. The 4th is a mid-length par 3 that reminds one of the grass hollows on Walton Heath Old. The 5th is your first taste of the diagonals and ridges that will become part of the character of the course.
The long 460-yard, par 4 6th hole crosses the short, par 3 17th with the 7th and 8th next being played sharing common ground. The 6th is punctuated by a perfectly placed, centre-line bunker that screams at you from the tee. It feels wrong to pay so much attention to a small but significant feature when the hole itself is incredibly expansive.
The 7th chicanes around two bunkers that will become the hallmarks of the design and perhaps even a watershed moment for more ambitious aesthetics from other less daring architects. The oozes class with three straight mowing lines alternating opposite sides of the fairway. One senses the 9th at The Honourable Company here.
The 8th's fairway is replicated in miniature with a V-shaped green that could have graced the good Doctor's course down the road from 1932. The 9th is the love child of the Addington and Sunningdale with a berm laid at a 45-degree angle first seen on the 1st. Lay up or go for it from 315 yards, another centreline bunker protects the ideal line and landing area.
The 10th to 12th is a little three-hole loop that could played on repeat if closer to the clubhouse… (although the 1st, 2nd and 18th will likely be used the same way…) You can almost sense Tom Simpson looking down with a smile of approval. The 10th is a long 455-yard par 4, followed by a 230-yard par 3 with a massive tiered green. The 12th is a 535-yard par 5 that completes the trifecta. The 13th uses the natural topography very well with a ridge and sloping fairway adding strategic intrigue.
The 14th may well be one of the best new short par 4's in America. At just 285 yards, your options are virtually limitless. You could spend a day on this hole alone and never get bored. The direct line will offer you a safe landing zone just 185 yards from the tee with nothing more than a blind wedge to the green. It's only 230 yards to cover the carry and potentially trundle onto the putting surface. You could take the safe route and hit a 175-yard shot followed by a 150-yard shot. Most will probably smash a driver right and then have time to contemplate the pitch over a green site with no options but perfection from that angle. The hole is a marvel, blending several aesthetics and design schools into a single hole of outstanding architectural merit.
The short half-par 14th is followed by a 625-yard par 5 that mere mortals won't confuse with anything other than a 3-shot hole. It's hard to find and enjoy playing a long par 5 that genuinely stimulates thought on all three shots. You can find one here.
The final stretch of holes works counter-clockwise back to the clubhouse with a Par 5-3-4 finish. Like Wentworth West, the second of the back-to-back Par 5's is the 16th weighing in at 545 yards. Playing across a ravine, the fairway is set at an angle from left to right. The green is perched halfway up the hillside that has a polished feel of Kington to it. The greens location also allows you to make the ascent halfway up the ravine after your approach, with the remainder after you've putted out.
The shortest of Old Barnwell's holes comes on the 17th. South Carolina's Postage Stamp, the innocuous yardage lulls one into thinking this is a breather hole after two demanding par 5's. The final hole is a 430-yard par 4 back to the clubhouse with a Victoria doff of the cap with two rampart bunkers short and right of the green.
Blake Conant gave insight into some of the strategies built on the course with visual confusion or 'intentional disorientation' being used on the 3rd, 5th, 10th, 12th, 13th 16th and 18th. Free-form tees that bleed seamlessly from the green give the round free flow. Compression and release are perceptible but not jarring.
Some who have played can sense inspiration from Willie Park Jr's Huntercombe. Anyone who has followed Brian's career would know that CB MacDonald and Walter Travis would be channelled for inspiration at some point.
Victorian ramparts and berms are used in an artistic way. This is golf course architecture becoming art.
The golf course and club have been nurtured by General Manager, John Lavelle, a course manager who worked for Tom Fazio at Augusta National and another new South Carolina golf course at Congaree.
The grow-in and delivery of the desired presentation have been handled by the Director of Agronomy, Chase Watson. The type of architecture on offer isn't always easy to present - some features will require personal care and attention and you can tell it's being done by someone who does not want to make life easy for himself but rather by someone who wants to find a way to get it done.
The Kid's Course is under construction and The Gilroy is coming in 2027. What that will be we have to wait and see but it promises to be a cracking 'holiday' or relief course… Shorter with funnelling greens and generous landing zones, it is being billed as 'fantastically fun.'
Overall rating
5.0
Overall rating
5.0
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