Construction complete, Grand Harbor preparing for spring opening

LAKE GREENWOOD, S.C. -- Golfers eager to test their skills over the newest Davis Love III design won't have to wait much longer. Construction of the new Patriot Club at Grand Harbor is complete, all of the turf areas are planted and the course is "growing in," according to Golf Course Superintendent Billy Ford. The Patriot Club is a par-72 layout that is just one of many recreational amenities at Grand Harbor, a private residential community offering more than 2.5 miles of shoreline along the 11,000-acre Lake Greenwood.

Located at the heart of South Carolina's Midlands, between Columbia, Greenville and Augusta, Ga., The Patriot Club pays tribute to the area's rich history dating to the Colonial period when the Star Fort at nearby Ninety-Six represented a stronghold of the powerful British Army.

This same Star Fort, site of what historians recognize as the first major land battle of the Revolutionary War in the South, has been replicated at the very center of The Patriot Club.

"No doubt, everyone who plays The Patriot Club will come away talking about the 'fort,'" said Bruce Lawrence, president of Grand Harbor Real Estate Co. "But I think they are going to be just as impressed, if not more so, by the quality of the overall course. Davis has created some spectacular golf holes -- holes with classic architectural appeal."

Working with what he overtly labeled as "the prettiest piece of property we've had to work with yet," Love carved a layout from virgin forests of mixed hardwoods and pines, creating a course whose setting belies its youth. And the reconstructed Star Fort, complete with brick ruins of gun turrets, cartpaths through tunnels of antique bricks and surrounding moats, only adds to the timeless look of the course.

The earthen fort, which rises some 45 feet above grade, is an integral part of the golf course with both the first and 10th holes playing from tees perched atop points of the "star" and the par-five 18th hole playing to a green set within the walls of the fort.

The Colonial theme of The Patriot Club is woven into other holes, as well. Brick ruins of small outbuildings -- likely magazines that would have stored munitions -- flank the first green. And the brick wall remains of another, larger building frames the back of the short par-3 seventh hole. A tee shot hit long at this 160-yard hole can actually bounce back onto the shallow, but wide horizontal green off of the brick ruins.

"Originally, we had hoped to have the course completed and opened by the fall of 2003," Lawrence said. "But as everyone knows, this past spring and summer were extremely wet over the whole eastern half of the country. And that was certainly the case here. The heavy rains put us behind schedule, but there was nothing we could do about it.

"So rather than rush, we decided to wait until next year to open the course. We feel it is a layout that deserves the extra care and attention to detail," Lawrence said. "We hope we can have the course open sometime this coming spring or at least by early summer. But again, we aren't going to rush. We want everything to be right."

Complementing the golf course at The Patriot Club is a 20-acre practice area complete with multiple putting and chipping greens and practice bunkers. Other amenities at Grand Harbor include a tennis club and Yacht Club, a lakefront facility with clubhouse dining, exercise room, indoor and outdoor bars, pool and cabana and a 96-slip marina.

Homesites at Grand Harbor start at $55,000 for interior lots, $70, 000 for golf course lots and $100,000 for lakefront lots. All lot prices include club initiation fees. The Grand Harbor community already has more than 170 property owners from 25 states and one foreign country.

Grand Harbor is located on Lake Greenwood, an 11,000-acre lake in the South Carolina midlands between Greenville, Columbia and Augusta, Ga. The gated community features 2.5 miles of shoreline.

December 11, 2003