Golf course coming near park
William Bartram, a man known for his travels, would be satisfied to see that all points of the compass are covered at the new golf course under construction in Columbia County.
Back
The Bartram Trail Golf Course will be operated by East West Partners Club Management, whose first official hire previously served in South Carolina, while the company designing the course is based in North Carolina.
Bartram Trail will be an 18-hole, upscale, daily-fee course on Columbia Road adjacent to Patriots Park, and inaugural employee Shane Schutte has been selected as superintendent.
Schutte's responsibilities will include hiring the start-up staff and organizing the grow-in of the Bartram Trail course.
In the meantime, the former superintendent at the River Golf Club in North Augusta will watch the men with bulldozers work their magic.
The course is being designed by Robbins & Associates of Cary, N.C., and built by Ryan Incorporated Central of Janesville, Wis.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
"I technically don't do a whole lot until the grass hits the ground," Schutte said. "As soon as the construction company puts the grass on the ground, it's mine."
The course is being designed by Robbins & Associates of Cary, N.C., and built by Ryan Incorporated Central of Janesville, Wis.
Schutte will be charged with maintaining Bartram Trail's Bent grass greens and Bermuda fairways, and currently he is spending time on site to provide additional expertise.
"Shane already has some great ideas on how to accelerate things," said Ed Rehkopf, director of communication and information for East West Partners Club Management.
Bartram Trail will be the fourth golf course in Columbia County, and is the county's first new layout since Three Oaks Golf Course opened almost seven years ago in Harlem.
"There's certainly room for another course in Columbia County. The demand is there," Rehkopf said. "With the growth that's taken place in that area, it's amazing there was even space to do this."
The course is situated within the Bartram Trail Wilderness Park, which is blessed with a hardwood forest, bisected by Euchee Creek, and protected by a perpetual conservation easement.
"It's a beautiful piece of land," Schutte said. "The pines have been timbered at some point, but those pine trees are getting pretty big. The land on the creek is all hardwood, and none of that has been cut, so there are a lot of nice trees out there that we're trying to save."
All told, the rolling terrain is shaping up as a superb setting for golf.
"It's looking good," Rehkopf said. "We have only three holes left to clear. The weather has been cooperating nicely so far."
Construction at the course began last November, with the completion date set for June, 2005, although players could get a crack at the course about the time when golf's greats tee off at the Augusta National Golf Club next spring.
"We would like to open sooner rather than later," Rehkopf said. "Shane and I are anxious to see if we can get it open by Masters Week of next year."
Along with the par-72 championship course, the Bartram Trail master-planned community will accommodate more than 800 houses, all of which will be required to feature the architectural character of the early 20th-century American Craftsman era.
Bartram Trail will be marked by other interesting aspects.
When the idea for a new course was conceived, the Columbia County Commission created a nonprofit corporation, Bartram Trail CDC Inc., for the purpose of developing and operating the course.
"East West Partners reports to a board of directors (comprised of local citizens, including Columbia County Recreation & Leisure Services Department Director Barry Smith)," Rehkopf said. "They are the final decision-makers."
Funding for the course is through a loan underwritten by Dolphin & Bradbury of Philadelphia, with most of the financing guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The debt will be repaid from golf course revenues.
"The way the deal is put together, at the end of 30 years the course will be owned by Columbia County," Rehkopf said. "There's a lot of interest from the people in Columbia County that we do it, and do it right."