Greenville Country Club members get first look at Chanticleer redesign

By Stan Olenik. Editor-Publisher. The Golf Club

“At the end of the day, a compliment to us would be when we reopen, if that scratch-level player says, ‘I think it’s two or three shots harder,’ and that 15-to-20 handicapper says, ‘I think it’s two or three shots easier.’”

When Beau Welling made that statement during the groundbreaking ceremony for Chanticleer’ Improvement Project in October of 2024, it sounded difficult and ambitious.

Thursday, during the club’s first full day of member play on the refreshed Robert Trent Jones designed course, it sounded remarkably accurate.

And fittingly, the moment that seemed to capture the mood of the day came on the new par-3 ninth hole, the only totally new hole on the course.

Standing on the elevated tee, Welling launched his tee shot to the new par-3 green. The ball landed softly on the green, rolled toward the flag and stopped inside eight feet, drawing smiles, high-fives and a little relief from the architect whose work had finally been turned over to the golfers themselves.

Because while renovations always bring excitement, they also bring anxiety.

Golfers loved the old Chanticleer.

The challenge for Welling was modernizing the classic design without losing the personality members had cherished for decades.

Opening day suggested his work met and exceded expectations.

For the club’s better players, one early verdict came quickly:

The course has its teeth back.

Former South Carolina Golf Association Amateur champion Lee Palms believes the course had gradually become too soft for elite players as equipment improved and the course aged.

“The course had gotten to be a little easy and many of us wanted it to be more challenging as it had been,” Palms said.

Looking around at repositioned bunkers, reshaped greens and new strategic angles, Palms saw a course once again demanding decisions from skilled players.

“You look around at everything that has been done, the placement of the bunkers and the shape of the greens. It is a more challenging golf course,” he said.

Former Clemson golfer Brent Delahousaye reached much the same conclusion.

“I think the course is now two to three shots more difficult,” Delahousaye said. “On some holes the bunkers are right where you want to be and now you have to decide how to play the hole. Before, you could just rip it.”

That matters at a club with a long championship history.

Chanticleer has hosted numerous Carolinas Golf Association and South Carolina Golf Association championships, including a memorable SCGA Amateur won by former South Carolina golfer Keenan Huskey at 19-under par.

Palms does not expect scores like that to appear again anytime soon.

“The way the course is now, I don’t see anyone shooting a number like that,” he said.

But while stronger players found a sterner test, many average golfers found something equally important:

Some players talked about finally being able to hit full shots without immediately worrying about trouble. Others admitted they would need time to learn new angles and new strategies after decades of playing the old version of Chanticleer.

And one of the ladies playing on the first day probably summarized the reaction best with a simple observation golfers sometimes overlook while discussing strategy, slope and architecture.

“It is just beautiful.”

The club deliberately resisted reopening too quickly last fall, instead allowing the course additional time to mature before member play began this spring. The extra grow-in time is noticeable almost immediately.

The usual rough patches and exposed clay often associated with new construction are difficult to find.

Welling credits much of that visual transformation to the installation of Tahoma 31 fairways and the conversion from bentgrass to Bermuda greens.

The agronomic changes were not simply cosmetic.

The new grasses should extend prime playing conditions deeper into the calendar while reducing some of the disruptive maintenance periods previously required during the summer months on the bent grass greens.

For members, that means more days playing golf and fewer days watching greens recover from seasonal stress.

Welling admitted this renovation carried a different kind of importance and pressure to him.

Working alongside leadership at Augusta National Golf Club on the Patch project or collaborating with Tiger Woods on other designs is one thing.

Redesigning the course where Welling grew up and generations of Greenville golfers built memories is something else entirely.

As opening day wound down and reviews from members continued to filter in from around the driving range and parking lot, Welling admitted he had been anxiously waiting to hear the verdict.

“I’m real anxious to see what everybody thinks at the end of the day,” Welling said. “I’m just really hopeful I don’t have to leave Greenville, South Carolina. I’ll get to stay,” he joked.

By late Thursday afternoon, it appeared he had nothing to worry about.

The golfers who loved the old Chanticleer seemed to love the new version too.

And judging from the reaction surrounding the reopening, they might have had a little appreciation left over for the architect as well.

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