Beau Welling Design is underway with a renovation of the Chanticleer course at Greenville Country Club in South Carolina.

The course, designed by Robert Trent Jones, opened in the late 1960s and was once a regular fixture on Golf Digest’s Top 100 lists. It is located a short drive from the club’s main campus, where the Riverside course is located.

“We’re not looking to change the Chanticleer course just for the sake of change, but we are wanting to adapt it for modern play and bring back some of its lustre,” said Welling. “The club originally formed a committee to consider a greens renovation project. Having grown up at the club and knowing many of the committee members, they reached out to me informally for some general advice about how they should go about that.

“Ultimately, the club hired us to do an in-depth analysis of the course, which helped them realise that other capital improvements were needed at Chanticleer. After we went through a complete masterplanning and member engagement process, the club decided to make a significant investment in not just the greens but all the infrastructure.”

The project includes switching the nines, new and revamped greens, bunkers, tees, shortcut surrounds, irrigation, drainage and regrassing.

“We took the opportunity to reroute the finish to each nine to address holes that aren’t as strong as they once were, due to modern technology,” said Welling.

“The lengthening of the course is accomplished by introducing a few new tees and moving a green or two in addition to the rerouting, which eliminates the existing eighteenth hole allowing us to add length to the existing ninth and seventeenth holes. We have added a new par three to make up for the loss of eighteen, so the par is dropping to 71, but the net of all that increases the effective length of the course and really makes for strong, exciting finishes to each of the nines.

“When it is all said and done, the course will still feel like the Chanticleer that the membership loves, but it is also going to better present as a challenging test for the elite level player while being more playable to some of us whose swing speeds have gotten a bit slower over time.”

Construction started in the autumn and the impact of Hurricane Helene presented some early challenges. Welling is working alongside his senior design associate Chase Webb, shapers Gary Shapiro, Phil Mitchell and Joe Titzer, contractor Landscapes Unlimited and the club’s director of agronomy Craig Harris and superintendent Jeff Stover.

“Ultimately, I think the golf course is going to get harder for a really good player, and there are a lot of good players at Chanticleer, including multiple touring professionals,” said Welling. “For the lower handicap players, the playing experience is going to get more difficult due to the contouring in some of the greens as well as through an incorporation of new roll-off areas into shortcut grass where sand used to be.

“At the same time, we’re very cognisant of trying to make the course more enjoyable for the slower swing speed players because Chanticleer has traditionally been a really difficult golf course for that demographic. We are moving tees or introducing new forward tees to have a shorter golf course option for those players. By removing some of the bunkering around the green complexes, we are also making the greens more approachable for lower trajectory approach shots, which should help that slower swing speed player as well.”

The overall number of bunkers will be reduced, and those remaining will feature new liner and sand. Playing surfaces are being regrassed with Tahoma 31.

“We are also installing a substantial amount of drainage,” said Welling. “Many holes play through a floodplain, so we’re mindful of shaping them to drain more efficiently and effectively enhance course conditions. We are also relocating many of the cart paths from the low side of a hole to the high side and using the curbs to divert off site water before it gets onto the golf course.”

The course is expected to reopen in autumn 2025.

"I am very fortunate to have grown up at Greenville CC,” said Welling. “When I was a junior golfer, the main campus included Riverside and the Pines Nine short course, which is where I really learned to play the game. Like other juniors at the Greenville, we got to the point where we ‘graduated’ from the par-three course to Riverside. Then when we got good enough there, we could ultimately ‘graduate’ to Chanticleer.

“Chanticleer felt like a really big deal to be able to make that progression as a junior golfer. With this sort of ladder system, it is no coincidence that Greenville has produced a lot of really good golfers or people like me who are in the golf business.

“Chanticleer is super special, and I feel an incredible sense of responsibility to take on this project.”

Club president Michael Fletcher said: “Beau Welling’s journey from a young golfer at Chanticleer to a world-class golf course architect is a testament to his deep connection with this course. Having him bring his expertise and passion back to his hometown for the renovation is truly remarkable. We are excited and honoured to have Beau leading this project, preserving Chanticleer’s legacy for future generations.”