Richard Mandell is renovating the 1926 golf course at Darlington Country Club in South Carolina, with a design that is more in-keeping with its sandy roots.
The architect has so far overseen work on the first, third, tenth, thirteenth, and fifteen through to eighteen. Mandell’s approach has been to expose more of the course’s sandy soils to create a more unique and challenging playing experience.
Work on the fifteenth to seventeenth was completed in August 2024. “We tried to tie the bunkers in with the sandy waste areas around greens,” said Mandell. “The sixteenth is a great example of how we have made the hole more challenging than it was before. Across these three holes, we have introduced low, rolling ridges that challenge the golfer from a ground game perspective.
“On seventeen, we brought the water more into play than it was previously. We are eventually going to clear the trees between the final two holes to make the pond feature more prominent.
“For the greens, we are trying to minimise turf and create sandy areas that sort of cascade and roll around the putting surfaces. The greens are becoming more prominent, and people are seeing how small and challenging they are, whereas before they just got lost in the monoculture of green grass.”
Mandell’s recent work has also included the eighteenth hole and practice green. “The eighteenth hole [which plays between 495 to 572 yards] was too far away from the clubhouse, so one of the goals was to create something that was better connected,” he said. “They had these two little mediocre chipping greens that weren’t very pretty. So, they really wanted to make the presentation better, and they also wanted to bring the eighteenth green closer to the clubhouse.” A bunker, built into the slope at the side of the first tee, acts as a barrier between the first and eighteenth holes.
Mandell created a 35,000-square-foot practice green close to the clubhouse that connects to the eighteenth green. “The practice putting surface is about eight feet higher than the final green – when no one is playing eighteen, you can putt down there and putt back up, which makes it pretty cool because you get blind putts. This has really transformed the club.”
On the par-five tenth, Mandell created a sand dune that crosses the fairway on the second shot about 80 yards short of the green.
“Darlington is in the sandhills of South Carolina, and it was very much a sleepy southern town country club when Tim and Nancy Huntley bought the club around six years ago,” said Mandell. “They have been breathing new life into the facility, and so a theme that we have tried to do, and will continue doing, is bringing the sandy soils to the surface. Previously, the club had no identity – it didn’t matter what soils it was on, or if it was located in South Carolina or New York. Now, we’re creating an identity, largely through eliminating rough and replacing it with sandy soils, although it is actually more like peeling the grass away and exposing those soils that are already there.”