Orangeburg C.C. named one of S.C.'s best

ORANGEBURG, S.C. -- Tottering on the brink of closure six years ago, Orangeburg Country Club received a last-minute reprieve and now ranks No. 1 in the Midlands Region in the South Carolina Golf Course Rating Panel's "Best You Can Play" balloting.

"We were literally a week away from shutting our doors," director of golf David Lackey says in recalling the dark days created by the national economic downturn in 2008. Membership had dwindled and debt had accelerated into the $800,000-$900,000 range.

Industrialist Frank Tourville, a member whose home is adjacent to the club, came to the rescue. He assumed the club's debt and committed $1.5 million for capital improvements. The latter amount grew to what Lackey calls "more substantial," and the results show money well spent.

Joining Orangeburg CC on the rating panel's list of "best-you-can-play" regional winners are the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island (Lowcountry), Caledonia Golf and Fish Club at Pawleys Island (Grand Strand) and Furman University Golf Course in Greenville (Upstate).

The four courses are among the 30 selected for the 2015 "Best You Can Play" list by the golf course rating panel.

The panel is composed of 125 golf enthusiasts that represent a diverse range of occupations, handicaps, and backgrounds. The group's objective is to promote excellence in the state's golf course design and operation through competitive ranking, education and public advocacy.

The "Best 50" courses, public or private, are chosen in even-numbered years and the "Best You Can Play" are announced in odd-numbered years. Criteria used in judging include, routing, variety, strategy, equity, memorability, aesthetics and the golfer's experience.

"When you think about the number of really good golf courses in this state and reduce that number to 30, it's a daunting task," Michael Whitaker, the panel's executive director, said.

"Some of the older courses have stood the test of time, some have improved with some relative small tweaks and others that have undergone renovation or restoration to their original design features have increased the quality. It is our good fortune to live in a state where even some of the finest courses do not make the 'best' lists."

Orangeburg jumped from unranked to No. 45 in the rating panel's 2014 "Top 50 overall" survey and, a year later, is rated the Midlands' best thanks to the financial commitment and the restoration work of architect Richard Mandell. The renovation plans initially called for improvements in bunkering, tees and irrigation for the layout designed in 1961 by Ellis Maples, but old aerial photos provided a spur to include the greens.

"The course was worn around the edges," Lackey said. "Our superintendent (Tom Green) had done a fantastic job of doing more with less, but the course still needed a jump start.

"Once we got into the project, the aerial photos showed how much the greens had shrunk over the years. Mr. Tourville said, 'I'm going to do this only one time and we're going to do it right,' and so the plans were expanded."

"(Tourville) wanted the best golf course in South Carolina and that fueled me," Mandell says. "He said, 'If it's worth restoring, let's do it right,' and that was our goal."

Maples' basic design remains, and the biggest change involve the 14th hole. Trees had matured over the years, turning the straight-away par-4 into a severe dogleg right.

"Great for a slice, but not the way the hole was intended," Lackey says. "We took out 50 to 75 trees and I had reservations about that. But a straight (tee) shot is back in play, and (Mandell) moved a fairway bunker toward the middle. The changes made the hole."

Mandell began his work in early July, 2009, and the club reopened four months later to rave reviews.

"There's no 'maybe' we would have closed," Lackey said. "Mr. Tourville rode in on his white horse to save the club. He's a community man, and he realized Orangeburg needed a quality golf club for the area to be attractive to business development."

Twenty-five of the 30 courses honored Saturday are located in the tourist meccas along the Atlantic Ocean.

"Given how golf has become such a vital part of the state's tourism industry, the coastal areas naturally have developed high quality courses for public play," Whitaker said. "The thing is, there are many more outstanding courses throughout the state besides the ones chosen on this list. You can play any number of courses in the state and leave with a 'wow' impression.

"Remember, these are courses the public can play. Add the many wonderful private courses in the state, and you see how fortunate golfers are in South Carolina."

Information on previous rankings can be found on the organization's website scgolfpanel.org.

This article was written by Bob Spear from The State and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.