Past, present and future, this coastal gem is the epicenter of some of the game’s most significant storylines

Whatever side you choose to take in the debate over golf’s American birthplace, there is no argument when it comes to Charleston’s role in the evolution of the game in South Carolina golf. And it all started, apparently, in a public park not far from one of the most memorable international golf events in recent memory.

Indeed, there is significant documented evidence to suggest that golf may have first been played in the United States in an expansive public area of Charleston known as Harleston’s Green. While records exist that show shipments of clubs and balls being delivered from Scotland to Charleston as early as the 1640s, the most definitive research was done by Dr. George C. Rogers Jr., a professor of history at the University of South Carolina, who in 1980 collaborated with golf writer and historian Charles Price on a book entitled The Carolina Lowcountry—Birthplace of American Golf 1786.  

Their research uncovered records at Edinburgh’s port of Leith that show a shipment of 96 clubs and 432 balls being sent to Charleston in 1743. Price also writes of a Charleston merchant named Andrew Johnston who returned from a trip to Glasgow, Scotland, in 1759 with an assortment of goods including 12 golf clubs and some balls. Price surmised that, although Johnston died five years later, he more than likely used the equipment to beat a few balls around his sprawling Lowcountry plantation. Upon his death, the inventory of his estate listed “twelve goof sticks and balls.” 

According to Rogers, the announcement of the actual formation of the South Carolina Golf Club was found in the interminably titled The Southern States Ephemeris: The North and South Carolina and Georgia Almanac for the Year of our Lord 1788. Rogers also found several newspaper announcements about the club, including a May 28, 1788, entry that requested members of the club to meet on “Harleston’s Green, this day, the 28th” before adjourning to a local coffee house to attend to club business. Annual announcements of the South Carolina Golf Club meetings continued to appear through 1793. In 1795 the annual notice contained a revelatory bit of information: “The anniversary of the GOLF CLUB will be held on Saturday next at the Club House on Harleston’s Green.” The group had seemingly abandoned the coffee house for a new home.        

The last known announcement of a meeting of the South Carolina Golf Club appeared on October 19, 1799. It would take almost a century for the game to take hold in the United States,but by 1892 South Carolina would have its second golf club, Palmetto Golf Club in Aiken. The South Carolina Golf Club would ultimately evolve into the Country Club of Charleston, which remains in existence today.

Through the years, Charleston’s reputation as one of the nation’s most livable cities, as well as a fascinating place to visit, has grown exponentially. But golf purists, especially those with a fondness for turn-of-the-century architect Seth Raynor, are keenly aware of the city’s historical significance. A landscape engineer by trade, Raynor entered the golf business as an associate of Charles Blair Macdonald and honed his skills on seaside courses throughout the Northeast. But two of his finest works are in Charleston—the Country Club of Charleston and Yeamans Hall.

The original Country Club course was built in 1921; Raynor designed and opened the existing course in 1925 on a site on Wappoo Creek, overlooking Charleston Harbor. From a relatively flat, featureless site, Raynor moved remarkably little dirt and still created a course that features some of the most bold and dynamic green settings anywhere. The highlight is the 185-yard 11th hole, one of the most daunting par-threes in the Southeast, with a shelf green flanked by a pair of deep, steep-faced bunkers. Many of the country’s top amateurs have found it prudent to lay up off the tee at No. 11 during the Azalea Invitational, which has been played at the Country Club of Charleston since 1946.