Chocolate Drops: The King and Prince Project Is a Sign of the Times

As July approaches, here's what I'm tracking in the world of golf course design:

→ The King and Prince Golf Club on St. Simons Island in Georgia has selected Beau Welling to lead a renovation of its Joe Lee-designed golf course. Purchased in 2024 by South Street Partners, the King and Prince is currently a publicly accessible resort but will transition to a fully private model around the time Welling breaks ground in the middle of next year. A clubhouse redesign is also in the works.

In and of itself, this is not a particularly interesting project. The King and Prince is not dissimilar from a lot of the late-20th-century courses on the barrier islands of South Carolina and Georgia. Most of its holes run between rows of houses, and a few venture out onto the tidal marshes to give photographers something to work with. I’m sure Welling will improve the course, but he can only do so much.

That said, this project highlights a few larger trends that I’ve been tracking:

1. Action in the Sea Islands. From Kiawah Island in the north to Amelia Island in the south, the Sea Islands saw an explosion of golf development in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. Those courses can now take advantage of two post-pandemic dynamics: the surge of interest in the game and the growth of southeastern cities like Charlotte, Charleston, and Savannah. It’s no surprise that many barrier-island resorts and clubs — like Kiawah Island, Harbour Town, Sea Island, Jekyll Island, and Omni Amelia Island — have been busy renovating their courses and facilities.

2. The entry of private equity into golf development. South Street Partners is a private equity-backed real estate development firm based in Charlotte and Charleston. In addition to the King and Prince, South Street owns Kiawah Partners (the master developer of Kiawah Island), Palmetto Bluff, and PGA National. Another PE firm, Utah-based Reef Capital Partners, is building a mega-destination in Black Desert Resort and recently announced a partnership with Sweetens Cove. 

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As far as I know, the private equity sector didn’t have much to do with golf course development before the 2020s. That has obviously changed. What effect will PE have on the golf course industry? I’m not smart enough to spin up a thesis off the top of my head, but I’ll do some research. Might be a good topic for a future article.

3. The difficulty of balancing premiumization with public golf. Most public courses are doing better in the 2020s than they did in the 2010s. But in today’s high-cost environment, they’re struggling to fund major improvement projects. Their margins are thin at the best of times, and when they close down, revenue stops coming through the door. So going premium — or even just catching up with deferred maintenance — often means going private. This is a big problem for the future of golf. 

→ Midland County, Texas, has hired Andy Staples to design a new municipal golf course on 234 acres of county-owned land. As he proved with his redesign of Rockwind Community Links in Hobbs, New Mexico, Staples knows what he’s doing with this type of project.

→ Grassing has begun at Tepetonka Club, a private course in Minnesota designed by OCM Golf.

→ With the 2025 Rocket Classic in the rearview mirror, host venue Detroit Golf Club will embark on a $16-million renovation overseen by Tyler Rae. I detailed this project in a July 2024 edition of Design Notebook.

Header image courtesy of South Street Partners.