RISING FAWN, GEORGIA | Rees Jones is quick to concede he and co-designer Bill Bergin didn’t have to dig deeply into their toolbox of artistic imagination when laying out their newest creation at McLemore called The Keep.
The magnificence of the course in northwest Georgia, about 40 minutes south of Chattanooga, Tennessee, was already there, embedded in the topography along the eastern edge of Lookout Mountain waiting to be discovered. Like stumbling across a Rembrandt in the attic, they simply had to clean it up and unveil it.
“If we wandered around all of Lookout Mountain looking for the most ideal site, we couldn’t have found a better one,” Jones said. “The holes were there to be found. There’s nothing quite like it in the game of golf, in my mind. Most of your mountaintop courses are in the valley looking up to the severe terrain. In this case, we’re on top of the mountain with unlimited views.”
The result is a spectacular layout with numerous cliff-edge holes that is drawing comparisons with many of the iconic courses around the globe. Names such as Pebble Beach, Torrey Pines, Old Head and Cabot Cliffs are often mentioned, the difference being those are oceanside layouts while The Keep is considered a headlands course, where the mountain meets the sky at the southern edge of the Appalachians.
Jones firmly believes The Keep will become the new standard once the course opens in mid-September.
“I think what we’re going to find is that, at some point, this becomes the bar where everything else is now being compared to this,” Jones said. “When you first come to play, you’re going to need two things: You’ve got to bring your camera and your ‘A’ game.”
McLemore emerged as a golf destination when Jones and Bergin undertook the renovation project of the original Highlands Course in 2019, producing the breathtaking cliff-edge 18th hole deemed as one of the top finishing holes in the country.
Duane Horton, McLemore’s CEO and visionary after spending his childhood in the valley below, recognizes the latest developments never would have transpired apart from the imaginative creativity performed by Jones and Bergin on the Highlands layout.
“What they did on No. 18 at the Highlands put us on the map,” Horton said. “The Keep would not be here without Bill and Rees championing making that hole happen.”
In conjunction with the addition of The Keep, McLemore earlier this year opened Cloudland, a luxurious 245-room Hilton Curio resort that looks like something from the Swiss Alps with mountaintop views.
The Keep has 125 member investors with commitment levels ranging from $125,000 to $500,000. The golf course will be limited to resort guests and members initially and will be walking only for the first year. There will also be a caddie program available.
For golfers arriving at the check-in area and practice facility, the course will remain a mystery as dense forest shields views of The Keep. But anticipation becomes reality when golfers are shuttled a quarter of a mile to the first tee, where they capture their first glimpse of the grandeur of The Keep.
“It’s really almost sensory overload when you first see it,” said Charlie Rymer, a former PGA Tour player and Golf Channel personality who is an executive vice president of McLemore and a resident. “I think if you built this golf course in a cornfield, it’d be a really good golf course. But when you put it on this site with this drama, that’s where you really get something magical to happen. Especially when you get around these cliff edges, I think there’s kind of a spiritual feeling that’s unfolding.”
The 479-acre property is compact but not confined. The layout features three sets of ribbon tees that allow for moving the tees 100 yards or more, stretching the course to 7,750 yards. The Keep features 72 acres of fairways – nearly triple the amount on most courses, according to Horton – with very little rough and no out of bounds. But the design will be anything but pedestrian, allowing the topography to create a formidable set of challenges.
“It’s as natural a sight as you’ll find,” Jones said. “It has streams, wetlands; it has a cliffside; it has perfect topography for distinctly different holes, then has a rock outcrop. This place was meant to be a golf course.”
The abundance of massive, dump truck-size sandstone boulders indigenous to the region are prominent throughout, most notably on the uphill par-4 17th where the rock outcropping creates an amphitheater surrounding the green.
The out-and-back routing offers a sense of seclusion, with the developers forgoing the opportunity to sell high-dollar residential lots in exchange for creating an unparalleled golfing experience.
“I grew up in the cove below, and I would come up here to go camping and swimming,” Horton said. “I know as much about the landscape on this part of Lookout Mountain as anyone. While we are an investment group, we just feel like the best way of doing that is a long-term view in honoring the land and the community.”
With five holes – Nos. 1, 9, 10, 11 and 18 – along the brow producing unprecedented views, the scenic vistas can be enjoyed throughout the design. There are several vantage points on the course where all 18 holes can be viewed at the same time, and yet there is never a sense of claustrophobia from neighboring holes.
The abundance of massive, dump truck-size sandstone boulders indigenous to the region are prominent throughout, most notably on the uphill par-4 17th where the rock outcropping creates an amphitheater surrounding the green.
The greens are generous, averaging 6,830 square feet, with No. 9 encompassing 10,353 square feet and suspended on a precipice and offering 60-mile views. The putting surfaces are not overly baked and feature plenty of contours to provide a variety of hole locations. Some of the greens have an infinity feel perched on the edge of the cliff where the sheer beauty can serve as a distraction.
The golf course doesn’t crescendo to an epic finishing hole like the neighboring Highlands, but it can be argued the portfolio at The Keep is full of signature holes. The links-inspired design leaves golfers anticipating what’s next on the expansive rolling design featuring Stadium Zoysia fairways, tees and rough along with AU Victory Bentgrass greens.
With the much-anticipated unveiling of The Keep, Jones has lofty expectations for the course’s future.
“What I think is so fascinating is that when I bring people there, the minute they see it they’re blown away,” Jones said. “It’s got all the elements that could host a major someday.”