RIDGELAND, SOUTH CAROLINA | The truth is it isn’t easy to get to Congaree Golf Club.
If you’re looking, the best way may be to find Coosawatchie, South Carolina, along I-95 then head west for a few miles. Charming Beaufort sits about 30 miles east along the Atlantic and Hilton Head Island is another 15 miles or so away.
Congaree, which sits in its own secluded corner of the South Carolina lowcountry, keeps to itself, which was a big part of the overall design. There is no large sign along the two-lane blacktop announcing Congaree. Just an easy-to-miss wrought iron gate tucked in among the live oaks that frame the back-in-time drive into the club which sits on a former rice plantation.
With its collection of white buildings scattered around the property, it looks like a movie set – and it was. It’s where the movie “Something To Talk About” was filmed and one of the small cottages is named for actress Julia Roberts, who lived there during filming.
There is a serious exclusivity factor – the club has ambassadors rather than members – but it has invited the world in this week for the PGA Tour’s Palmetto Championship at Congaree.
Prepare to be impressed – and not just by the Tom Fazio golf course that looks like little else the legendary designer has created.
Golf is at the heart of Congaree Golf Club but it’s about more than playing 18 holes on a course designed to play firm and fast like courses in Australia’s sandbelt. The club is intent on making an impact beyond its boundaries and it’s already doing that.
“It was a philanthropic discussion from the first day,” says John McNeely, the executive program director at Congaree and also president of Diamond Creek, a golf club in North Carolina.
Envisioned by Houston businessmen Dan Friedkin and the late Bob McNair, who owned the Houston Texans, the goal was to create a club in which its ambassadors are able to provide educational and vocational opportunities for young people who also have a passion for golf.
The Congaree Foundation is funded by the ambassadors and works within the Jasper County area as well as with young people around the world.
One student came from a school with 800 students but just one counselor. The student likely would have applied to schools that would not have accepted him/her but at Congaree a list of better options were found, including an evaluation of the student’s golf talent and at what collegiate level it might be possible to play.
To date, the Congaree Foundation has raised more than $10 million from its ambassadors and through the club’s global golf initiative has had 68 young people participate in the program that brings them onto the club campus in early summer (until COVID forced the program to be conducted virtually).
At Congaree, the young people are given guidance to prepare them for college. They prep for standardized tests, work with a guidance counselor and learn to write college application letters. Ambassadors nominate the young people to attend and they are chosen without the selectors knowing their sex or race.
They live in the cottages on the club grounds and get a fully immersive experience that focuses on golf and academic life.
How does it help?
One student came from a school with 800 students but just one counselor. The student likely would have applied to schools that would not have accepted him/her but at Congaree a list of better options were found, including an evaluation of the student’s golf talent and at what collegiate level it might be possible to play.
Another young person wanted to go to medical school at Harvard but it was unrealistic.
“The most important thing is where can she get the best mix of academic and athletic scholarships because she needs every penny she gets,” says Bruce Davidson, executive program director at Congaree and a professional golfer.
The students are given training advice by TPI-certified instructors. They are provided golf equipment from Ping and clothing from Peter Millar.
“To go through the program means you come here with aspirations perhaps of going to college. We prepare them for college then become their advocates to get to college,” Davidson says.
“Everyone who is age eligible has gone to college. If they graduate, that’s where our network of ambassadors kicks in. We’re going to call these people and say can we get some help here?
That’s when it starts kicking.
“We all have someone that steered in the correct direction, maybe more importantly stopped us from going the wrong one.”
Recently, the club donated $200,000 to the Jasper County Boys and Girls Club to fund a program that helps young people who didn’t graduate high school find jobs in the hospitality industry.
The club also purchased the nearby Sergeant Jasper golf course, a nine-hole course that was in danger of going under. Under the club’s guidance, it now has more than 45 members, hosts three local high school golf teams and provides First Tee access. There is a new irrigation system around the greens as well, helped in large part by contributions made by PGA Tour players Lucas Glover, J.T. Poston, Harold Varner III, Davis Love III and others during the RBC Heritage in April.
This week, though, it’s about the PGA Tour seeing what Congaree is all about. The club made a strong effort to land the 2026 Presidents Cup that was eventually awarded to Medinah but landed a spot on the tour schedule when the RBC Canadian Open was cancelled this year.
It’s a special week in a special place.
“It’s very satisfying that Mr. Friedkin and Mr. McNair believed in the concept and said let’s go do it,” Davidson says.
“What’s more satisfying is we have more than 200 people who believe in it, too. They joined because they understand they are part of a team.”