This new Charleston golf course has just one membership rule: you have to be a kid

Dozens of new courses are opening every year. Most of them are private clubs that serve a wealthy clientele. This project will be the opposite—a brand-new course built to ensure kids always have a place to play.

First Tee – Greater Charleston has announced the creation of a one-of-a-kind, kids-only nine-hole course located in the West Ashley neighborhood of Charleston. The Kids Course will have only children ages 5-18 as members. If an adult wants to play, they must be accompanied by one of the course’s youth members.

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Prominent architects Brian Schneider and Troy Miller, both with Charleston ties, will partner together on the project. Clearing of the 13.8-acre site will begin in the coming months with the hopes of opening in January 2028. The First Tee of Greater Charleston announced the public fundraising portion of its “Fore the Kids” Capital Campaign on Friday night, aimed at raising $14 million for the creation of the course and its accompanying facilities. It’s already above 70 percent to its goal.

Rendering by Harris Kalinka

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Founded in 2008, First Tee – Greater Charleston serves more than 25,000 kids each year, but access has been a huge issue. As golf becomes more popular and tee sheets continue to fill, youth programs often get pushed out of practice slots and facilities. The First Tee – Greater Charleston had long relied on local partners to provide access to golf courses for its thousands of enrollees, but during the pandemic, kids found themselves squeezed off courses and practice ranges, and in some cases were relegated to doing drills in parking lots. With spaces tightening for students, the First Tee was forced to turn away thousands of kids looking to enroll in its programs. Faced with increasing enrollment and dwindling facilities, CEO of the First Tee – Greater Charleston, Bucky Dudley, realized he had to do something radical.

A collegiate golfer at The Citadel, Dudley grew up in Hartsville, S.C., and since helping found the organization, he has grown its enrollment from “eight kids in 2008, to over 25,000 kids this past year.” Dudley turned to some enthusiastic board members, a few close friends and prominent architects with local ties, Schnieder and Miller, to create the idea of a dedicated kids course and related facilities.

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Golf architecture enthusiasts will recognize Schneider’s name for his years as a lead associate for Tom Doak and designer of Old Barnwell and its kid’s course, in Aiken, S.C. For Schneider, the idea to create a kid’s course at home came from a trip to North Berwick in Scotland. Dudley recalls Brian’s “particular interest” in the plot of land used for the kid’s course there, and the rules of play which requires adults be accompanied by a junior member.

Joining Schneider in the design is Miller, a renowned green-shaper and Charleston native. Highly regarded for his work at the Charleston Municipal Golf Course and at the Ocean Course on Kiawah Island, Miller says “being a small part of bringing this much needed facility to the kids of our city is a tremendous honor.” The nine-hole course proposed by Schneider and Miller will be routed through towering pine trees, giving the course an “exciting maturity rarely seen with new projects,” Miller says.

Rendering by Harris Kalinka

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Finding a property that fit with the First Tee’s lofty ambitions was challenging. Dudley says the team determined that “two non-negotiables for the project was to have enough space to control the programming, and to have a centrally located space for all of the kids in the Charleston area.”

Once the land had been secured, Dudley set out on a fundraising mission to get the project off of the ground. To start he reached out to the same man who placed the inaugural donation to the First Tee – Greater Charleston back in 2008, Cartter Lupton, who graciously committed $1 million to jumpstart the campaign.

“Lupton has been our longest-standing donor, giving each year since our founding,” Dudley says. Lupton’s contributions will be recognized by naming the 11,000 square-foot learning facility in his honor. The facility will be complete with indoor chipping/putting areas, simulators with launch monitors, a nutrition center, classrooms and much more. Dudley hopes to pioneer future programs in turf management and hospitality, capitalizing on the unique capabilities of the facility in West Ashley.

Rendering by Harris Kalinka

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First Tee – Greater Charleston hopes the new campus will not only increase participation in its programs but also inspire others to create similar facilities focused on youth development in golf. One of the most exciting prospects of the location according to Dudley, “is that kids can now get and keep handicaps, with the property conforming to the USGA rules of at least nine holes and 750 yards.” Another unique opportunity at West Ashley will be a hospitality truck run by First Tee enrollees.

“Thinking back on the kids we’ve had to turn away because we didn’t offer enough access” is one of Dudley’s main motivators for leading the project. He says “if the campus at West Ashley can create even one new opportunity for kids in the Charleston area, it will be the greatest accomplishment of his lifetime.”

Learn more about the “Fore the Kids” Capital Campaign and the mission of the First Tee – Greater Charleston here.

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