The Founders Club at Pawleys Island opens for play

Pawleys Island, S.C. - It’s the day that owners Charlie Byers and Ed Jerdon and the entire Classic Golf Group family have been looking forward to since closing Sea Gull Golf Club for a complete renovation more than two years ago.

On February 1, 2008, The Founders Club at Pawleys Island officially opened its doors to all golfers but on January 30, Founders Club held its grand opening ceremony with more than 100 VIP’s and media members getting the first peek at the newest Thomas Walker design.

A member of the Waccamaw Golf Trail, The Founders Club is the first course to open on the South Strand in seven years and no expense was spared in making the course and clubhouse more upscale and contemporary. More than $7 million was spent on the 7,007-yard layout and the 5,000 square foot Lowcountry clubhouse compared to the $400,000 that Sea Gull originally cost in 1966.

“I want to thank everyone for coming today,” said Byers, one of the six original Sea Gull owners. “We’ve been waiting for this day since we closed Sea Gull back in October 2005 and it’s finally arrived. We wanted to make sure that every detail of the course was done in a first-class manner and did not open for play until the course was ready. I hope that everyone enjoys the course and will come back often.”

“You never know how good a course is until you play it the first time,” said course architect Thomas Walker, once a member of the Gary Player Design Group. “My first time playing here, I was shaking so bad that I had to retee several times and finally got comfortable about hole number 12. Ed Jerdon asked me half a dozen times if I was sure this course wasn’t too hard for the average golfer. I told him that my philosophy is to make a course look hard, be physically stunning but play fair. The Founders Club is playable and features 18 holes, different holes. Thanks to Classic Golf Group and head golf professional Wayne Weldon and his staff for grooming the course and getting it ready for the unveiling.”

Featuring Bermuda fairways and a mixture of Bermuda and Zoysia in the rough, The Founders Club joins TPC of Scottsdale as the only two golf courses in the United States with Emerald Bermuda greens. A new strand of grass just released from the Champion Turf Company, Emerald Bermuda tolerates the hot South Carolina summer sun and requires less water than other grasses. Walker complemented the Lowcountry backdrop of the Waccamaw Neck area by adding Love Grass and Bluestem native grasses, pine and centuries-old oak trees and other vegetation around the Founders Club course. The waste areas reflect the south strand’s terrain with a bright shade of orange sand.

To schedule a tee time or learn more about The Founders Club at Pawleys Island, visit PlayAClassic.com or call 1-800-TEE-OFFS.