Beau Welling puts green contours at the center of Orange Hill’s design

Beau Welling is building Orange Hill around the contours near its greens, with closely mown surrounds intended to give golfers several ways to recover. Golf Course Architecture reported the design details Monday for the planned third 18-hole course available to Kiawah Island Club members.

The South Carolina project sits on Johns Island, near Charleston. The club already has the River course by Tom Fazio and Cassique by Tom Watson's firm. Orange Hill will add a different setting, with golf routed through gently rolling land, wetlands and mature trees.

Welling told the architecture publication that he begins with the greens and works back toward the fairways and tees. His plan uses landforms to influence approach angles and recovery choices. The closely cut slopes around the greens can punish a scoring attempt while still giving a player who misses the green a manageable route back into play.

The developer's own Orange Hill description supports that emphasis on walking, strategy and creativity. It identifies about 300 acres for golf, including the championship course and practice grounds, with a short course and a double-sided range. The proposed golf performance center would be the club's largest practice facility.

Tree retention is another constraint on the routing. The club says its assessment identified more than 3,100 protected or grand trees and that 88 percent of the highest-graded trees will remain. Those are the developer's stated plans for the property.

Orange Hill remains a future golf offering. The club describes access for its members, and Monday's design report is not an announcement that tee times are available. For golfers interested in how a new course will play, the specific point is the use of contours and short grass to create choices around the green.

Sources

Golf Course Architecture: Orange Hill design details · Kiawah Island Club: Orange Hill plan and golf amenities