Architect creates The Scurry layout with a focus on angles, ground game and its use of native landscape
By Richard Humphreys |
Chechessee Creek Club in Okatie, South Carolina, has opened The Scurry, a new 12-hole course by Zinkand Golf Design (ZGD).
Golf architect David Zinkand has routed the layout through a Lowcountry landscape of live oaks, wetlands and native vegetation. He has focused on angles, use of contours and creating expansive areas of low-mown turf around greens produce a ground game experience.
“The course is really about options,” said Zinkand. “You can challenge a hazard and create a better angle, play away from trouble and accept a more difficult approach or use the contours around the greens to your advantage. We wanted those decisions to be fun for every player, regardless of ability.”
Construction of The Scurry began in spring 2025. “Working with Dave and the entire Zinkand Golf Design team has been a terrific experience from the beginning,” said Bill Kennedy, general manager of Chechessee Creek Club. “They understood what we wanted The Scurry to become and brought a tremendous amount of creativity and thoughtfulness to the project. Our members’ feedback to the course has been incredibly positive; they’re having fun with the variety of shots and options.”
The Scurry course opened at Chechessee Creek Club on 1 September 2026 (Photo: Zinkand Golf Design)
The opening five holes form a par-three loop that are laid out over a continuous expanse of turf. The generous playing corridors make the loop playable for beginners, higher-handicap players and younger golfers, while changes in length, orientation and green design will test good golfers.
The sixth is a short par four where players decide how much of the live oaks along the inside of the fairway they want to challenge, while the seventh requires a carry over a wetland to an elevated green, and at the eighth, players cross over another wetland before arriving at a punchbowl green framed by a large front bunker.
Also at the eighth is a carnivorous plant bog. ZGD excavated a cavity, installed an impermeable liner and an outlet to regulate moisture, then planted the bog with pitcher plants, Venus flytraps and other moisture-dependent species. “It is definitely something golfers don’t expect to see on a golf course,” said Zinkand. “But it fits the character of the site and the experience we wanted to create. There are a lot of moments where the natural landscape is doing something interesting, and the bog is probably the most memorable.”
The ninth follows with a tightly bunkered, domed green, while the tenth has a contoured green with a pronounced false front. The eleventh has plenty of room off the tee but the bunker scheme dictates what route a player takes, and the final hole is a par three where players hit over native vegetation to a green tucked next to a grove of pines.
David Zinkand has aimed to lay out a course that focuses on the ground game and worked with the native landscape (Photo: Zinkand Golf Design)
“The low-mown areas allow the ground to become part of the strategy,” said Zinkand. “Sometimes the contours help you and sometimes they don’t. They create opportunities to use imagination rather than simply hitting another conventional pitch or chip.”
The new layout joins the club’s existing 18-hole course, a design by Coore & Crenshaw.