Chocolate Drops: Old Barnwell Adds a Second 18

Hello! I’ve just managed to extricate myself from Oakmont’s rough, so let’s touch on a few intriguing golf architecture stories:

→ Old Barnwell, the forward-looking club founded by Nick Schreiber outside of Aiken, South Carolina, has moved quickly over the past few years. Its first 18, designed by Brian Schneider and Blake Conant, opened to well-deserved rave reviews in 2023. Then, in September 2024, the club debuted a charmingly unhinged kids’ course, also dreamed up by Schneider and Conant. Finally, last week, Schreiber informed members that Schneider and Conant will start construction on Old Barnwell’s second 18-hole course, the Gilroy, this fall. 

The new course will feature its own clubhouse and wander through rolling, forested land just to the west and south of the club’s current footprint.

In order to make Schneider and Conant’s routing work, Schreiber had to purchase 98 additional acres. “They have literally given me no idea of what this course will look or feel like,” Schreiber wrote in a text message, “just that there are a lot more natural features than at OB.” We love an owner who trusts his architects!

Like the original Old Barnwell course, the Gilroy will offer limited public access. I’m excited to see how this project develops.

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→ Quintero Golf Club, 45 minutes outside of Phoenix, has embarked on a four-month renovation project overseen by original architect Rees Jones and contractor Total Turf. All greens will be rebuilt and resurfaced with 007XL bentgrass, all tee boxes will be leveled, and all 65 bunkers will be renovated and “filled with new Augusta white sand.” The course’s practice facility will also receive a makeover.

Quintero is a reasonably priced public golf course on a beautiful, secluded piece of land — a rarity in the Phoenix area. I hope this renovation will improve the facility rather than just making it more expensive to use.

→ In last week’s Chocolate Drops, I reported that Wild Horse Golf Club in Gothenberg, Nebraska, had begun construction on a par-3 course. FEGC member Danny Littel, who recently visited Wild Horse, confirmed that the course has been designed by Dave Axland and Dan Proctor, the original architects behind Wild Horse. (My colleague Matt Rouches heard the same.) Danny added that the development will include a short-game area geared toward young players. Very cool.

→ Tune in to Golf Channel tonight at 7 p.m. ET for the first episode of a three-part documentary series on Cobbs Creek Golf Club, the Philadelphia municipal course in the midst of an ambitious renovation project.