Chechessee Creek Club (Okatie, S.C) has completed The Scurry, a new 12-hole course, which opened for member play on September 1.
Rather than using length to create difficulty, The Scurry relies on angles, contours, hazards and choices. Short par 4s and par 3s unfold through a Lowcountry landscape of live oaks, wetlands and native vegetation, while expansive areas of low-mown turf surrounding the greens create a ground game that can reward creativity just as readily as precision.
For Chechessee, bringing the concept to life was as much about the collaborative process as the finished product.
“Working with Dave and the entire Zinkand Golf Design team has been a terrific experience from the beginning,” says 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.”
Construction on The Scurry began in Spring 2025. The finished course provides Chechessee Creek members with a compact alternative to the club’s existing 18-hole Coore & Crenshaw-designed course, creating opportunities to expand on a day’s golf with another dozen holes or play a meaningful round when time is limited.
The opening five holes form a par-3 loop that moves through a continuous expanse of turf. Its generous playing corridors make the loop approachable for beginners, higher-handicap players and younger golfers, while changes in length, orientation and green design continue to test accomplished players.
The remaining seven holes turn up the strategic pressure without abandoning The Scurry’s emphasis on playability. The sixth is a short par 4 where players decide how much of the live oaks along the inside of the fairway they want to challenge. The seventh requires a carry over wetland to a high green, with an aggressive line rewarded.
At the eighth, the golf course crosses another wetland before arriving at a punchbowl green framed by a large front bunker. The ninth follows with a tightly bunkered, domed green, while the 10th presents a gracefully contoured target with a pronounced false front. The 11th offers plenty of room from the tee but uses the bunkering configuration to create multiple strategic choices. The final hole is a par 3 played over native vegetation to a green tucked into a towering pine grove.
Throughout The Scurry, the ground surrounding the greens are used as an extension of the putting surface. Bumps, ridges and spines can feed balls toward pins, repel them from targets or provide recovery routes.
The course preserved and incorporated native Lowcountry vegetation while creating varied habitats and ground formations intended to increase ecological diversity and reinforce the site’s natural character.
That approach culminates in one of The Scurry’s most distinctive features: a carnivorous plant bog beside the eighth tee. The design company 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.
The result is a course designed to feel distinctly of its place while offering a different kind of challenge from the club’s existing 18 holes.
