With two golf courses planned at the Windsor, S.C. site—Old Barnwell and The Gilroy—founder Nick Schreiber is looking to give back to the community. In addition to hosting clinics and events for non-members, he plans to support four aspiring female professionals each year and partner with at least one HBCU to provide opportunities for networking.
Nick Schreiber is creating a golf experience in Windsor, S.C. with a mission in mind, The Post and Courier reported. The club is Old Barnwell, and it takes its name from the very road where the course is located. The 575-acre tract features sandy soil and rolling terrain, two keys to a successful golf course.
The mission, as Schreiber puts it, is to create a golf club that is inclusive, The Post and Courier reported.
“By that, we mean a different type of environment that allows us to provide an affordable, but not cheap, cost to our members,” he said. “The bargain we are making is we’ll give you this top-tier experience at this price, and in turn we want to have public access throughout the year. We want to have clinics for people that are not members.”
The first 18-hole course, Old Barnwell, is slated to open in the spring of 2023, along with clubhouse and lodging, The Post and Courier reported. A course for junior players, “probably six greens and multiple teeing grounds,” according to Schreiber, also will be built in the first phase.
A second course, called The Gilroy, will probably open in 2025, he told The Post and Courier. He describes it as more family-friendly with a “lot of fun shots.”
Here’s where Old Barnwell is a bit different. “The second part is a little bit broad in giving back to the community,” Schreiber told The Post and Courier. “Within that mission, we’ll be supporting four aspiring female pros each year.”
That includes housing in Aiken and letting them practice and play at Old Barnwell, The Post and Courier reported. And there’s more. Schreiber wants to partner with at least one HBCU and provide opportunities for networking.
“I know from my own experience as a caddie and player, I’ve made relationships on the golf course that I wouldn’t have made otherwise,” he said. “It provided a great benefit for me personally and professionally.”
A caddie program is also in the works, and Schreiber’s team is in the process of reaching out to community leaders on how they can work together, The Post and Courier reported.
“We’re going to have this great membership who have bought into this vision and want to help,” he said. “Before we come in guns blazing, we want to hear from key stakeholders. We might be able to help them. That’s our long-term goal.”
Schreiber has enlisted an Aikenite, Morgan Purvis, to help with the venture, The Post and Courier reported. Purvis is the Director of Partnerships. The two met by chance during a round of golf in North Carolina.
“I heard his vision for what he wants to build for the golf course, but also on the mission side and the way we’ll be involved in the community,” Purvis said. “I tried to introduce him to everyone I could imagine. Then he said, ‘Why don’t you come work for me instead?’ Here we are.”
The golf course designers, Brian Schneider and Blake Conant, have solid pedigrees, with Schneider working alongside Tom Doak at Renaissance Golf Design and Conant being affiliated with Dundee Golf, The Post and Courier reported. Together, they have helped renovate some of the best courses in the world. This will be their first solo project.
Schreiber, a self-proclaimed golf architecture geek, was impressed enough to give them a chance, The Post and Courier reported.
“There are so many talented architects that have been working for the big names so long,” he said. “My thinking is simply that these are great people. Selfishly, we hope we are the first of many [great courses]. They just haven’t gotten the chance.”
Old Barnwell will be a par 72 with “multiple environments” throughout the 18 holes, The Post and Courier reported. That includes the deep valley that runs through the property, a meadow-like portion of the land and pine forests as well.
“They saw something here that is really special,” Schreiber said.
The land has been cleared and the holes routed, The Post and Courier reported.
“The idea is to create a golf course that is challenging and tests your strategic mindset,” Schreiber said. “There’s not going to be any water you have to hit over; we don’t want to penalize folks, but we’ll have some risk-reward. Short par-4s where if you want to take it on, feel free, you’d better be ready to accept the penalty.”
The motto for Old Barnwell is “for all who love it,” The Post and Courier reported. Based on Schreiber’s enthusiasm and positive feedback from those who have toured the property, it seems the club is on the right track.
“I’m very excited about the mission,” Schreiber said. “It’s going to be an exceptional golf course, but the mission is really for making an exceptional golf club so that we can better execute our mission.”
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