Broomsedge Golf Club

Alex Elias

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​To some, building a golf course in Rembert, South Carolina—a town of fewer than 250 people, located 30 minutes east of the state capital, Columbia, and nearly two hours from the nearest major city, Charlotte, North Carolina—might seem questionable. But when the land offers the same sandy soil that helped shape Pinehurst into a golfer’s mecca, the location speaks for itself.

“Was Rembert by design? No,” said David McFarlin, Co-Founder of Broomsedge. “But we believed that if the Sandhills gave us the opportunity to build the best possible golf course, golfers would come.”

​While the soil is what first drew in Mike Koprowski, Co-Founder and Co-Architect of Broomsedge, it was the land’s unusually dramatic elevation changes—156-acres marked by chasms, plateaus, spines, and ridges—that ultimately defined the project.

“The topography unlocked everything,” said Koprowski. “While elevation changes are common throughout the Sandhills, most sites tend to roll up and down quite gently. Broomsedge had what we like to call ‘chop’—it shifted elevations abruptly and unexpectedly.”

By routing a minimalist design across the land’s natural contours, Koprowski and Co- Architect Kyle Franz saw their early joke—that Broomsedge would look like George Crump, Donald Ross, and George C. Thomas had a baby—quickly turn into reality.

“We have plenty of burly, Crumpian hazards out there that might remind players of Pine Valley—blood-pumping shots that contend with ominous features, like the tee shot on No. 9,” said Koprowski. “There are also subtle, beguiling Rossian green complexes, full of humps and hollows in the short grass, creating endless variety around the greens. And we really leaned into George C. Thomas’s ‘course within a course’ philosophy—with 20 greens alternating across 18 holes, half-par holes, and multiple routing options throughout.”

“No hole even remotely resembles another, which speaks to how much topographical diversity existed within a relatively small footprint,” said Franz. “It was always a freakishly good site for golf, and I think the routing and hole concepts maximised every bit of that inherent advantage.”

In step with one another, McFarlin and Head Golf Professional Trevor Murphy both pointed to the Par-4 2nd (pictured above) as their favorite hole on the property.

Off the tee, the upper fairway on the left offers the ideal angle of attack—but only if players can first navigate a centerline bunker. Successfully doing so sets up a downhill approach into a green that subtly slopes from the right hillside, as opposed to a slightly uphill shot over two bunkers from the right.
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“I think No. 2 is a world-class hole,” said McFarlin. “It forces both indecision and thought off the tee, with the high-left route sacrificing distance for a much better angle into what’s a visually stunning second shot. Walking off the green, you get a beautiful look back and a deeper appreciation for the landforms that shape the hole’s design and strategy.”

Now open for less than a year, McFarlin reflected, “I wouldn’t say this was done in typical fashion. A lot of it was just figuring it out as we went, but the result is a culmination of hard work and a bit of luck. It’s gratifying to see it all come together.”