Rees Jones, “The Open Doctor”, son of Robert Trent Jones, Sr., and architect of 250+ golf courses worldwide has recently completed, along with Bryce Swanson, the Wellman Golf Club renovation. The golf club is located in Johnsonville, SC midway between and about an hour each from Florence and Myrtle Beach. Why, you may ask, did Rees Jones, who’s had a hand in Bethpage, Pinehurst No. 2, Baltusrol, and Torrey Pines to name a few of the notables, take on this project in a town of 1,480 residents?

First, the course and the community reminded him of his wife’s hometown just up the road in Red Springs, NC. The golf course was integral to their community and Johnsonville has been without a course for 10+ years. Second, it was his way of giving back to the game and contribute to the opportunity for public golfers to play a private club experience.

Wellman has been around since the mid-1960s with the second nine completed in 1971. It was designed by a couple of golf course architects with chops in their day, Ellis Maples and Ed Seay. The course closed in 2010 and sat dormant for the ensuing period. Fortunately, the fairways and roughs were somewhat maintained by a local resident. In 2020 Florence County purchased the course for $575,000. Subsequently, they entered into a long term lease with the City of Johnsonville to operate the course. A penny sales tax raised up to $5 million to restore the property and reopen the clubhouse and facilities, and on November 11 the City held its grand opening.

The course is a classic parkland layout winding through mature hardwoods and pines over slightly rolling terrain with a Pinehurst feel. There’s numerous ponds and water features in play, slight and dramatic doglegs, and a host of sand traps defending the small, raised greens and the occasional fairway. It also features a reverse “Waterloo” with a nod to the Dunes in Myrtle Beach at the par 5, 11th, and a closing par 3 of 220 yards over water from the tips! There’s five sets of tees with the middle white tees at 6,347 yards.