Cherokee Plantation Golf Course

Overview: Cherokee Plantation Golf Course is a private Donald Steele design in Yemassee, set in the wooded and marsh-influenced landscape of South Carolina's Lowcountry. The club describes its 18-hole course as Scottish links-style, yet the experience is defined equally by ancient live oaks, wildlife habitat, firm fairways and revetted sod bunkers. The current directory data lists the championship layout at 7,044 yards and par 72. The property is surrounded by swamp on three sides, creating a strong sense of separation and making the natural setting part of the strategy rather than background scenery.

History: Donald Steele completed Cherokee Plantation in the summer of 1999 as his first course in the United States. The project was part of Peter de Savary's vision for a private sporting retreat built around the historic plantation landscape and its 400-acre golf and shooting property. Steele's routing follows the character of the land, using gentle undulations that are unusual in the surrounding coastal plain while keeping the large live oaks central to the visual identity. The course later gained wider attention when Cherokee Plantation hosted a Shell Wonderful World of Golf match in 2000 between David Duval and Ernie Els.

Did You Know? Some of the live oaks on the property are estimated to be at least 400 years old. That makes the tree cover more than an attractive frame for the holes: it is a living link to the plantation landscape that Steele was asked to preserve and reveal through the course.