Ancient oak trees define the inland property that is home to the Kiawah Island Club’s forthcoming golf course community: Orange Hill.
South Street Partners
Golf architect Beau Welling got an up-close look at the evolution of Kiawah Island’s golf courses during his younger days – thanks to his family having a house on the island – and that exposure sparked an early interest in golf design. Welling has now come full circle, returning to his native South Carolina to create the newest (and third) course for the Kiawah Island Club: Orange Hill.
Development has officially started on the long-rumored course, which will anchor the region’s newest residential community and is set on 933 acres in southern Johns Island – the stretch just before reaching Kiawah itself. Welling and his team have designed the 18-hole championship course as well as a 9-hole short course, leaning into the inland lowcountry property’s grand oak trees and wetlands to create an “old world” feel that complements the Kiawah Island Club’s other two nearby courses: Cassique and River.
The Cassique course designed by Tom Watson is one of the two member courses for the Kiawah Island Club. Orange Hill will become the third when it opens, potentially in late 2027.
Erik Matuszewski
“Playing through these majestic live oak tree hammocks, we want the golfer to feel transported back in time,” said Welling, who worked under Tom Fazio for years before starting his own design firm and in recent years teaming with Tiger Woods on multiple new course projects.
“The shaping will be very strategic, wherein playing the ball on the ground will be one of many options presented on every hole, just like golf would have been played 100 years ago. Some of the earliest golf in America was in Charleston, and we want Orange Hill to feel like a modern version of that era.”
An aerial view of the 933-acre property on Johns Island that will be home to the Beau Welling designed golf course at Orange Hill.
Erik Matuszewski
Both the 18-hole course and the short course are being built concurrently and Welling said they are on track to grass both by summer of 2027. That timeline, dependent on factors outside of Welling’s control such as weather, could mean the courses open in fall of 2027.
About 300 acres of Orange Hill are devoted to golf – including the courses, clubhouse and expansive practice facilities that include a double-sided range – and Welling said he was given “complete reign” from the South Street Partners ownership group on where to build the courses.
Protecting the Trees
Kiawah Partners has owned the Orange Hill property for nearly two decades and this project has been in the works for several years, but the original development timeline was pushed back by an extensive approvals process that included a comprehensive assessment of the site’s tree canopy and the identification of more than 3,100 protected and grand trees. Tree removal was limited as a result, with 88% of the highest-graded trees remaining to inspire the design.
A South Carolina native, architect Beau Welling is designing the newest course for the Kiawah Island Club.
Beau Welling Design
“When I first walked the property, it immediately felt `old’ to me, mainly due to the maturity of the live oak trees,” Welling said via email. “They are absolutely incredible and provide a distinctive and magical setting for golf. The course we’re building will play off the maturity of these trees. It’s going to be really, really cool and timeless.”
Another part of the approval process with Charleston County was reducing the number of homesites in the Orange Hill community and including an adjacent 212-acre natural conservation area. There will now be up to 120 residential units that are sited on less than 110 acres of the overall property.
Jordan Phillips, the managing partner of South Street Partners (the owner of Kiawah Partners), said there won’t be residential development along the core routing of the golf course. The residential component includes a variety of cottages, homes and homesites integrated within open space surrounded by natural conserved areas.
There will be 120 homes within the Orange Hill community, but they won’t be a component of the golf course routing.
South Street Partners
“The intent is for the golf experience to remain focused on the natural environment, with protected trees and native landscapes surrounding the golf holes rather than homes,” Phillips said. “The residential component is not expected to impact the character or experience of the course.”
Kiawah Island Club
The development of Orange Hill – and the building of a third golf course — is the culmination of a vision that South Street Partners has been planning for years. The project truly began to materialize in 2022 when it was clear that post-pandemic member usage patterns, including a significantly higher number of rounds being played at Cassique and River, were deemed to be a new normal.
Member play is up 22% since 2022 at the Kiawah Island Club’s River Course (pictured) and the Cassique course, increasing the need for a third course at Orange Hill to meet heightened demand.
Erik Matuszewski
“It speaks to the growing engagement of our member community and the way members are increasingly making Kiawah a destination for more of their time throughout the year,” Phillips added. Unlike more seasonal destinations, Kiawah can offer a year-round lifestyle that supported by the permanent infrastructure in nearby Charleston.
Bearing out the demand on the residential side, Kiawah Island in 2025 had its third-highest sales year on record, with total island-wide sales volume reaching $851 million across 335 transactions. Over the first half of this year, Kiawah Island recorded 178 closings totaling $511 million.
As the median single-family home price has climbed to nearly $4 million, inventory has declined across every property type. The 11 available homesites available at midyear were the fewest ever on record for Kiawah Island.
An aerial of the Cassique course on Kiawah Island in South Carolina.
Erik Matuszewski
Some of the recently unveiled homesite development on Kiawah Island includes Front Nine Lane Parkside, Ocean Pines and Upper Burn – the latter a sought-after Island location set along the opening holes of the Tom Watson-designed Cassique course.
The Orange Hill community now joins that luxury mix, with Welling’s new “old world” design soon set to complement two of the finest golf courses on the island upon which the increasingly busy architect spent a formative part of his youth.
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