By Design - Spring 2019

13 of the surrounding national and state parks. The owners, Scenic Land Company, planned to convert the club into a community and resort club, and wanted a design team that would be hands-on and could provide a course that would attract second- home buyers and resort guests. Bill Bergin, ASGCA, had received widespread praise for his renovation of nearby Chattanooga Golf & Country Club, and has worked on three of the top 10 courses in neighboring Tennessee. ASGCA Past President Rees Jones is known for his work on U.S. Open venues like Bethpage Black, Torrey Pines and Congressional. Scenic Land Company hired both, along with Jones’s senior designer Steve Weisser, ASGCA, bringing three ASGCA members to the project team. Jones says: “We first worked together with Bill Bergin at the Country Club of Winter Haven in 2013 and when the opportunity to work with Bill again at McLemore arose, we saw it as a chance to really deliver something special for Duane Horton and the entire Scenic Land team. “We have a design team comprised Bill Bergin, me, Steve Weisser and Matt Bergin [Bill’s associate and son]. The collaboration among the four of us works because we share common ideas about strategy, playability and the way a golf hole should fit the land.” The team set about fulfilling multiple objectives: creating more variety to the mountaintop course and making it a test for the best players as well as being accessible for beginners. Bergin says: “Once grading plans were complete, Rees, Steve and I went over each hole in detail. Working with Rees and Steve has been a pleasure both professionally and personally. Our styles mesh very well, and we have similar goals. “Our collaboration has produced a golf course that offers the highly skilled player a formidable test, while being enjoyable and playable for all levels of recreational golfers. A day at McLemore presents a pleasurable physical and visual journey through an amazing landscape.” Pictured left, the team for the McLemore Club project (as seen in construction above) includes Steve Weisser, ASGCA (far left), ASGCA Past President Rees Jones (centre left) and Bill Bergin, ASGCA (second from right) We are able to draw on each of our individual talents to produce a golf course that we might not be able to achieve on our own Photos: Bill Bergin, ASGCA