Glen Kernan Golf and Country Club’s new ownership group has one Claret Jug to its credit, plus a U.S. Open trophy won by its new course designer.
The Jacksonville, Florida-based private club was purchased Friday by local developer Corner Lot, which counts 2022 British Open champion Cam Smith as an investor and 2003 U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk as heading up the course renovation. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.
Smith, who defected to LIV Golf shortly after winning the Open at St. Andrews in 2022, the same year he won the Players Championship, has struggled to find a permanent place to play in his adopted hometown after losing access to TPC Sawgrass in the wake of his leaving for LIV.
“Andy Allen (CEO of Corner Lot) kept saying I want you to meet with Cam Smith, and that’s how it happened,” said Travis Norman, an executive with Hampton Golf, which will manage Glen Kernan. “I went and met with his business team, and he’s in.”
Smith may have to wait a little while to make Glen Kernan, which was designed by Robert Walker and opened in 1999, his home course. The plan is to shut it down for a year and renovate the course, which sits on 260 acres. Lot lines and home sites are more removed from the golf holes than on some other courses in the area, leaving wide corridors for the golf.
“There’s a significant amount of deferred maintenance to be addressed in the first year to make it a premier club in the area,” Norman said. “We know that demand is high for a high-end private club with limited membership, and the supply is lower in this market.”
Norman said they also will expand the clubhouse and freshen other amenities at its athletic park including pickleball, tennis and a fitness center.
Furyk, a 16-time winner on the PGA Tour who at age 53 remains active on PGA Tour Champions, already has been engaged by another course to be managed by Hampton Golf: Glynlea Country Club at Wylder, a new community planned for Port St. Lucie on the southeast coast of Florida.
“I got the opportunity to walk the first six holes at Glynlea with Jim, and just to hear him talk and see the shaping and his green complexes and bunker design, it was very impressive,” said Norman, whose company already manages Palencia Club, Blue Sky Golf Club and Eagle Harbor among others on Florida’s First Coast. “So his design ability coupled with his knowledge and passion for this golf course made him an obvious choice. Plus, he’s been around this golf course…
..
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Golfweek…