Forbes Asia August 2017

78 | FORBES ASIA AUGUST 2017

was founded on a former 18th-century rice

plantation by 2 of the 200 richest men in Amer-

ica—Texas billionaires Dan Friedkin and Rob-

ert McNair—and named after a Native Amer-

ican tribe that once called the area home. The

club’s calling is to use golf to bring together an

international network of influential people pas-

sionate about changing lives, both locally and

globally.

“We wanted to create a club that at the core

of its mission makes meaningful differences

in the lives of young people and attracts golf-

J

asper County, South Carolina, is only a

45-minute drive from the low-country

resort town of Hilton Head, but it’s a world

removed. Aging churches and family home-

steads whose better days have long passed are

interspersed with dilapidated trailer homes and

overgrown yards strewn with junk and broken-

down cars. It’s not where one would expect to

find the most exclusive and inspirational new

golf club in America, one where philanthropy

drives a visionary membership model.

Congaree, which quietly opened this spring,

Serious green: In addition
to a golf club, Congaree
features 26 guest rooms
and a schoolhouse for the
children its charity benefits.

Forbes Life

The Long Game

BY ERIK MATUSZEWSKI

An exclusive first look at Congaree, a new South Carolina golf

club built by billionaires on a model of philanthropy.