Golf Courses Designed By David Johnson

The Hooch Golf Club

Duluth, Georgia 

The Hooch Golf Club is one of the top executive length courses you will find. Although it only stretches to 4,100 yards and has a par of 61, I wanted players to hit nearly every club in their bag and be tested mentally. The design is strategic with plenty of risk versus reward opportunities. Water comes into play on nine holes and the greens are fairly small, requiring precise approach shots. One of the things that gives me the most satisfaction about the Hooch is that every time I visit the course I see an amazing cross-section of golfers; parents playing with their kids, ladies, seniors, weekend golfers, low handicappers, etc. 

Farmstead Golf Links (w/Willard Byrd)

Calabash, North Carolina

Straddling the North Carolina and South Carolina border, several miles northeast of the hustle of Myrtle Beach, Farmstead Golf Links is a hidden gem. Designed to incorporate many of the characteristics of great links-style courses, Farmstead is a fantastic test of golf. The course is visually stunning with tall, native grasses framing the expansive fairways. The greens were designed to accept low-running shots, which are often the preferred shot on the wind-swept layout. I am especially proud of the greens complexes, with subtle shapes and forms that flow seamlessly together.

Ford’s Colony Country Club

Marsh Hawk Course

Williamsburg, Virginia 

The Marsh Hawk Course at Ford’s Colony Country Club was originally designed by Dan Maples and opened in 1984. Wildly popular with area golfers, my objective in renovating the course was not to give the course a new identity, but to recapture some of the magic lost though the years. We rebuilt and enlarged the greens, modified some of the grades that were too severe, rebuilt the bunkers, enlarged some tees and improved the drainage and irrigation systems. The end result is a course that is more playable, more easily maintained, and one that has a few more “Sunday pin placements”. 

Cartersville Country Club

Cartersville, Georgia

At Cartersville Country Club, the request was simple: Convert the old push-up greens, most of which sloped from back to front (some severely), into USGA greens while keeping the area of disturbance to a minimum. While limiting the area of disturbance was a challenge, we were able to create greens with far more character, variety and pin placements than their predecessors. 

Kershaw Golf Club

Kershaw, South Carolina 

I wanted to take advantage of the natural beauty of the site in routing the new nine holes at Kershaw Golf Club. It offered a little of everything; a picturesque, natural creek, rolling, wooded terrain and a section of flatter, open land. The nine flows through these distinct sections with one memorable hole after another. One thing that speaks volumes for the new nine is that membership has risen from 90 to over 500 since its opening in 2004.

Brentwood Country Club

Brentwood, Tennessee 

I tackled the Brentwood Country Club renovation with the goal of helping the Club improve playability and strategy, ease of maintenance, and find a few extra yards for today’s long hitters. We moved and re-built several greens, sprigged all greens with Champion Bermudagrass, added a few ponds, moved and re-built bunkers to improve strategy, re-built some tees and added some visually stunning stone walls.

Ford’s Colony at Rocky Mount (Opening in September, 2007)

Rocky Mount, North Carolina

The Ford’s Colony at Rocky Mount Golf Course is sure to become a masterpiece. Utilizing a classic front-nine out and back-nine return routing, the course takes full advantage of the gently rolling terrain in offering a unique golfing experience.

The golf course design presents the ultimate in variety and contrasts. While most of the holes flow through woodlands, there are a handful of holes without trees where wind will play a dominant role. There is a nice balance of dogleg lefts, dogleg rights, straight holes, large greens, small greens, and a wonderful variety of hole lengths. Among the par threes, the 3rd and 8th holes are stark contrasts. While the third (150 yards) requires a precise shot over a pond to a small green, the eighth is a long, bunker-free hole (227 yards) with a large green that encourages a run-up shot. Likewise the par fours and fives showcase variety. The 465 yard, par four 2nd hole is a beast with directional bunkering while the 308 yard, heavily bunkered, par four 5th hole stresses accuracy. Among the par fives, the 503 yard 11th can be reached with two heroic shots, one of which must contend with a pond, while the 600 yard 7th is a true three-shotter with few hazards. And don’t forget the 18th, a 522 yard par five that skirts along the edge of Belmont Lake; sure to be the site of high drama.

The design emphasizes strategic play and the demands asked of the player escalate as you move from the front tee to the back tees. While the back tee player must contend with a few forced carries and cross-bunkers, the front tees offer playing angles where many of the hazards (bunkers, ponds, etc.) do not come into play. Each hole allows run-up (ground) shots to at least a portion of the green and most holes have bail-out areas for more conservative players or those wishing to play away from hazards.

Ford’s Colony at Rocky Mount will be a challenging, fair test of golf that provides interest, variety and excitement for players of all abilities.

Toqua Golf Club (Under Construction)

Loudon, Tennessee

Nestled in the rolling hills alongside Tellico Lake, Toqua Golf Club is a scenic golf course. But, as with many of the golf courses built in the mid-1980's, the putting surfaces at Toqua are too steep for today's maintenance practices, leaving very little usable area on the greens. The current renovation of the golf course includes enlarging and rebuilding the greens to USGA specifications (and softening the slopes), enlarging the tees and installing a new irrigation system. The end result will be a more playable golf course that is better suited to the members at Toqua Golf Club.