Coore and Crenshaw has ‘no plans for golf course in the Augusta area’

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - In about 50 days, Augusta becomes the center of the golf universe, but lately, the Masters’ buzz has centered around a piece of property along the river.

Word of a new golf course possibly 10 miles from Augusta National has been spreading like wildfire on social media. And not just here. They’re talking about it across the pond, and we don’t mean Ike’s pond.

It’s in Edgefield County, several miles across the Aiken County line if you’re driving on Martintown Road.

We got wind of this last week so that’s when we decided to put our drone in the sky.

It started as a mere trickle, whispers of the LIV tour buying land a stone’s throw from Augusta National but once it hit social media, you could say the floodgates opened.

Then it became LIV Golf paid $36 million for 400 acres with Coore and Crenshaw engaged to build a tournament course played the week before or after Masters.

Then came a new course, player housing, and a women’s tournament. Followed by a meme. So who bought it?

We checked. No one did.

GIS data shows the majority of this land is owned by C. R. McKie Enterprises, a limited partnership in Augusta. There is also a neighboring parcel directly bordering Aiken County owned by a family with the same last name but no with relation to C.R. McKie Enterprises. They tell News 12 their land is ABSOLUTELY NOT for sale.

Sales data on the property owned by C. R. McKie Enterprises appears to be missing, unless the last time this property changed hands really was 123 years ago.

If you look at tax records, it seems C.R. McKie Enterprises has been piecing together a big piece of property here since 2016. That’s three years before the first Augusta National Women’s Amateur and a full six years before the LIV tour was officially born.

Also, North Augusta already has a LIV presence. LIV is also the name of the developer behind Ironwood, the condos by SRP Park. Maybe that’s how things got confusing here.

Something else to note, Coore and Crenshaw’s website shows a number of golf course projects all over the world. None of them are in North Augusta or Edgefield County. We reached out just to make sure.

Ben Crenshaw’s agent and business manager tells us “we don’t have any plans to build a golf course in the Augusta area. The social media blogs this weekend were a surprise to us.”

As for zoning, online maps note the parcel classes are ag-ag-farm, but if you look at the zoning map Edgefield County released back in 2019 as part of its comprehensive plan, the area is clearly in bright yellow under suburban density residential, meaning four years ago, it looks like this land was on a path to become a neighborhood.

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