Talking GolfGetaways: Your Golf Getaways Podcast · Mitch Laurance and Darin Bunch

Aiken Golf Course owner Jim McNair, Jr., tells all

·56 min·3 clips

Jim found a brass quick coupler and realized he was standing on the original sand green.

1. Talking GolfGetaways focuses on Aiken Golf Club and the history Jim McNair Jr. has steered there for decades. 2. Mitch Lawrence leads the conversation from Myrtle Beach, Darren Bunch joins from California, Chris helps from Chicago, and Jim McNair Jr. matters because he owns and reshaped Aiken Golf Club. 3. The episode asks what makes Aiken Golf Club feel like a living piece of golf history rather than just another private club. 4. Mitch says he first played Aiken in 2018 with John Patrick and Scott Misho during Masters Week in Augusta. 5. Mitch also describes a later Masters Week round with Sarah Stewart from Hawaii, who had previously played Aiken in a torrential downpour with lightning. 6. Jim links Aiken’s story to Palmetto Golf Club, the Tufts family from Pinehurst, Donald Ross, and John R. Inglis. 7. Jim says John R. Inglis finished the course in 1915 after an earlier routing and then installed the first forward tees for ladies in the United States in 1916. 8. Jim adds that the women’s history included a 1937-39 invitational with Babe Zaharias and Patty Berg. 9. Jim points to a photo of Babe Zaharias and Patty Berg on the 18th green in the 1937 semifinal. 10. Jim says his father, James McNair Sr., bought the course from the city of Aiken in 1959 after the city had owned it from 1939 to 1959. 11. Jim describes the clubhouse era after 1959 as a private Highland Park Country Club with a pool, dances, dinners, and more than 350 members. 12. Jim says he returned in 1986, ran the operation on a shoestring, and found the course in poor agronomic condition. 13. Jim explains that in the late 1990s he carried out a full remake and reopened the property in 1999 as Aiken Golf Club. 14. Jim recalls uncovering a brass quick coupler while bulldozing the ninth green and realizing he had found the original sand-green layer. 15. Jim says he also uncovered the old bunkers from the 16th hole and dug them back out using a 1928 photograph. 16. Darren notes that some restorations create a modern interpretation, while Aiken still feels like a place where the 1920s and 1930s course is visible underfoot. 17. Jim says the property still feels like a “vibe” because you can park on the street, walk through the golf shop, and tee off in a setting that feels tied to 1930. 18. The interview style is conversational and history-heavy, with long answers from Jim and regular banter from Mitch, Darren, and Chris. 19. Golf history fans, South Carolina locals, and affordable-architecture seekers will get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners wanting fast tips or no historical detail may skip it.

As heard by us

A family-run course, a tight budget, and a stubborn stretch of history make this a worthwhile listen for golf travelers.

Jim McNair Jr.'s talk about Aiken Golf Club keeps coming back to the same point: this is a place held together by family, habit, and a lot of patience.

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Why you'd press play

Press play if you want the backstory behind Aiken Golf Club and Chalk Mine 9.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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