Cameron Smith buys stake in Jacksonville private golf club to be renovated by Jim Furyk
The new ownership group at Glen Kernan Golf and Country Club has a U.S. trophy. Open won by a Claret pitcher and new course designer.
The private club in Jacksonville, Fla., was acquired by local developer Corner Lot on Friday. Corner Lot counts 2022 British Open champion Cam Smith as an investor and 2003 US Open champion Jim Furyk as head of the renovation. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.
Smith, who switched to LIV Golf shortly after winning the St. Andrews Open 2022, where he won the Players Championship that same year, he found himself regularly searching for a place to play in his hometown after losing access to TPC Sawgrass afterwards. It was hard for me. Departure to LIV. “Andy Allen (Corner Lot CEO) kept saying he wanted to meet Cam Smith,” said Travis Norman, general manager of Hampton Golf Company, which manages Glen Kernan. “I met his business team and he joined.”
Smith may have to wait a while before Glen Kernan, designed by Robert Walker and opened in 1999, becomes his home course. The plan is to suspend this for a year and renew 260 hectares of land. The lot lines and fairways are located further from the golf holes than other courses in the area, providing ample golf access. “Being the first club in the area, there was a significant amount of deferred maintenance work in the first year,” Norman said. “We know there is a high demand for luxury private clubs with limited membership and limited supply in this market.”
Norman said he will expand the clubhouse and upgrade other facilities at the athletic park, including pickleball, tennis and a fitness center. Furyk, a 16-time PGA Tour winner, is still playing on the PGA Tour Champions at age 53 and already has another course managed by Hampton Golf. This is Glynlea Country Club in Wilder, a new planned community near Port St. Lucia in the southeast. Florida coast.
“I had the opportunity to visit the first six holes of Glinlea with Jim and it was very impressive to hear him speak and see his landscaping, green and bunkers,” said Norman, whose company owns the Palencia Club. Get over it. Includes Blue Sky Golf Club and Eagle Harbor on Florida’s First Coast. “So his design skills, combined with his knowledge and passion for this golf course, made him the obvious choice. Moreover, he has been active on this golf course for 20 years. “He played golf with his son and his father and knows every hole on the course.”
Furyk was a longtime member of Glen Kernan. My parents always eat there. Furyk said the course is located very close to Pablo Creek Golf Club, where he often practices, making it convenient for him to visit regularly.
“The golf course has a lot of potential and good bones,” Furyk said. “Our plan is to make some holes more playable for intermediate golfers and widen some tees to make the course longer for better golfers.”
When asked if he expected Smith to be involved in making decisions, Furyk said: “I’m sure he would be interested. I think Andy said he had some input on things like training gear (double sided scopes). So let me talk a little bit about that. “I’m sure Cam wants privacy behind the range to do his work and prepare for his golf tournament.” (Smith’s management did not return calls seeking comment.)
Friday was the last day the club could play as Connor Lott officially took over and construction was due to start next week. “We want to create the best experience in this market,” Norman said. “We have the right prints, the right designers, and we think we’re going to do something special.”
The sellers (the Hodges family) also sold the land to a local developer who plans to build about 100 homes.
