By Vinnie Manginelli, PGA
Opened in 2001, the Berkeley Hall Club is a 12-time Golf Range Association of America (GRAA) Top 50 Private Facility. The Bluffton, South Carolina club followed the initial opening of its North Course with the unveiling of the South Course just one year later — both layouts were designed by storied golf course architect Tom Fazio. The facility, which has been member-owned and operated since 2005, is a bundled community of 500 homesites and 1,100 members who play 54,000 rounds of golf per year between the two 18-hole layouts.
PGA of America Director of Golf, Kieran Staunton, joined the Berkeley Hall team as an Assistant Professional in 2018 and was promoted to his current role just three years later.
“The developers maintained ownership for the first four years and turned it over to the members after that,” Staunton explains. “As a bundled community, all homesite owners are also dues-paying members. We also have a few nonresident members.”
Where other clubs of its type might have many more homesites, Berkeley Hall is content with the number of homesites on its property to allow their members better access to the golf courses, practice facilities and other amenities. Those extras include a spa and fitness center overseen by Director of Fitness Mia McCall, a comprehensive racquets program that includes six clay tennis courts and five pickleball courts, bocce courts, biking roadways, walking trails and indoor and outdoor swimming pools. In addition, Berkeley Hall offers water sports at River Park and lunch and dinner service throughout the week, with a stellar brunch every Sunday. They renovated the clubhouse just after the pandemic and added veranda seating and a bar for members and guests to enjoy before or after a round, or even those days when golf is not on the agenda. That social vibe related to golf, amenities, programming and F&B is what entices individuals and families to join the best private clubs in the country, including Berkeley Hall, a vibrant, very active club.
Krista Dunton, a 2023 GRAA Top 100 Growth of the Game Teaching Professional, four-time Carolinas PGA Section Teacher of the Year and 2002 LPGA National Teacher of the Year, is the PGA of America Director of Instruction, planning player development programming for all ages and skill levels.
Dunton offers Development Retreats, a three-day golf instruction program that covers all aspects of the technical side of golf, as well as on-course play, mental game strategies, trouble shots and technology to gather data and gauge progress. Other clinics and private lessons are offered year-round as well.
In addition to eight PGA of America members or associates on staff, Berkeley Hall’s head golf professional is Stephanie George, an LPGA Professional. George joined the team at Berkeley Hall in 2021 after spending 20 years at the prestigious Ibis Golf and Country Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. She is a Radford University graduate, where she earned a degree in Criminal Justice and Corrections. Besides Dunton…Staunton, George and several assistant professionals also provide some coaching and instruction on the club’s excellent practice facilities.
“Our driving range is double-sided and stretches out more than 320 yards,” says Staunton. “Golfers hit from the 25 grass tee hitting stations we have on each end of the range — we use one side for warmup and the other for extensive practice and coaching.”
The practice side has a large short-game area with three greens and a hitting area that allows golfers to hit upwards of 125 yards to a set of greens that are maintained to the same quality as those on the golf course. There are greenside bunkers as well, so members can hone their sand skills. There’s also a smaller short game area on the warm-up side that has a two-way bunker, so members can work on their short bunker shots and fairway bunker shots as well.
The Berkeley Hall practice facilities also have a special wedge area with multiple range targets between 40 and 120 yards. Additionally, there are three putting greens, one by the first tee of each course and a larger green on the practice end of the driving range.
Finally, there’s a performance building on the practice end of the range that has four hitting bays with Trackman technology and is also equipped with SAM PuttLab. Between the programming, facilities and expert teaching staff, Berkeley Hall is the ideal private club for an active membership that loves golf and a superb social setting. We’ll update you on their 25th anniversary celebrations later this year!
For more information about The Berkeley Hall Club, log on to their website today.
