Every year, legions of American golfers fly to the British Isles to enjoy the game the UK way—at member’s courses that open their gates to play outside. Then they turn home to the United States, where such democratic acceptance of independent elites is vanishingly rare.
Since its birth almost two years ago, Broomsedge Golf Club has been among the exceptions. Now it goes forward.
Late last week the club announced that Baker Thompson had stepped in as principal owner and CEO. Thompson is no stranger to this corner of the golf world: he served as a founding member and captain of the Lido Club, Wisconsin’s most prestigious club that puts aside several times for Sand Valley visitors across the street. Thompson comes with a pre-fab structure: four-bedroom lodges for members and guests and a food and beverage area overlooking the course, with a second golf course to follow. At marquee courses such as Ballybunion, North Berwick and Royal Dornoch, members and their guests will find essentials but outsiders will be able to book rooms and golf courses. “It seemed like the perfect fit to be able to take Broomsedge to the next level and continue to embrace the UK/Lido model,” Thompson told Golf.com.
Located in Rembert, SC, on the same sand belt below Pinehurst two hours to the north, Broomsedge was built differently from the ground up. The mastermind behind that was Mike Koprowski, an Air Force veteran who spent years as a policy analyst in Washington before moving into golf course design. Among his inspirations was Sand Hills, a pioneering small property in Nebraska that has long allowed non-members who have never played the course to request a tee time by writing a letter. Koprowski benefited from that goal personally, having entered the course that way with his father. After finding the Rembert site and financing its purchase with a military loan, he teamed up with architect Kyle Franz on a landscape project that spanned the unruly, pine-framed parcel. When Broomsedge opens in the fall of 2024, it adopts the Sand Hills status: private, but not completely closed off. Non-members can request a tee time, as well.
Thompson first encountered Broomsedge on a trip south with his partner Michael Keiser in Sand Valley, and he was struck by the earth’s movement and the pine terrain that framed it. Keizer is not an investor in Broomsedge but has been a helper since the beginning and has now signed on as a consultant, a role he sees as passing on the advice he received from others, among them Sand Hills developer Dick Youngscap, Cabot founder Ben Cowan-Dewar, and his father, Bandon Dunes developer Mike Keiser. “Americans have always benefited overseas from the reception of clubs in the British Isles,” Keizer said. “There’s no reason it can’t work here.”
Until now, Broomsedge has operated with a barebones infrastructure, including a trailer-less professional shop. The creation and adoption of the British model club comes at an important time for Broomsedge and an exciting time for the industry. As is the case in many places, golf is booming across the Carolinas, with new courses springing up across the sandhills and beyond. Most of the developments are secret. While the desire for high-level golf is real, access, for many players, is not. Broomsedge excels in balance aiming to strike.
