A lot of features stand out at Old Barnwell, a Brian Scheider and Blake Conant design that ranks 51st on GOLF’s list of Top 100 Courses in the U.S. Its greens are bold. Its routing is inventive. The fairways give you a wide berth but punish you for being out of position. You can play all kinds of shots on the ground and in the air. Loop it all you like. You will not get bored.
As much as the design, though, what defines Old Barnwell, an unconventional club on the outskirts of Aiken, S.C., is an abstract concept with a tangible impact.
They call it “the mission,” and everyone’s on board. Members. Staffers. Playing as a guest supports it, too.
Old Barnwell frames “the mission” in broad language: bringing people together through golf. On the face of it, that’s not a novel concept. Ideas like that get a lot of lip service in the game.
But Old Barnwell walks the talk. It takes those words and puts them into community-minded action. Central to its efforts is a youth and caddie program that provides well-paying jobs to kids of diverse backgrounds. Beyond putting money in their pockets, the program helps those kids build real-life skills and real-world connections. It fosters mentorships and offers those young loopers a chance at Evans Scholarships, which cover full tuition and housing for four years of college for high-achieving caddies with limited financial means.
At most courses, caddying is meant to be a service for the golfer. At Old Barnwell, says club founder Nick Schreiber, it’s the other way around. The caddie program exists to benefit the kid on the bag.
Schreiber, who grew up in Chicago, came to golf through caddying. But he didn’t come from an underserved background. His family was well-off. He knows he got a head start. He wants to help give others a fair shot.
On a recent visit to Aiken, GOLF spent time with Schreiber at Old Barnwell, playing a loop in the company of several of the club’s roughly 200 junior caddies. During the outing, Schreiber talked about his life in golf, a game that has given him so much and through which he is giving back. The mission extends beyond the caddie yard. Through a joint initiative with the ANNIKA Foundation, the club also supports female golfers, all recent graduates of four-year college programs, in their quest to make a living in the game, with backing that includes housing, access to Old Barnwell’s facilities and stipends to cover travel and tournament entrance fees.
The mission, Schreiber says, is a work in progress, something he expects to evolve as the club does. And Old Barnwell is growing. A second course, the Gilroy, is well underway on the property. It will welcome limited outside play, with proceeds flowing back into the philanthropic efforts that give this place its purpose.
To learn more about Old Barnwell, its mission, and the booming golf scene in Aiken, watch the video above.
