Richland Country Club

Nashville, TN • Private

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Evan Schiller

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Overview

Richland Country Club was chartered as the Nashville Golf Club 1901, though it has moved locations several times and played a handful of different golf courses, including one laid out by Donald Ross in 1921. In 1988 the club moved to a new site in the hill country south of the city and hired Jack Nicklaus to design it course up to the modern standards of the day. Atlanta based architect Bill Bergin conducted a significant transformation of that design in 2021 that focused on expanding greens and fairways, removing excess trees and rebuilding (fewer) grass-faced bunkers notched into upslopes as Ross might have on this site. Significantly, the two nines were flipped and the first and ninth holes (formerly 10 and 18) have been directionally reversed for better flow. Richland placed third in the 2023 Best Transformation awards.

About

Holes 18

Length 6952

Slope 139

Facility Type Private

Year Opened 1988

Designer Jack Nicklaus, ASGCA/(R) Richard Jacobson/Bill Bergin (2021)

Panelists

Ratings from our panel of 1,900 course-ranking panelists

100 GREATEST/BEST IN STATE SCORES

Shot Options

6.9226

Character

6.9925

Challenge

6.885

Layout Variety

6.9663

Fun

6.9222

Aesthetics

6.7925

Conditioning

7.1913

Reviews

1 / 3

Review

“Richland Country Club is characterized by fast, smooth greens in beautiful condition; variety of holes with trees, hillsides, lakes, creeks and stone walls dictating shot options; and continuous flow of the overall routing to create a coherent sum of 18 holes of golf. The club has a timeless, golden-age architecture feel to it, with tree-lined fairways and smallish, strategically placed bunkers. This makes it pleasantly surprising that this was actually an original Nicklaus design recently overhauled by Bill Bergin. Overall, Richland had a delightful walk-in-the-park feel with compelling golf architecture."

2024

2 / 3

Review

“See course evaluation review."

2023

3 / 3

Review

“An upscale course to match the upscale setting. Nashville celebrities abound, and the clubhouse is grand and stately, and contains many relics from the Civil War, with a battle having been fought nearby. The course is laid over the hills and valley nicely, as if they had simply been laid out there forever. However, this feel is due to the recent transformation, which is very well done."

2023