McLemore feels remote, yet it’s only 27 miles southwest of downtown Chattanooga and at the center of a two and half-hour driving radius of Nashville, Knoxville, Atlanta and Birmingham. The Chattanooga-based Scenic Land Co. has ambitious plans for the 450-acre site, including potential development of an adjoining 435-acre parcel. Only one-third of the 300 homesites remain to be sold, with 80 luxury residences already occupied year round. A franchise agreement with Hilton Hotels is in place for a Curio Collection resort as well.

Renowned golf course architect, Rees Jones sits back and looks over McLemore’s new cliff-edge 18th hole he designed with fellow architect Bill Bergin. “McLemore has one of the best finishing holes in the game of golf,” he says. “There are just so many holes at McLemore that could be signature holes on other courses, but I really want everyone to decide on their favorite hole for themselves.”

Renowned golf course architect, Rees Jones sits back and looks over McLemore’s new cliff-edge 18th hole he designed with fellow architect Bill Bergin. “McLemore has one of the best finishing holes in the game of golf,” he says. “There are just so many holes at McLemore that could be signature holes on other courses, but I really want everyone to decide on their favorite hole for themselves.”

“This course opened in 2005 to regional acclaim in large part due to several holes that crept out to the edge of Lookout Mountain in northwest Georgia, peering down to a valley floor several hundred feet below. Other parts of the design were less successful. New owners rechristened the club McLemore and brought in Rees Jones and Georgia native Bill Bergin to remodel the course. Those soaring views were opened up even further, revisions were made to the bunkers and greens, and a new 18th hole was built on a previously inaccessible ledge of land farther out over the precipice of the mountain. Golf Digest deemed that hole, a breathtaking par 4 that rides the clifftop and seems to levitate above McLemore Cove, one of the best 18 holes built in the U.S. since 2000. Part of a gated community, McLemore offers attractive overnight packages, and a new 245-room hotel and resort will soon be added to the collection.”

The collaboration of Jones and Bergin at McLemore resulted in immediate attention among the luminaries of golf, earning a nomination from Golf Digest for “Best New Course in America for Year 2020,”

The collaboration of Jones and Bergin at McLemore resulted in immediate attention among the luminaries of golf, earning a nomination from Golf Digest for “Best New Course in America for Year 2020,”

The collaboration of Jones and Bergin at McLemore resulted in immediate attention among the luminaries of golf, earning a nomination from Golf Digest for “Best New Course in America for Year 2020,”