William B. Lewis

William ‘Willie' B. Lewis was born in 1924 in Easley, South Carolina, to his parents, William Bruce and Clara Lewis. At a young age, William worked on farms as his father managed properties at Glenwood Mills. At the time, William helped his father run the tractor and maintain the beauty of the land to attract interested buyers, similar to modern landscaping today.

In 1942, the young William B. Lewis joined the Marines and served during World War II. After the war, he finished his degree in textiles at Clemson College, now known as Clemson University, and continued to work on weekends with his landscaping career. A year before his first designed golf course, he married his wife Mary Sue Porter, with whom he would have four sons.

Thanks to golf professional Robert ‘Bob' Renaud, William was able to finish the designs of the country club, now named the Pickens Country Club. The two worked together, with William responsible for the entire construction. Since then, William's success continued to grow, and he was then introduced to another prominent golf architect, George Cobb.

Both the architects worked to construct the Country Club of Sapphire, where William was handed the grading work for the project. From there, Lewis and Cobb also partnered up to build the Green Valley Country Club. At least six golf course designs were made by the pair within six years before William decided to focus on establishing his own name in the industry. The Easley-native said that Cobb encouraged him to practice his own landscaping skills by saying he, “... felt I was ready, and so did I.”

In 1970, William moved to Sarasota, Florida, but returned to Pickens, South Carolina, after four years. Before his death in 2005, William left a legacy in golf landscaping by constructing 36 golf courses situated in different parts of South Carolina, Florida, and Georgia.

Website: https://www.golfcourseranking.com/architect-profile/list-of-courses-designed/william-b.-lewis/3342/