William B. Lewis, "Willie B."

(1924 -

Born: Easley, South Carolina

Willie B. worked on farms that his father bought to rejuvenate and sell. Willie ran the tractor and did the earth moving as necessary. Although he studied textiles at Clemson, he would do landscaping work on weekends. Eventually he entered the landscape business on a full time basis. When he and others decided to build a country club in Pickens, North Carolina, he was asked to build it since he was in landscaping. He knew he needed help so he contacted a golf pro, a Canadian, living in Georgia by the name of Bob Renaud and the two of them laid out what was then County Country Club (later changed to Pickens C.C.). Willie did all the construction. Renaud stayed on for a while as pro-manager.

Willie was eventually introduced to George Cobb and they first worked together on C. C. of Sapphire with Willie doing the grading work. They followed that up with Green Valley Country Club. From there Willie got more involved in course design and eventually went out on his own having worked with Cobb for about six years. In 1970 he moved his business to Sarasota, Florida where he spent four years before moving back to Pickens. He got out of the course construction business and focused on course design.

Willie is most proud of the work he did creating Bent Tree C.C. in Sarasota which was the site of a LPGA tour event for several years. He always continued his landscaping business along with his involvement with golf course design and construction.