When Troon — the Scottsdale-based company that manages more than 800 golf and hospitality properties worldwide — agrees to oversee a property, it rarely signals a routine management transition.
The announcement that Troon’s private club division, Troon Privé, will take the reins at Currahee Club in Toccoa, Georgia, is no exception.
Combined with a fresh acquisition by CCDEV Holdings LLC and a sweeping capital program, this partnership is being watched as a case study in how premium golf communities are repositioning themselves for the next generation of affluent buyers.
Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountain foothills along the shores of Lake Hartwell, Currahee Club offers a setting that very few American private clubs can replicate:
- three miles of private lakefront,
- an 18-hole Jim Fazio-designed course stretching 7,500 yards from the tips, and a 48,000-square-foot clubhouse anchoring a gated residential enclave.
It is the kind of geography — part mountain grandeur, part lakefront serenity — that money cannot simply manufacture elsewhere.
Why does this deal matter?
Troon Privé will oversee four critical operational pillars at Currahee Club: club operations, agronomy, food and beverage, and membership sales and marketing.
That full-spectrum mandate matters because it removes the coordination gaps that historically plague private clubs, a common scenario in which a management firm controls service but not turf, or vice versa.
Unified accountability, industry veterans argue, consistently translates into a tighter member experience and faster return on capital investment.
“Currahee is an incredible property with breathtaking views of Lake Hartwell, amazing amenities, and an outstanding mountain-lake lifestyle.”— Dana Schultz, PGA, Director of Operations, Troon
For CCDEV Holdings, the logic of bringing in Troon is straightforward: speed and credibility.
When a prospective buyer evaluates a private community, the operating partner’s brand equity carries significant weight.
Troon’s global footprint signals to both prospective members and homebuilders that Currahee Club is being run to a standard, not improvised.
The investment thesis
CCDEV Holdings has outlined what amounts to a multi-front revitalization strategy.
Golf course conditioning and agronomy improvements sit at the top of the priority list, alongside enhancements to the existing clubhouse and amenity portfolio.
The broader ambition, however, is residential:
- activating the community’s remaining undeveloped lots, covering lakefront, golf-view, and mountain-view homesites, and
- partnering with quality homebuilders to deliver move-in-ready product to families and second-home buyers.
“Currahee Club is a truly irreplaceable combination of championship golf, stunning mountain and lake scenery, and an established membership community with extraordinary untapped potential.”— Michael Schoenfeld, CCDEV Holdings LLC
Two additional programming expansions round out the plan:
- lakefront activation: think paddleboarding, boating infrastructure, waterfront social events, and
- a formal push into weddings and corporate retreats.
The latter is increasingly lucrative for golf clubs that have historically under-monetized their event facilities during non-peak golf hours.
Mutual benefits of the collaboration
Market context
The location calculus underpins the entire investment thesis.
Currahee Club sits within a comfortable drive of three major metropolitan markets — Atlanta, Charlotte, and Greenville-Spartanburg — collectively representing tens of millions of potential primary residents, weekend retreaters, and retirees.
Post-pandemic demand for resort-caliber, nature-adjacent communities has proven resilient, and golf-anchored real estate, in particular, has outpaced broader residential trends across much of the Sun Belt and the Southeast.
In that context, the pairing of a professional operator with institutional-grade management standards and a motivated new owner with a capital commitment is precisely what distressed or underperforming private clubs need.
Whether Currahee Club can convert its undeniable natural assets into a fully activated, financially robust community will ultimately depend on execution — and that is exactly what Troon is being paid to deliver.