Chenal Country Club

The Founders Course at Chenal Country Club opened in 1989 as part of a master-planned residential community in west Little Rock. Robert Trent Jones, Jr. led the design, working with associates Donald Knott and Gary Linn to create a championship layout that takes advantage of the rolling terrain characteristic of the Ouachita foothills region. The property features significant elevation changes and natural wooded corridors that define the playing corridors. The routing moves through mature hardwood forests and across ridgelines, with several holes playing along or across ravines. Water comes into play on multiple holes, and the course incorporates the kind of strategic bunkering and large, contoured greens typical of Jones's work from this period. The design emphasizes shot values and course management, rewarding players who think their way around the layout rather than simply overpowering it. Chenal Country Club serves as a private club for the surrounding residential community and the broader Little Rock area. The Founders Course functions as the club's primary championship layout, hosting member competitions and regional amateur events. The facility reflects the growth of upscale golf development in Arkansas during the late 1980s and early 1990s, when several Robert Trent Jones, Jr. courses were built across the South and Southwest. The course remains a fixture in Little Rock's private club golf scene.