Golf in America has very few old places that still feel lived in, and Palmetto is one of them. In 1892 Thomas Hitchcock founded the club here in Aiken, South Carolina, and laid out four rudimentary holes. Herbert Leeds, the architect behind Myopia Hunt Club and one of its early members, soon stretched those four into nine. In 1895 Leeds came back and worked alongside James Mackrell, the club's first professional, to make it eighteen. Only the Chicago Golf Club has an older eighteen-hole course still played on its original ground, which means Palmetto can reasonably call itself the second oldest in the land. The ground has carried the game for so long that the game seems to grow out of it. Palmetto also gave Aiken the shape of its golfing life. It drew wealthy northeasterners south in search of a warm winter retreat, and many clubs in the area have since followed the same pattern. The town's golf culture is robust now, but it started on these holes. What makes Palmetto romantic, rather than merely old, is how many careful hands have touched it. Donald Ross is thought to have come in 1928 to put in irrigation. In 1932 Alister MacKenzie drew plans to turn the sand greens to grass, rebunker the course and add length, all while he was designing Augusta National forty minutes away. The two projects grew up side by side, and the older one held its own. MacKenzie counted his alterations at Palmetto a success, and he passed along a letter from the chairman of Bobby Jones's executive committee at Augusta National with a single serious complaint: the layout at Aiken was liked so well that the Aiken colony did not seem the least bit interested in coming over to Augusta. Rees Jones advised on bunkers in the late 1980s, Tom Doak suggested ways to bring back some of MacKenzie's features in the early 2000s, and Gil Hanse now serves as consulting architect. Hanse's work is the part you feel underfoot. His restoration pushed the putting surfaces outward to their present size, making the most of the existing mounds, and the green complexes are a delight because of it. The bunkers were reworked under his care too. The result is a course with a Golden Age accent, kept simply but tuned well, and relaxed in its atmosphere. The outward half is known for its excellent two-shot holes. Ben Hogan is said to have called the 3rd, 4th and 5th the best back-to-back par fours he ever played. When he named his eighteen favorite holes anywhere, the 5th and the 13th were among them, and his third Palmetto choice wavers between the 3rd and the 7th, as if the course refused to let even Hogan settle on just three. Palmetto has long been a favorite tune-up for Masters competitors before they head to Augusta. Today Kevin Kisner keeps a house just off the 17th fairway. He once served a brief suspension for starring in a raucous video filmed on the property in 2016, and he is back in the club's good graces. The clubhouse was designed by Sanford White, who also drew the clubhouse at Shinnecock Hills, and with that name and so many architects leaving their mark on the holes, it is little wonder Palmetto sits on so many must-play lists. During Masters week the club opens its doors for limited public play, another tradition unlike any other, at a green fee of roughly $400 as of 2025. That is a lot of money, and still a fair price for a few hours on the ground where Aiken's golf first took root.