"Right after events is a great spot to play as the whole course will be open." Golf pro Bray Blanton put that line in Summerville Country Club's October 2026 newsletter, a few sentences after a warning: "The weather is finally getting enjoyable which means October will be unusually busy."

That advice is the best way into the course this month. From Tea Farm, the course on Country Club Boulevard can look like a quiet backdrop of pines. In October it runs on a tournament calendar, and the times a neighbor can actually use it fall around the tournaments. If you know the shotgun times, the earlier twilight and the Wednesday night schedule at the Pavilion, the busiest month of the year is easy to work with.

Fourteen Shotgun Starts in Thirty-One Days

The October newsletter lists every tournament booked on the course this month. Bray Blanton notes that many of them are charity events moved from earlier in the year.

That comes to fourteen tournament days out of thirty-one, and eleven of them land on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday. A shotgun start puts groups on every hole at once, so the whole course is taken for a few hours. The club's homepage shows the first two of these, Brian Burbage and VIP Shriners, each blocked for about four hours, 8 am to noon and 8:30 am to 12:30 pm.

Why a Neighborhood Course Fills Up Like This

The calendar is this full because of what the club is. Summerville Country Club is public. The homepage calls it Summerville's oldest club, "a public course run by one family for more than fifty years." In 2025 it celebrated its centennial.

Suzanne Blanton, who runs membership services, told the Journal Scene during that centennial year how the club fits into the community. "Our Candlelite Pavilion provides opportunities for organizations to have fundraisers here," she said. "We are not fancy, but we can be if we want to be." Bufort Blanton, who was 93 and still director of golf when that story ran, said it more simply: "while it isn't very expensive here, it is very fun."

An affordable public course with a pavilion built for fundraisers attracts school boosters, wrestling programs, memorial tournaments and alumni chapters once the heat breaks. October's list shows exactly that. The Swing for Leilani event supports Leilani's Legacy Foundation, and Bauer Power Golf on Oct. 16 is promoted as "A Drive for Change" under the Justice for Christa banner.

The Gap After the Shotgun

Bray Blanton writes that on almost every October event day, tee times are still open before or after the tournament. The afternoon window is wider this month than the website suggests.

The club's rates page and homepage both say twilight starts at 4:00 pm. The October newsletter moves it up: "TWILIGHT RATES begin at 3:00 pm," with no rainchecks after nine holes. The same notice lists the October limits:

• Pro shop hours are 6:30 am to 5:00 pm.
• The last cart goes out at 4:50 pm.
• Carts have to be back in the cart lot by sunset, using the time your phone's weather service gives.

The rates page lists twilight or nine holes with a cart at $29 Monday through Friday and $35 on weekends and holidays. Walking twilight or nine holes is $20, plus tax. A full 18 with a cart is $35 Monday through Thursday, $39 on Friday and $45 on weekends. Golfers 22 and under ride or walk for less, and kids 15 and under can walk free with a paying adult. The rates page says those prices took effect in April 2025 and may change, so it's worth checking the current twilight time and price with the pro shop before you go.

Walking makes sense here. According to the club's history, the course is "relatively easy to walk as the distance between the greens and tees is minimal," like many courses built in the 1920s. It has four sets of tees, from just under 5,000 yards to over 6,000. On a weekday after a morning shotgun, a 3 pm start on foot leaves almost two hours of daylight before the carts are due back.

Some groups already play in that late-afternoon slot every week. Women golfers meet for nine holes every Tuesday and Thursday at 3:30 pm, and the club says all levels are welcome. The contact is Christine Allegrucci.

Wednesday Nights Belong to the Pavilion

No tournament falls on a Wednesday evening, and that night has its own schedule. The October shag nights are Oct. 7, 14, 21 and 28 at the Pavilion.

1. On the first Wednesday of the month, which is Oct. 7, a free Beyond Basic class runs from 6:00 to 6:30 pm.
2. Free basic shag lessons run from 6:30 to 7:00 pm.
3. Open dancing follows from 7:00 to 9:00 pm, with music by DJ Wendell Nolan.
4. The cash bar and the grill are open. No partner is needed, and attire is casual.

The club's events calendar says "most events are open to members and the public alike." The lessons are free. The listings don't give a price for the open dance, so call ahead if you want to be sure.

October 28 Puts It All on One Night

The last Wednesday of the month has the most going on. Team Trivia Night runs from 6 to 8 pm at the Pavilion, and the club lists it as the last trivia night of 2026. The same night is the annual Halloween Costume Party at shag night, with prizes for first, second and third place. The free basic lesson still comes first, and open dancing runs until 9:00 pm.

Three days earlier, on Oct. 25, the course hosts the Cuthbert Classic, the club's own October tournament. Teams of two play captain's choice. The low gross and low net winners each get $100 per person, and hole sponsorships cost $100. The newsletter says the Annual Cuthbert Cup benefits the Cuthbert Scholarship fund and has two divisions, the Tommy Cuthbert Gross Division and the June Cuthbert Net Division. Teams sign up in the pro shop.

Pink and Purple on Number 18

If you play this month, look at the cart turnaround by the 18th tee. Derrick Johnson painted it half pink and half purple for Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Domestic Violence Awareness Month. On top of the club's own donation, the club will add $100 to each campaign for every eagle made on #18 in October. Anyone who makes one should report it at the pro shop. Eagles do happen here. In September, the newsletter recorded eagles on #1, #16 and #5 on three different days.

The Back Nine and the Tea Plants

All this activity sits on ground with a long history alongside the neighborhood. The club's history says the current back nine was designed and built in 1958 by Eddie Ricobonni and George "Chick" Miler. Meanwhile, the land around it became the Tea Farm subdivision. In the early 1960s the tea plants were sold and moved to the Charleston Tea Plantation, where the American Classic brand began, and that opened a new section of the subdivision for development.

The centennial year leaned into that history. The Swinging Through the Years tournament had players use hickory-shaft clubs on the back nine and modern clubs on the front nine. "We thought 18 holes of hickory might be a little harsh," Bray Blanton told the Journal Scene.

When the Calendar Turns

The busy stretch tapers into November. The pool's official season ended Sept. 7, but the club plans to keep it open through October without pool attendants. It closes at 6 pm each day, and because of rain and cooler weather the club asks people to call before coming. The pool is a member amenity, along with one clay tennis court and four asphalt pickleball courts. A Social membership covers those without golf. Under rates effective May 1, 2026, it costs $837 a year for a family or $690 for a single, and there are no initiation fees.

Two more fundraisers follow Halloween. The Cane Bay Wrestling Fundraiser has a 9 am shotgun on Nov. 1, and the Mayor's Committee Golf has an 8 am shotgun on Nov. 6. Shag at the Pavilion comes back in a bigger way in the spring. The Rotary Club of Summerville held its 2026 Shag Fest there on March 21, with The Embers, dinner, a cash bar and a guest shag instructor. General admission was $75. A 2027 date hasn't been announced yet.

If you live in Tea Farm, a public course a few streets away is part of what you get from the neighborhood, along with the shag nights, the tournaments and the history that comes with it. When you want to know how amenities like Summerville Country Club figure into the value of your home, or into the next place you're considering, Angela Miller and her team are glad to talk it through. Get a Free Home Valuation & Neighborhood Guide, and we'll include the local details that never show up on a listing sheet.