The Cliffs Communities of South Carolina

The Cliffs was founded in 1991 and grew through the 1990s and 2000s into a collection of seven master-planned communities. Golf shaped the vision from the beginning, and the courses were entrusted to five distinguished architects: Tom Jackson, Ben Wright, Gary Player, Tom Fazio, and Jack Nicklaus. The result is a collection in which no two courses, and no two clubhouses, feel alike.

The communities gather in three regions. The Mountain Region, north of Greenville, holds Glassy, Mountain Park, and Valley. The Lake Region, on Lake Keowee near Clemson, holds Keowee Falls, Keowee Springs, and Keowee Vineyards. The Asheville Region holds the seventh community, The Cliffs at Walnut Cove, in North Carolina, near Asheville and Pisgah National Forest. Because membership extends across all seven, a lake resident can spend a weekend at a mountaintop clubhouse, and a mountain resident can spend one on the water.

Four mild seasons shape the calendar, and every one of them fills with golf, hiking, cycling, boating, and club events. The sections below follow the collection region by region.

The three Mountain Region communities lie within about fifteen minutes of one another, and each reaches Greenville in roughly half an hour or less. Together they hold the highest ground in the collection, with Blue Ridge views, river valleys, and some of the Upstate’s most memorable golf.

The Cliffs at Glassy

Glassy is where it all began. The community crowns Glassy Mountain in the Dark Corner of northern Greenville County, a district once known for its moonshiners and its distinct mountain culture. Today the summit is a place to gather: at the Overlook Pavilion for member-led potlucks, in the clubhouse with its walls of windows, and at the Glassy Chapel, set at the edge of the mountain and long celebrated as a ceremony venue. On a clear day the view carries seventy-five miles.

The Tom Jackson course is South Carolina’s only mountaintop golf course. Off the course, a 5,000-square-foot Wellness Center, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, and lighted tennis and pickleball courts keep the mountain active in every season, and the member calendar ranges from yoga to cigar clubs and pickleball clubs. Glassy sits about fifteen minutes from Tryon, North Carolina, and about thirty minutes from Greenville.

The Cliffs at Mountain Park

Mountain Park spreads across 2,000 acres of hilltops and river valley at the center of the collection. Its Gary Player Signature course is a walkable, links-style layout that follows the North Saluda River, with cart paths tucked out of sight and mountain ridgelines forming the backdrop. The river also draws anglers, and hiking and mountain biking trails wind through the property.

The Cabin, a rustic clubhouse with a wraparound veranda, a fire pit, and a long bar, anchors dining and gatherings. The Sports Pavilion adds two tennis courts, four pickleball courts, two padel courts, a resort-style pool, a playground, and a one-acre dog park, while the Italian-inspired Village next door holds the Wellness Center. Mountain Park is about twenty-five minutes from Greenville and five minutes from Valley.

The Cliffs Valley

Valley straddles the North Carolina and South Carolina line in the foothills of the Blue Ridge, with terrain that runs from the valley floor to ridgelines above 3,000 feet. The Ben Wright course is a parkland-style design that follows the land’s natural contours over streams, ponds, and rolling hills, and it is walkable enough that many players leave the cart at the clubhouse.

The 28,000-square-foot clubhouse offers panoramic views and dining, and a 15,000-square-foot Wellness Center provides heated indoor and outdoor pools, group classes, and an outdoor fitness complex. Valley is home to the largest tennis and pickleball program in The Cliffs, along with hiking trails, cycling groups, a private dog park, and a long list of member clubs. Hendersonville, Flat Rock, and Greenville are all within easy reach, and Greenville is about twenty-five minutes away.

Lake Keowee is a man-made reservoir of about 18,500 acres in Oconee and Pickens counties, created by Duke Energy and completed in 1971. Lake Jocassee, created in 1973, lies above it in the mountains. The Cliffs holds three communities on the Keowee shoreline, each about forty-five minutes to an hour from Greenville and twenty to forty minutes from Clemson.

The lake carries a deep history. Keowee Town was the largest of the Cherokee Lower Towns, and Fort Prince George was built across the Keowee River from it in 1753, both excavated before the water rose. At the lake’s north end, Keowee-Toxaway State Park in Pickens County, created in 1970, keeps that story alive with a Cherokee Interpretive Trail marked by four kiosks.

The Cliffs at Keowee Falls

Keowee Falls spreads across 2,500 acres of forest and includes twenty miles of Lake Keowee shoreline reserved for the community. Falls Creek winds through seven holes of the Jack Nicklaus Signature course, which many members consider the most challenging of the collection’s seven, and trails lead through the woods to the waterfalls that give the community its name.

The Wellness Center includes a heated, zero-entry pool, four lighted Har-Tru tennis courts, pickleball courts, and a spa offering massages, facials, and body treatments. On the clubhouse porch, rocking chairs face Falls Creek and more than half of the course’s eighteen holes. Keowee Falls is about forty minutes from Clemson and about an hour from Greenville.

The Cliffs at Keowee Springs

Keowee Springs puts the lake at the center of daily life. The Beach Club, reached by boat or golf cart, offers a pool, a waterslide, and a lakeside grille. The Surf Shop provides kayaks and paddleboards to members, and the Outdoor Pursuits team runs a watersports program that includes wakeboarding and boat cruises to a waterfall. The Lake Club at The Landing adds two swimming pools, a restaurant, and a wellness center with a yoga deck, all with a direct connection to the water.

Tom Fazio’s course is routed as three loops of six holes, with a set of family tees that lets a group play six, twelve, or eighteen. The new clubhouse, designed by Hart Howerton, overlooks the eighteenth hole with open-air pavilions, dining, a golf shop, and a wellness center. By boat, Keowee Falls is ten minutes away and Keowee Vineyards fifteen. By car, Clemson is twenty minutes away and Greenville forty-five.

The Cliffs at Keowee Vineyards

Keowee Vineyards takes its name from the native muscadine grape vines that wind through the property. The community reserved its finest lake frontage for shared use, so the eighteen-hole Tom Fazio course, the park, the trails, and the restaurant all sit along the water. Eight holes play directly on Lake Keowee, and five look out to the Blue Ridge.

A full-service marina serves the lake, and the reconstructed Lakehouse offers a dining room, a wraparound porch, and an open-air pavilion over the water. The Equestrian Center, with its stables and programs, gives riders access to trails through the Jocassee Gorges area, beginning on shaded paths within the community itself. Keowee Vineyards is about forty minutes from Clemson and about an hour from Greenville.

Seven courses by five architects sit under one membership. In the Mountain Region, Tom Jackson’s mountaintop layout at Glassy, Gary Player’s river-side links at Mountain Park, and Ben Wright’s parkland course at Valley each play differently from the others. On Lake Keowee, Jack Nicklaus designed the forested, creek-crossed course at Keowee Falls, while Tom Fazio designed both the lakefront course at Keowee Vineyards and the three-loop course at Keowee Springs. Near Asheville, Walnut Cove adds a second Nicklaus design.

The variety is the point. A member can walk a links-style course along a mountain river in the morning, play a lakefront round with eight holes on the water in the afternoon, and finish the week on a mountaintop with a seventy-five-mile view. The Cliffs has earned recognition among the best residential golf communities in North America from organizations including Golfweek, Golf Magazine, and Real Estate Scorecard.

Life here extends well beyond the fairway. In the Mountain Region, hiking and mountain biking trails thread the ridges, the North Saluda River runs through Mountain Park, and cycling groups are a fixture at Valley. On Lake Keowee, the water supports boating, paddleboarding, kayaking, wakeboarding, and fishing, and the trails at Keowee Falls lead to waterfalls. Beyond the gates, the Jocassee Gorges area to the north is reached by horseback from Keowee Vineyards, and Keowee-Toxaway State Park offers lakeside paths and Cherokee history.

Wellness Centers at Glassy, Mountain Park, Valley, Keowee Falls, and Keowee Springs offer pools, fitness, and classes, and several include spa services. Racquet sports run deep, from lighted tennis and pickleball at Glassy to the largest program in the collection at Valley and padel at Mountain Park. The club calendar is built around member-led groups, including yoga, cycling, Scotch, cigar, and golf associations, and the Glassy Chapel hosts weddings with a view that reaches seventy-five miles.

The Cliffs sits within reach of three distinct destinations. Greenville, about twenty-five to thirty minutes from the Mountain Region communities and forty-five minutes to an hour from the lake, offers a downtown of galleries, restaurants, and parks. Explore our Greenville page for a full guide. To the north, Tryon and Hendersonville in North Carolina, along with Flat Rock, are close to Glassy and Valley, and Asheville is about an hour from Glassy and Valley and about forty-five minutes from Mountain Park.

On the lake side, Clemson is the nearest college town. Clemson University brings the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, the South Carolina Botanical Garden, the Brooks Center for the Performing Arts, and Saturday football at Death Valley. Our Lake Keowee page covers the lake itself in more depth. Charlotte lies about two hours from Glassy.

The Cliffs communities are private, so plan visits in advance and request information through the club or an SZ INC. Realty advisor.

Homes across the six South Carolina communities are largely single-family estates designed for their settings: mountain estates in the Mountain Region and lake estates along Lake Keowee, with select townhome and condominium residences in some neighborhoods. The collection sits at the upper end of the Upstate market, and current pricing appears on each live listing.

Homesites are offered in several communities, and the club works with a network of builders to bring a custom vision to life on the land. Recent developer releases include Cherokee Rose and Golf Ridge at Mountain Park; Canebrake Estates, Fairway’s Edge, and Harbor Cove at Keowee Falls; and Clubhouse Village, Waterscape, The Landing, and Solstice Park at Keowee Springs.

To see what is available now, use Search Properties for current South Carolina listings, or request a Private Valuation if you already own in the area. Our advisors can arrange introductions and tours across the Mountain and Lake regions.