From the club website:

The origin of The Golf Club of Tennessee dates back to the 1980s when Nashville businessmen Toby Wilt and George Gillett first conceived of building a “fine golf club in or near the city.” After finding a piece of property in rural Cheatham County, the two men invited Bronson Ingram, chairman of Nashville-based Ingram Industries to join them as founders of a club that would provide dedicated golfers an excellent course in an exceptionally maintained environment of seclusion and exclusivity, an ideal that would become the Golf Club of Tennessee.

Though Gillett left the project after purchasing Vail, Inc. in Colorado, Wilt and Ingram forged ahead, selecting Tom Fazio, one of the top architects in the country, to bring their concept to life. With nearly one thousand acres at his disposal, and marching orders to “design the very best golf course” he was capable of, Fazio went to work “discovering” a masterpiece. Opening for member play in March 1991 the golf course gained instant national recognition, receiving runner-up honors in Golf Digest’s rankings of Best New Private Courses for 1991.