The Sweetens Cove expansion aims to stay true to its cult favorite roots
Sweetens Cove Golf Club, a popular nine-hole course in rural Tennessee, faces a common question for punk-rock bands hitting the commercial dirt: how do you appeal to a growing market without jeopardizing what made you famous in the first place?
It’s a fine line but Sweetens has been crossing it. Born in 2014 as a bootstrapping project west of Chattanooga, the course shed its underdog status in no time. Instagram has come to the rescue with that, a feed overflowing with engaging posts from the game’s budding influencer set. When, three years later, the New York Times incorporated into the Rob Collins/Tad King design mix, Sweetens’ stance on the mainstream was solidly sealed. Never mind that golfers – and golf writers – continue to refer to it as a “cult favorite.” The course had become a juggernaut.
Today, Sweetens is part of an ownership group that includes Peyton Manning, Andy Roddick and Reef Capital Partners, a prominent investment and real estate development firm. A growing business. But its brass seems intent on staying true to the original ethos of the place, as recent expansion plans make clear.
The plan, unveiled earlier this month, calls for what might sound like the usual things: more golf, more amenities, more merchandise, and so on. However, look closely, and you can see that the line items are very much in the product. Topping the list is a new short 13-hole course, positioned to overlap the existing 9-holer to allow for pick-and-play play – the hallmark of a true Sweetens experience.
Other additions include what is described as a “common” collection of “gathering places.” A restaurant and bar are in the works, along with a bottle shop and micro-distillery, the better to showcase the line of spirits that Sweetens launched in 2020.
Since opening, Sweetens has been a day trip destination. That will change. Plans also call for the first “hospitality experience” in the area – the press release speaks of accommodation in the form of one-room cabins for one or two people. Those are scheduled to open in phases, starting late next year, followed by a putting green, three golf simulation bays, club fitting and shops. Down the line, a fishing dock, skeet shooting range and an octagon-shaped barn and event space will be built, too. You get the picture. Sweetens aims to live and play to the fullest. Or, as Collins puts it, “a 24-hour golf course.”
What will not change is the operating model, which is built not on regular bookings but on all-day passes, excluding tee times on weekends. In recent years, those scores have been on sale for the season almost as soon as they were released.
Early adopters — whether they discover a band before anyone else or discover a golf course before the Instagram crowd does — tend to be a group of shareholders. They are the first to preach the gospel, and the first to cry about selling out when they think that something they love has lost its plot. By all appearances, Sweetens’ ownership understands where it sits and is proceeding accordingly. The Dead Kennedys have managed to build a strong following without softening their edges or alienating their core fans – no small feat for a band that makes a point of not trading. Sweetens strikes me as something closer to Green Day Golf, now more pop than punk but still proud and protective of its roots.
3 things I think
Holding the line at Bandon: Many people create courses for the love of the game. But let’s be real – they’re in it for the money too, and there’s a lot of that on the golf course these days. Given the demand at high-end resorts, a place like Bandon Dunes can raise its prices significantly and still sell in no time. What makes this news especially refreshing. In an era where many campgrounds raise prices every year, Bandon has decided to hold firm. Green fees at the Oregon resort — currently ranging from $130 to $375 depending on the season — will remain unchanged through 2027.
Tiger funds: Private equity doesn’t necessarily own everything in golf. It just seems that way sometimes. If the name Reef Capital is familiar, for example, that’s because it keeps coming up. Besides Sweetens, the company’s portfolio includes Black Desert Resort in Utah (where expansion plans are underway), Cornerstone Club in Colorado and Marcella Club (also in Utah), where TGR Design courses are opening in July. Now word has it that Reef Capital’s Tributer Resort in central Virginia has contacted Woods for a second private property – an 18-hole course that will join the Cutalong Golf Club. Construction is expected to begin in 2028.
East Lake and beyond: Tee times are one way to get special lessons. Competitions are another. Meanwhile, ESPN reports that the Tour Championship – which has long been held at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta – will remain at that location until 2027 but the Tour is looking into the possibility of moving the event to brighter locations. Pine Valley, Cypress Point, and Seminole are among the names being tossed around by the fast-moving rumor mill. It feels far away. Then again, you would have said the same thing if we had told you years ago that Augusta National would one day allow promoters to swing Frisbees at Amen Corner.
