If you’re told something enough times, you’ll likely to start believing it even if it may reside far from the truth. Behaviors and attitudes are galvanized from perceptions and shifting the momentum of firmly entrenched beliefs is an arduous task. Golf, as an overarching experience, is rooted in many things that appear far less than appealing. Exclusionary, unpliable, stuffy, snobbish, and hard. There are some who would and have signed up for the ride based on those ‘earned” labels and hopefully most of them, from a bygone era, are long gone. There are still those who inhabit the golf ecosystem who feel most comfortable when the environment reeks of the stench of discomfort. They hold on to the rigidity of club bylaws and societal norms that would suggest they sleep in tweed and think 15 minutes at the pool on Caddy Day is too long. However, there is light that has seeped through the crack in the mahogany door of golf. It looks like fun, feels inclusionary and has an ease and comfort rarely felt around the game. And whether it is a result of a sense of obligation or a couple generations of golfers deciding enough was enough, what is happening is beyond encouraging.
All the progressive and forward-thinking momentum is most evident at the 72-acre fun factory in South Pittsburg, Tennessee known as Sweetens Cove. My sentiments are not revelatory because many smart and influential voices in the game have trumpeted the aura and mindset of Sweetens long before I stepped foot there as I did last Monday. Andy Johnson and the Fried Egg was an early adopter and the “No Laying Up” boys were so smitten they bought a house across the street from the first fairway and the club has even constructed a tee on their front yard that allows shots to be played to the first green from roughly 110 yards away. Don’t misinterpret me sharing that they have a house there as an indicator that there are others. There are none, and theirs is almost a happy accident. Sweetens Cove’s collective ownership have all seen the finest things the game has to offer but they have a collective sensibility that’s reflected in every touch, toilet and talking point expressed by their approachable and good-natured general manager Matt Adamski. Arriving at any golf club, whether it be for the first time or the 100th time, can be daunting and intimidating. Matt is one of golf’s great host’s because his welcome is warm, and his words are nourishing.
How many times have you either heard or experienced what NOT to do when you arrive at a golf club? Don’t get there too early, don’t pull up to the front, don’t pop your trunk, don’t park there, don’t change your shoes in the parking lot, don’t walk in the clubhouse, don’t go to the range, don’t talk to anyone, don’t look at anyone, don’t breathe. Good grief how about don’t go?! From the distressed sign upon entry to the modest parking lot and the other like-minded players milling around to the palpable aroma of fun and togetherness, Sweetens is a unifier. Similarly, to instructions you receive before a charity shotgun or member guest, you hear marching orders given by Matt Adamski and it’s about what you can and should do, not a domineering and distressing monologue about what you can’t and should never do. It’s oozing with a tone of permission and liberation as opposed to prohibition and subservience.
Great cultures of clubs can mask the inadequacies of the golf course but in the case of Sweetens Cove the holes make the haunt. Rob Collins and Tad King said, “why not?” and the mantra of “nobody cares what you shot” is alive and well. Play the holes, play them backwards, play as a foursome, play as an eightsome, play blindfolded, just play until you don’t want to play anymore. Every person on the course is IN IT together for the day. Down to my soul you know I believe it’s the time, not the score and it doesn’t mean I don’t seethe when I make bogey from 76 yards. I just know that the time together will greatly outlast the scorecard. Sweetens fosters fellowship and not just among your own gang some. It’s a melting pot of people who play the game with a purpose and the Sweetens purpose is to throw everyone on the course each day into the pot and when you come out your network is broader and better. What else could you possibly want from a day of golf?
There is also an efficiency of utilized space that you marvel at. 9 holes with greens measuring up to 20 thousand square feet with construction and design that has produced quadrants that present you with effectively two greens on every hole. Two flags on each green gives you angles that are distinguishable from each other to make the all-day experience varied and unpredictable. The shed, “pro shop” is a glorified dressing room, but they have created a multitude of desired logos with countless styles of gear and collectibles. It’s a symposium on how to flood the zone with merchandise without suffering a saturation point. I can waste hours and money searching for many things I don’t need but can’t live without and I wanted to comb through every solitary thing Sweetens was selling. A food truck and a pavilion to sit and eat looking out over the valley is not the patio at Shinnecock but it damn well may be as cathartic.
There remain barriers to this game that are challenging to fully eradicate. Not every project can experience the lunar eclipse of designers, owners, and staff aligning themselves like Sweetens Cove. Those ingredients are the principal reasons why the respected voices, with loyal audiences, have advocated and championed the Sweetens experience. Other projects may not have the intellectual and influential resources that Sweetens Cove possesses but their blueprint can and should be inspiring. Evidenced, quite possibly, by the acquisition of Sullivans County Golf Club, in the Catskills of New York by the likes of Tom Coyne. Tom is not only respected by virtually everyone in golf, but also truly seen every make and model of golf course in America. Arnold Palmer famously said, “success is always under construction” and golf, as an industry, has an ego. Egos can germinate complacency to bathe in the accomplishments of yesterday while other options and enterprises pass you by. Sweetens Cove has created an entrée so delicious that even the most discerning palates, the ones who thirst for the top 100 experiences at the hallowed halls, are ingesting the 9-holer in South Pittsburg, Tennessee like it’s the world’s finest vintage.
As I said to my contented band of brothers as we left the property at sunset after our full day in the valley, “Sweetens Cove is a damn gift to
golf”.