Sweetens Cove to add short course as part of suite of new offerings

Sweetens Cove is looking to sweeten its appeal.

Already one of the most sought-after gets in public golf, the beloved 9-hole course in Tennessee is getting ready to expand. The plans, which ownership announced on Tuesday, call for a new par-3 short course, along with an array of additional amenities, including stay-and-play cabins, an elaborate putting green, a fishing dock, a skeet shooting range, and a restaurant and distillery. Sweetens Cove architects Rob Collins and Tad King of King-Collins Golf Design will design the new short course, with construction slated to begin next year. The entire project is expected to be completed by 2026.

In a statement that accompanied the announcement, Sweetens Cove general manager and head pro Mike Adamski said that the expansion will help accommodate persistently high demand without altering the property’s “unique culture.”

“The demand is incredible,” Adamski said. “But even with the expansion, we’re maintaining our focus on a quality experience.”

Situated in South Pittsburg, Tenn., Sweetens Cove was an underdog at its birth in 2015, when Collins and King forged an inventive layout from a formerly flat flood plain, roughly 30 minutes from Chattanooga. But with help from social-media raves and national press in non-golf publications, the course quickly evolved from bootstrapping newbie into a cult darling, and then into a mainstream juggernaut, with an ownership group that now includes Peyton Manning and Andy Roddick, and an offshoot spirits brand, Sweetens Cove Spirits, inspired by the Sweetens Cove pre-round tradition of knocking back a whiskey shot.

Along with its quirky design, the course is known for its unconventional operations. A modest shed doubles as its clubhouse. And there are no tee times. Instead, the course offers 45 to 60 unlimited-play daily passes, which typically get snatched up within minutes of release. Players tee off in a shotgun start and are free to skip holes or repeat them as they like.

The expansion, which will include a small-batch distillery and bottle shop as on-site showcases for Sweetens Cove Whiskey, is being spearheaded by Reef Capital Partners, a real-estate development company with a growing presence in golf. In addition to its involvement in Sweetens Cove, the company is developing Black Desert Resort, which recently hosted the first PGA Tour in Utah in more than 50 years, and Marchella at Deer Valley, which includes a mountainside design by Tiger Woods. 

Reef Capital CEO Jared Lucero said that the expansion is meant to bring distinctive creature comforts to a property famous for its idiosyncratic charms. Adding “a place to stay, a bit more to do, some amazing food and drinks—those things will make every visit even more memorable, whether you’re playing the course for the first time or the hundredth.”

As for the new par-3 course, co-designer Rob Collins said it would fit the Sweetens Cove aesthetic.

“It’s not just a regular short course,” Collins said. “You can play each hole in multiple ways, adding a ‘cross-country’ style that you won’t find anywhere else.”

News of the expansion comes toward the end of an especially hectic year at Sweetens Cove, which was forced to shut down for three months of recovery this past spring and summer after a rough winter took a toll on turf conditions. Since reopening in late August, the property has been running full speed, and is sold out through the end of 2024.