No one interested in outright defending Sweetens? Alright, I’ll take the bait.
Living in Nashville, I have been down to Sweetens a few times a year since 2015. It has not soured for me, nor do I find the allure purely due to “fun.” Yes, the ethos of the place suits me just fine, and I enjoy the dressed down, laid back nature that continues to draw many back.
What really keeps me coming back is the architecture. Yes, it has drainage issues. The turf is good when it’s good, but it’s not in the same sentence as Sand Hills or Ballyneal or Shinnecock, et al. Yes, all the greens are pushed up (see the reason for drainage issues). But I haven’t played a better match play course. Strategic concerns dictate play on every hole. Yes, you can make a pile of birdies, but miss your line, and you can make double or be in your pocket just as easily. I could go hole by hole, how about just holes 5 and 6?
Five is one of the best driveable par 4’s I have played. Pull driver, and you may have an eagle putt, but you can also end up in the Lion’s Mouth, or stuck under the lip short right. Even missing left with driver short of the bunker requires a decision on how to climb that 6+ foot slope - putt, chip, flop? Lay back with something less than driver, and you never get in trouble. You now have an easy par, but eagle is off the table, and birdie is no guarantee with sloping greens. Also, with the back pin placement, you have to think about how you want to approach it. Fly it with your wedge over the Lion’s Mouth? Or take something less lofted and punch it to the right of the bunker and try to catch the slope?
On 6, the decision starts on the tee. Just about everyone hits driver, but how much do you challenge the water on the left. Flirt with it, and your second shot is shorter to all pin positions, and you’re angled away from the water close to the green. Bail out to the right on your drive, and your approach is longer, you’re hitting back toward the water, and you could be blocked out by a few trees. Even if you’re in the fairway, you have to decide how you want to attack the pin position of the day on a very sloped green. Missing the green requires a decision again between putting, chipping, and flopping.
Does it push the envelope in places between strategic and absurd? Yes. Would it work as an 18-hole course? I’m glad we don’t have to decide. I love it and am grateful that I get to play it as often as I do. So far I have heard that it disappoints because it doesn’t drain well, and hipsters like it. I would be interested in hearing a more “vigorous” architectural debate.