GOLF Mag's Top 50 9-hole courses. What are your thoughts?

[Tom_Doak]

I am far too old to be able to authoritatively opine on anything social media related. I perhaps misspoke when I threw out the blanket ‘Instagram’ statement, there’s more to it than that. I think the real answer is that the rise in Sweetens coincided with the emergence of alternative golf media outlets like The Fried Egg and/or No Laying Up. These outlets through their various podcasts, videos, writings, and social media platforms gained greater footholds and began to reach more eyes at what feels like the same moment that Sweetens Cove became more widely known. To me, and again, I could be working under revisionist history here, Sweetens kind of felt like the first golf course to get the social media treatment that the new builds and restorations commonly get now.

I am old enough to remember life before social media, and I would say that Sweetens Cove was the first golf course to be promoted successfully [and almost exclusively] via social media.  They couldn't aim for GOLF DIGEST's "Best New 9-Hole Public Course in a Flood Plain" so they had to create their own path.

[Adam Lawrence]

While this is probably true, what course in the last 10-15 years hasn't had the social media benefit/buzz, whether it be 9, 18, brand new, or renostoration?  It’s the new rating paradigm that all seem to gain from.

I am far too old to be able to authoritatively opine on anything social media related. I perhaps misspoke when I threw out the blanket ‘Instagram’ statement, there’s more to it than that. I think the real answer is that the rise in Sweetens coincided with the emergence of alternative golf media outlets like The Fried Egg and/or No Laying Up. These outlets through their various podcasts, videos, writings, and social media platforms gained greater footholds and began to reach more eyes at what feels like the same moment that Sweetens Cove became more widely known. To me, and again, I could be working under revisionist history here, Sweetens kind of felt like the first golf course to get the social media treatment that the new builds and restorations commonly get now.

There is truth in this, but not whole truth. Sweetens got a lot of ink in some fairly traditional media. Ron Whitten and I were both at the official opening in 2013; I had seen the course for the first time in April 2012, when I was in Chattanooga for the ASGCA's annual meeting and I arranged to meet up with Rob (I was introduced to him via a mutual friend of his partner Tad). I was the first journalist to see the course, when it was still called Sequatchie Valley, and I wrote about it in GCA that year.

Over the next few years, a bit of buzz started to build about the course. But it was a very, very traditional media outlet that saved Sweetens. The course was on the verge of financial collapse, and Rob with it, when Dylan Dethier's article 'The Little Golf Course That Could' appeared in the New York Times on August 17, 2017. That started attracting golfers in larger numbers, so the course was no longer haemorrhaging cash, and it was what caught the attention of real estate investor Mark Rivers, who led the consortium including Andy Roddick and Peyton Manning -- and Rob -- that acquired the course in 2018.

[Ben Hollerbach]

There has been a lot of great developments in the south over the last few years and I wonder how much Sweetens has "suffered" from it? I know it still gets much love but my last time the two flags per green set up was a big head scratcher. Do we really need that?

I believe tee times continue to be snatched up the moment they go on sale and first time visitors continue to have a large presence on the tee sheet. Beyond the greens issues Sweetens had this summer, It does not appear that Sweetens is suffering at this time.

The dual flags per green makes sense in the context of players frequently playing multiple loops over the span of a day.

[Adam Lawrence]

Sweetens doesn't sell tee times per se. It sells day passes: if you buy a pass you have unlimited access to the golf course for the day of your pass, and can play as much golf as you want.

[Alex_Hunter]

Wonder what this list would look like today.


I haven't played Sweetens Cove but I have played its cousin at Inness Resort in New York back in 2022. It certainly doesn't have the same cult like following of Sweetens but conceptually it seems very similar to Sweetens. It would be interesting to see how the bias for Sweetens would compare in its ranking. Sweetens looks fun, but I have a hard time believing it is a good as everyone says it is based on my play through at Inness.

[Tim Martin]

I haven't played Sweetens Cove but I have played its cousin at Inness Resort in New York back in 2022. It certainly doesn't have the same cult like following of Sweetens but conceptually it seems very similar to Sweetens. It would be interesting to see how the bias for Sweetens would compare in its ranking. Sweetens looks fun, but I have a hard time believing it is a good as everyone says it is based on my play through at Inness.

+1
Innes was ok but I didn’t think about going back for a repeat play. It was marketed as “Sweetens back 9” and if that’s the case I don’t feel like it’s a must play at least for me.

[Jason_Bernardon]

Wonder what this list would look like today.

I also wonder what a refreshed list would look like.


So far I’ve only played Winter Park. Interesting greens in a unique setting, but relatively straightforward off the tee.


There are about 3 or 4 on the 2020 list that I’d like to play next year so I can better benchmark against my home club, Norfolk. (Yes I think it’s better than WP9)

[Cal Seifert]

I'd like to see this list include 9 hole courses that are apart of a club with additional courses. Such as Morfontaine's Valliere course. Otherwise the list is really 'top 50 standalone 9 hole courses.' 

[Tom_Doak]

But it was a very, very traditional media outlet that saved Sweetens. The course was on the verge of financial collapse, and Rob with it, when Dylan Dethier's article 'The Little Golf Course That Could' appeared in the New York Times on August 17, 2017. That started attracting golfers in larger numbers, so the course was no longer haemorrhaging cash, and it was what caught the attention of real estate investor Mark Rivers, who led the consortium including Andy Roddick and Peyton Manning -- and Rob -- that acquired the course in 2018.

Adam:


Are you sure about the cause and effect there?  I played with a member of Bel Air a few years ago who told me he’d helped place that NYT article for the consortium, of which he was a part.


You as much as anyone must know that most “journalism” in relation to golf courses is either paid advertising or a favor for someone important.

[Sean_A]

Thanks for the response.  I guess we just have different opinions on that one.

I can see how Cruit wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea. But I thought it had a very cool routing, with one weak interior hole at #8. The conditioning isn't great, and the golf course architecture isn't obvious (a strength in my opinion ... it feels and probably is 100% natural). But I've never laughed more often on a golf course. 

I think Cruit could be better as an 8 hole course. Play to the 9th from the 8th tees and call it a day.  The course loses its way a bit with the dull 8th and crazy dangerous 9th tee shot. Like you, I have a lot time for Cruit, but it’s not 1 for me.

Ciao