Tom,
I’ve grown accustomed to you mischaracterizing our work on this message board, but your stunning tendency toward presumptuousness combined with cynical dismissiveness is really on full display here. The “marketing” of the course is actually the same as it has always been, and its success is rooted in the remarkably simple concept of putting the work in day after day, much the same as the construction of the course. Patrick and I realized early on that an important part of what we were trying to create required welcoming people and spending time in one-on-one situations that went beyond what you would see at a typical golf course. These building blocks were built person-by-person, day-by-day, year-after-year, many times by Patrick, who essentially chained himself to the porch for about 3.5 years. This same method continues today with Colt, Matt, and the rest of the staff welcoming newcomers from all over the world. The stature, popularity, and fame of the course is owed much to its spread on social media & the cascade of organic publicity, but the real work that resonated with people, and the secret that still provides the foundation for Sweetens Cove, comes from hard work and a very genuine desire by those in employ of the Club to play host, concierge, etc., a sort of band of golf Sherpas who happily show the place off new and old customers, alike, every day. Tens and tens of thousands of people over the last 6.5 years have been touched by this approach, and the golf course has steadily grown organically as a result. None of the “marketing”, which you cynically dismiss is accurately portrayed by you, and furthermore, the “YouTube stars” that others have mentioned wouldn’t have seen the course without this work.
Finally, there is a separate dimension to the work at Sweetens Cove that makes it special. There’s a spark there. It’s a light that shines, a soul. It’s not something that can be quantified or measured in any architectural sense, but you better believe that it is part of the architecture. What was there previously was as dead as a catfish rotting on the banks of Battle Creek. What is there now gives some people a profound feeling that has been expressed to me in countless DMs, text messages, and emails. It’s an energy that resonates from the course itself. I cherish each one of them because our work was able to connect on a non-superficial level with people. It does not surprise me that you would fail to pick up on that, but it is there.
I bring all of this up because there is an overarching tendency by you, and others, to dismiss Sweetens as something superficial, when the success of Sweetens, from the golf course itself to the way that we connect with other people, is the opposite of superficial. I’ll add that as a result of the unlikely chain of events that led to my long-term ownership connection to the course, I’ve been lucky to make many connections and form relationships that I wouldn’t have otherwise. I wish that for more GCA’s, as it is nice to have a connection that doesn’t end with the fulfillment of the build.
Is there actually much controversy about the course? Or is that just how they've positioned it in their marketing, "us against the world," in order to get people on their side?
I have not read very many negative things about Sweetens Cove at all, unless you consider "it isn't the greatest thing ever," controversial. Indeed that's exactly what made me skeptical about it and want to see it: the pictures I'd seen made it look much more polarizing than the commentary, which has been nearly all favorable. This thread has been 85-90% positive, and I have not read many posts on this thread that I would disagree with, pro or con, based on my round there.
I do find it interesting that several people [notably Adam and Eric] have mentioned that their early advocacy of the course was rooted partly in friendship with Rob, feeling sorry for him that the course might be doomed, and wanting it to survive. That "us against the world" mentality is probably the closest thing to an actual cult that we will discuss here. Those looking for a blind taste test should probably think twice here.