At 5:25AM my alarm clock went off. It was time to wake up and start the drive up to Sweeten's Cove, located about 30 minutes west of Chattanooga TN. I met a friend at his house at 6:30AM and we hit the road.
After driving 2.5 hours, we arrived at Sweeten's Cove, which Golf.com ranked the #7 9-hole course in the world in 2020. Sweeten's is a unique golf experience in many ways, some of which I'll touch on in this post. For one, there are no tee times. You purchase an all day pass and are welcome to play as much golf as you wish. They release passes twice a year (as best I can tell), and they typically sell out 6 months worth of bookings in about 30 minutes.
Fortunately, a new golfing friend who I recently met through the website Thousand Greens had secured day passes months ago and was kind enough to invite myself and a guest along.
At 8:30AM the course GM came out of the "shed" (which is the clubhouse) and explained what we had in store for the day. For example, there is no food available on the property -- you could bring your lunch (which we had done) or order Domino's when you tee'd off on the 7th hole. They'd have it delivered by the time you finished the 9th.
Also, you choose to take a quick detour after the 1st hole. The home at the end of the street has a tee box in its yard, and you can drive your cart up and hit shots into the first green from there. You can also rent this house for your next visit.
After finishing his spiel, we were treated to a Sweeten's tradition. Every morning, they start the day with a shot of whisky. Everyone who plays is asked that if they come back they bring a bottle of whisky to donate in order to keep the tradition going.
With that, our group of 6 was the first off the first tee. While we played as 2 3-somes to start the day, after our first nine holes we formed a 6-some for the next 2 turns around the course. Sweeten's is good with however many players you want in your group as long as you let faster folks play through.
The first few holes proved to be a bumpy ride for me. Sweeten's has a practice green by the "Shed" (which is what's used as a clubhouse), but there is no driving range to warm up on. Like many 10 handicappers, I never know exactly what my shots are really going to look like on a given day until I start hitting. After four or five holes though, I started feeling a bit more comfortable with what I had to work with on this day.
Sweeten's is likely one of the most strategic courses I have ever played. While only 9 holes, each hole has 2 flag positions on the green. You play to one flag on one nine, a different one your next time around. And the greens can be massive and diabolical with their pin placements and slopes.
One fantastic example of a strategic hole is the driveable par 4 5th hole. In fact, the folks at Fried Egg have done a great video laying out the different options on this hole. You have many choices -- the hole does not dictate how it should be played, but instead gives you options. But if you poorly execute the option you choose you will be punished. In our 3 times playing this hole, I did not choose to try.to go for the green on any. Instead, I chose to lay up. I had 2 birdies and a par. My playing partners who went for the green did not fair so well.
For me, the toughest hole on the course was #7, another driveable par 4. Again, I laid up on each of our 3 plays of the hole -- but all 3 times I walked away with a double bogey despite having a wedge in my hand for the approach shot. On the first two rounds, I placed the ball in the wrong part of the fairway, leaving myself a challenging angle in to a long but narrow green that slopes sharply on the left and right sides. On the third round, I finally gave myself a good angle in the fairway but did not execute the shot well -- hitting it long and leaving myself a chip that was nearly impossible to get close to the back pin location.
After our first two rounds, we stopped to have a bite of lunch. Sure enough, Domino's had delivered pizzas for the gentleman in our group who wanted to make that his lunch option. I stopped by the "Shed" (about the size of a typical master bathroom in a house I'd say) to pick up a cap and logo ball. And we headed back out for more.
After 27 holes, most of us decided to call it a day. It was a Sunday night and we had a 2.5 hour drive back to Atlanta ahead of us. But it is a course I will gladly return to in the future (and hopefully get to stay late enough in the day to start playing some of the alternate routings available when fewer players are on the course). The options are endless and the golf is pure. I cannot wait to continue my journey to play the Top 100 courses in the country, as I have to imagine similar strategic tests of golf await.
