Sweetens Cove, beloved 9-holer, to close for 3 months: ‘Not an easy decision’

One of the hardest tee occasions in public golf simply grew to become an unattainable get for a lot of the summer time.

Battered by a spell of unusually chilly climate that has brutalized its turf, Sweetens Cove, the beloved 9-hole course in South Pittsburg, Tenn., close to Chattanooga, introduced Sunday that it’ll shut down from May 24 by means of Aug. 31. Play will resume on Sept. 1.

“It’s not an easy decision but it’s the right decision,” Sweetens Cove common supervisor Mike Adamski informed GOLF.com. “It’s the right decision for the golf course, and for all the people who come here to enjoy it.”

The information, which Sweetens Cove introduced on social media, comes within the midst of what would usually be peak golf season in Tennessee, throughout a 12 months wherein the climate has been something however seasonal. The first large curveball from Mother Nature got here in January, Adamski stated, when six inches of snow fell in 36 hours throughout a area that traditionally averages one-quarter of an inch of snow per 12 months. When the snow stopped falling, the temperatures dropped additional, and, Adamski stated, “the snow turned to ice that stayed on us for the next nine days.”

The turf at Sweetens Cove is Bermudagrass, a warm-season varietal that goes dormant by means of a lot of the autumn and winter, and begins to hit its stride as temperatures rise within the late spring and early summer time. This 12 months, the grass by no means acquired the possibility to absolutely reawaken. Sweetens Cove is a year-round facility. Initially hopeful that situations might get better, administration saved the course open for play, providing reductions for subpar situations. But as bouts of chilly climate recurred and the turf continued to wrestle, Adamski stated, it grew to become obvious {that a} non permanent shutdown was the one means to go.

“People come here for a unique experience, and we want to provide that for them,” Adamski stated. “To have them come all the way out here and the course not live up to their expectations, it wouldn’t be good for us, and it wouldn’t be fair to them.”

In lieu of typical tee occasions, Sweetens Cove gives day passes, a 12 months’s price of which get snatched up minutes after they’re launched (peak season charges are $125 to stroll and $175 with a cart). The entirety of the 2024 calendar has been booked strong because it started.

The shutdown will displace some 3,500 golfers, Adamski stated. As compensation, the course is providing these golfers first dibs on passes for 2025, at a 25 % low cost. Golfers who’ve passes between now and the May 24 closure can both use these passes and play the course at a reduction, or reschedule for 2025, Adamski stated. 

Designed by Rob Collins and Thad King, Sweetens Cove has carved a particular path to success because it opened in 2015, evolving from a cult-darling right into a mainstream juggernaut, with an possession group that now consists of Peyton Manning and Andy Roddick. 

Situated within the Tennessee River valley, Sweetens Cove has been pressured to shut down earlier than however for different causes. The longest of these durations got here in 2019, when the course closed for 47 days due to flooding, Adamski stated. Other shorter closures have occurred throughout transient spells of unusually frosty winter climate, when upkeep crews have had to tarp the greens to shield them from the chilly.

This is a extra disruptive weather-induced shutdown. But, Adamski stated, Sweetens Cove plans to use the downtime to its full benefit by sodding and sprigging your complete course.

“When we reopen, it’s going to be like a new course,” he stated. “The conditions are going to be better than they’ve ever been before.”