Sweetens Cove Golf Club

Sweetens Cove Golf Club is undergoing a property-wide expansion that will transform the cult nine-hole inland links course in South Pittsburg, Tennessee — 30 miles west of Chattanooga — into what course architect Rob Collins calls "the ultimate 24-hour golf playground." Led by Reef Capital Partners (CEO Jared Lucero) in partnership with the Sweetens Cove ownership group, the multi-year expansion adds a King Collins Dormer-designed 13-hole short course (groundbreaking May 2026, opening summer 2027) that connects to and overlaps with the existing King Collins course, encouraging "cross-country" play. A two-acre winding putting green debuts spring 2027. The expansion delivers the property's first overnight stay: one-bedroom cabins with single or double occupancy, opening in phases starting late 2027 with completion in 2028. A 5,100-square-foot private full-service restaurant and bar — reserved for golf-package guests — and a 1,775-square-foot public-facing Sweetens Cove Spirits bottle shop and micro-distillery (opening fall 2027) round out the hospitality program, alongside three golf simulator bays with club fitting, expanded retail, a fishing dock near the sixth hole, a skeet shooting range, an Octagon Barn event space with storage for 60 whiskey barrels, and a Thermal Village debuting spring 2028. The hospitality program is designed by Pfeffer Torode Architecture; course work continues under King Collins Dormer, the Rob Collins and Tad King design partnership that crafted the original 2014 routing. The expansion preserves Sweetens Cove's distinct operating model: all-day passes, 8:30 a.m. shed gatherings for course conditions and starting-hole assignments, daily caps of 60 passes Tuesday through Thursday and 45 Friday through Sunday. Story so far: Rob Collins and Ari Techner signed the original Sweetens Cove lease in May 2014; King Collins designed the nine-hole inland links course that opened later that year and quickly became a national pilgrimage site. In 2019, the ownership group expanded to include Peyton Manning, Andy Roddick, Tom Nolan, Skip Bronson, Drew Holcomb, and Chris Parsons (now Sweetens Cove Spirits CEO). Reef Capital Partners joined as expansion developer in early 2025. The King Collins Dormer-designed 13-hole short course broke ground in May 2026 — the first construction milestone in the property-wide expansion.