Teeing it High on Good ‘ol Rocky Top

Sevierville may not be a recognizable golf mecca, but the destination is worthy of consideration when making vacation plans — and not just for the golf.

An invitation to play golf has always been a weakness. Such was the case when a friend asked me to come spend a few days playing in the foothills of Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains. That the offer was tendered during the crisp mid-fall and had the possible caveat of scoring University of Tennessee football tickets I unwaveringly pushed all chips in.

Only upon telling my wife that, “Yes, I am going on another golf trip,” came this sobering realization: I knew little about my destination — Sevierville, Tennessee.

Iconic country singer Dolly Parton is a native of the eastern Tennessee mountain town, population 17,000, and may have immortalized the region with her Dollywood theme park.

Golf, though?

From a wide lens perspective, Tennessee is not routinely viewed as a golfing destination. The state has a handful of quality courses, including Bear Trace’s Cumberland Mountain course in Crossville and Stonehenge in Fairfield Glade — both located about 90 miles west of Sevierville off I-40  — but does not have the golfing riches owned by adjoining states.

To the state’s immediate east, the mountain courses of North Carolina rival any in the country. To the south is the underrated and understated 11-course Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail through Alabama and to the slight northwest is the burgeoning Branson, Missouri, destination.

Sevierville (pronounced Severe-ville) proved perception is not always reality.

Resolute in their resolve

The people of Sevierville, which is named after the Volunteer state’s first governor, John Sevier, have a way of caring for their own.

In October 2010, “Clint’s BBQ and Country Cookin’”, a popular local eatery, burned to the ground. A month later the community rallied ’round owner Clint Carnley with donations of personal and financial help, and within the year the home-style restaurant was re-opened.

“As a small community, when a neighbor needs help … it’s like a barn raising. A neighbor needs help, everybody gets in and helps,” Carnley said at the time.

The same could be said about golf in Sevierville.

In 1994, the city opened Eagles Landing Golf Club, a traditional 18-hole municipal course. In 2008, as part of a Sevierville revitalization project, the course underwent a three-year transformation to become a high-end 36-hole championship facility and was renamed Sevierville Golf Club.

Hole 8

Holes from the original Eagles Landing were incorporated into the designs of the new and distinct River and Highlands courses that officially opened in July 2011.

The River Course is the more stout and compelling of the two. The par-72 course features five tees — the longest three playing between 6,030 and 7,120 yards. The course’s character takes form on holes three through five, a trio that is situated on an island that sits hard against the Little Pigeon River. The 487-yard, par-4 5th is the course’s most difficult by virtue of a challenging approach into a quirky undulating green. Later, the course jumps Old Knoxville Highway to where holes 11-14 rise in and out of the hillside. The view from the par-3 13th tee captures the beauty of this rolling hill region.

The Highland Course is a bit more manageable in terms of length and an ideal complement to the River Course. The course plays just 6,200 yards from the tips, but water on 13 of the holes can toy with a golfer’s mind.

“There is a certain perception attached to the term ‘municipal course.’ They sometimes are viewed differently or as being inferior,” says Mark Wallace, the club’s Director of Golf, “but I think we help change that for the positive. These are two very quality courses that offer something for golfers of any level.”

Also, a multi-purpose clubhouse that features a full-scale dining room and locker room was constructed, and helps dispel that muni label.

Less than a year since re-opening, Amanda Maples Marr, Marketing Director for the Sevierville Convention and Visitors Bureau, says the word is still being disseminated.

“The biggest thing we have faced is reeducating people about the courses,” she says. “People don’t realize what is here until they experience it or hear word of mouth how much it has changed.”

 

They will – and do – come

Do not make the mistake that Sevierville is a sleepy little hamlet. The four-lane Highway 66, which runs hard past Sevierville Golf Club, is a major artery that shuffles nearly 12 million travelers to and from this Great Smoky Mountains National Park region, which also includes Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge.

The return visitation rate is 81 percent, according to Maples Marr, and the region ranks as the country’s No. 2 wedding destination behind Las Vegas.

“People are surprised the first time they come to visit,” Maples Marr says. “And during that first visit, they decide they want to come back. They find out just how much we have to offer and how affordable a destination this is.”

Sevierville is not just a destination for travelers in and immediately around Tennessee. Maples Marr says that while visitors from Texas and the Northeast are currently trending, Chicagoland travelers have long supported the area.

If more golf is desired, the locals suggest nearby Patriot Hills in Jefferson City, Gatlinburg Country Club’s Mountain Course and Three Ridges Golf Course in Knoxville. Also, The Bear’s Trace and Stonehenge are worth the
scenic drive if not played on either end of a Sevierville visit.

The major draw is the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which is an outdoorsman’s ultimate playground. For the uninitiated, there is ample number of guide services for rafting and tubing,  hiking and hunting, fly fishing and Zip lining.

Outside of golf and outdoors activities, there is no shortage of dining, shopping and nightlife — ranging from regional productions such as the “Hatfield & McCoy Dinner Feud” to the Chinese acrobatics of “Cirque de Chine.”

“When people start to look at their vacation options, especially in this economy, they see it’s a lot more affordable to come here,” says Maples Marr, noting that while the family-friendly Wilderness at the Smokies Waterpark Resort runs approximately $250 per night with the inclusion of activity amenities, the area’s average nightly rate is $100. “So people are not having to make those hard choices of doing one thing over another.”

Deciding to make a return trip would not be a hard decision either — invitation or not.