Courses in Knoxville TN

[Minarets]

WindRiver (I think its the old Rarity pointe) is in great shape. I played there 2 weeks ago (after all of the July 4th rain) and it was awesome. Its only like $23 on ezlinks.com to play out there. There are a few beautiful homes out there, but "few" is the key word. Looks like a place the economy killed 5 years ago. I played on a Tues at 10am but there couldn't have been more than 8 people on the course.

[VolsDad]

Just joined this forum and saw this. I am a Knoxvillian as well. Playted River Islands today and really enjoyed it. Tough little course!

Hope there are some future get togethers as I am always looking for people to go golfing!

[matt_thatsme]

VolsDad, also check the partners matching forum. I hope to make east Tennessee outings a fairly regular occurrence. We had 11 show up last weekend. Many expressed an interest in getting together with our middle Tennessee neighbors for a round at Stonehenge soon. BTW, I agree with you about River Islands - great shape.

[matt_thatsme]

Anyone know if Willow has opened its new greens yet? I would like to walk 9, maybe 18, one afternoon this weekend somewhere. Anyone want to join me?

[VolsDad]

I am going outs sometimes this afternoon but unfortunately can't play this weekend.

[865golf]

Opened for members yesterday - opens today for the public. Was out there yesterday and the greens looked good, but probably will play like River Islands did last year when they first re-opened - a little bumpy and fairly quick.

[matt_thatsme]

Thanks! I might try to walk a few holes out there tomorrow afternoon, if they aren't booked up.

[VolsDad]

A bit off topic, but does anyone have recommendations for instructors in the Knoxville area?

[esketores]

I was in Knoxville visiting my cousin and his boat is docked at Wind River. Perused the property and the course looked to be in great shape.
Can't beat the price. And at that price, and from how the course looked, I could learn to love the place. Many little things can be overlooked.

[matt_thatsme]

[quote name='VolsDad' timestamp='1375967816' post='7630968']
A bit off topic, but does anyone have recommendations for instructors in the Knoxville area?
[/quote]

Walt at Fairways and Greens is good. Jake Reeves at Holston Hills is as well. Jason Nelson at Golftec is pretty good too.

[Minarets]

Wind River is my favorite by far in the area. Its been $26 on ezlinks.com the last 2 times I have played it.

Its just a hair further out than I'd want it to be, but I'm from Nashville who is in the area about once a month for work.

I like Avalon and Centennial as well. I have never played Fox Den or Willow Creek. Iguani Farms (or however you spell it) could be real nice as well but its way to expensive for what it is.

[leftyb]

If you are looking for a challenge I highly recommend the two Sevierville golf club courses ([url="http://www.seviervillegolfclub.com/"]http://www.seviervillegolfclub.com/[/url]). Reasonably priced for the quality of the course and if you're a local you can find deals all over the place. Here's a quick rundown of some of the things I've noticed after playing about 6 rounds there this year:

1. Pace of play is on the slow side the majority of the time for two reasons: First, it's a hard course. Lots of trouble, OB, deep rough. If you're a below average golfer you and your group spend a lot of time looking for balls, which slows down play. Second, it seems that anytime it sprinkles out there they immediately go to cart path only for the next few days. This is one thing I absolutely HATE about this course. And there are always these old guys driving around to patrol and make sure you don't put a wheel on the turf.
2. Don't even think about walking. Several holes have long long long distances from prior green to next tee.
3. Greens are always in phenomenal shape, especially considering the amount of play it gets. I think it is due to the fact that since it's located in a tourist area, a lot of tourist who aren't good golfers play it and they seldom hit greens on the fly. just a guess...
4. Lots of blind shots. If you're playing for the first time make sure you take an extra 2 minutes to drive up to the landing zone if you can't see it off the tee. Cannot stress this enough. Especially if playing from the tips.
5. If you or anyone in your group is a double-digit HC don't play the tips your first time out. Especially on a windy day.

Playing the Highlands from the tips is probably the toughest course in East TN that I have played (I have not played TN National so not sure how that stacks up). What makes it tough is that it requires well above average distance and accuracy as missing the fairway is extremely punishing. Other courses in East TN don't seem to punish you as much for misses. It seems that on just about every hole there's some sort of major trouble left and right. I remember one hole playing into the wind and we both hit great drives. I am usually a 270-280 driver, and into this wind I didn't make the fairway cut (#9 on the Highlands - from the tips).

I played the tips once there and have no intention of doing it again. Overall it is an great challenge. Good change of pace from Egwani and Willow Creek for me.

[matt_thatsme]

Thanks for posting this info. I have really been wanting to play Sevierville GC. Which course do you prefer, Highlands or River? Other than Golf Now, where have you found deals? Thanks.

[Knoxvillan]

The River Course tends to play a bit faster than the Highlands Course, I have found. It is a lot longer on the River Course, but is not nearly as tight and demanding as the Highlands, from the black tees. Both courses have holes from the original Eagle's Landing, so I can't say I prefer one or the other. The original Eagle's Landing had 7 and a half miles of cart path and more has been added since, like posted above, if you try to walk it, you will be in for a very long day.

Sevier County Residents can play it through the week for $34 and weekends at $39. There was a coupon in the Sentinel last week for $29 Mon.- Thurs. after 11:00 so check the paper as well as golfnow.com. It was in fantastic shape Wed. and was 90 degrees even after the hard rains we caught Sun., Mon., and Tue.

[matt_thatsme]

I made a tee time for Friday afternoon. Apparently there is a tournament on the Highlands course, so I will be playing the River course. Hopefully the weather cooperates.

[golfgoob]

I am hopefully playing one of the Sevierville courses Saturday. Looking at the scorecards, The Highlands looks weird with par 37.33 and the River looks like a bunch of water, I guess that's why its the River course. Matt, let us know about your experience and hopefully I can give one too.

[matt_thatsme]

I played the River Course this afternoon with a few buddies. We only got 9 holes in due to rain. The course was in great condition and IMHO at $39 it was a great deal. We played the black tees and it was very challenging. The first five holes were brutal. I had 3, yes 3 lost balls on those holes. Lots of water and lots of tight tee shots. You don't have to miss your target by much to end up OB or in a hazard. The course is plenty long for me. I get 260-270 on a decent drive. When I am confident enough to swing at it I probably poke it out there 270-280. I found myself hitting 4-6 iron on my second shot pretty regularly.

Toughest course in the Knoxville area by a considerable amount. I will be back. I like the challenge and the condition of the course was top notch. If you are going to play it either bring your A game or bring some extra balls.

[Knoxvillan]

I loathe the Tee shots on #2,and #5 out there from the black tees. They are definitely not set up to play a right to left ball flight lol

[matt_thatsme]

Yeah. I play a draw, or hook depending on the day. #5 is the long par 4 with the tree framed tee shot right after the first par 3, right? I had to line up on the far left side of the teeing ground. Still missed the trees on the right by only inches.

You are from Seymour I notice. I talked to a guy that did carts out there from Seymour. Also talked to another golfer from Seymour.

[Knoxvillan]

Yes i am about 15 minutes from Sevierville Golf Course, It is a pretty nice area. And yes, that is the dreaded #5 lol. When you get back out there, you will find that numbers 11, 12, and 14 are holes that can ruin a round as well. Both nines have stretches of 3-4 holes that can that can send your round from the Penthouse to the Outhouse in a hurry.

[golfgoob]

I played the River Course today. I agree with what others have said about the course. It can be long and tight in several places. We played the blue tees and with a miss hit tee shot, it can make for a long second shot. I think the tees were a mix of the back 3 tees with a junior tourney going on. Course was in great shape from tee to green. We played with a local that helped and hurt us some. He would tell us that past the 150 would be bad on some holes but come to find out we had more room than we thought but still was helpful advice overall. I think it could be the hardest course around because of the length. It will test your short game if hitting long irons into the greens. It was nice not hitting driver, wedge into short part 4's. Paid $45 and its $20 for replay to play the other course on a Saturday.

[matt_thatsme]

If you can't hit mid or long irons, 3-5 iron, you are going to have a rough day out there. I was not hitting long irons well yesterday.

I agree. It is nice not hitting driver-wedge every par 4.

[leftyb]

Was able to play River Islands on Saturday. I have mixed feelings about it. After reflection not sure if I liked it or hated it...

1. Pace of play was awful. 5:15 round of golf. Absolutely ridiculous. They give you this 5 minutes lecture on the first tee about the "new" carts and GPS and fast play and blah blah blah...but don't do anything to enforce it.
2. Fairways were in great shape. Not one bad lie all day from the fairway.
3. Rough off the fairway was in decent shape but didn't seem penal enough. I was in the rough off the tee 3-4 times and the ball was sitting nice every time. Rough around some of the greens was very very think in some spots. Had one nestled down a foot off the fringe and it took us a few minutes to find it.
4. Pin placements - there were a few that were borderline unfair. Number two was tough, but I think the whole green is as it has a lot of slope. They need to either flatten it out a bit or grow this one a smidge longer. The pin cut on 15 was brutal. It was cut into the side of a slope. This wasn't Sunday at Augusta.
5. Greens. I have very mixed feelings about these greens. They are on year two of the mini verde greens. They roll pretty good, still a few bumps but still some of the truest rolling greens I've played in a long time. The grain influences them more than other greens I've seen and they are hard to read. I had a few 6 footers that looked mostly flat (maybe on the edge or a ball out at most). Then when I hit it there was 2 feet of break. The biggest thing was they didn't hold much and were rock hard. It was nearly impossible to leave a ball mark. I am by no means a high spin golfer. I don't hit wedges from 160 and spin it back 20 yards like some, but I hit my fair share of greens with 7-8-9-W and on every other course there's a ball mark. Not here at River Islands.
6. The bunkers were in inconsistent shape. I was in three and all three were completely different. One looked like it hadn't been raked in weeks, one was thin, muddy sand with hard pan underneath, and one was fluffy beach type sand.
7. Price - paid less than $40 on a Saturday morning.


Overall, I think the tipping point to make it a favorable experience is the $40 price tag and overall good condition of the course. If it was priced at $75 then I would need to think twice, especially with the slow pace of play.

The tipping point to make it unfavorable is the 5:15 round. I will not play on a Saturday again even if it was $20. I think if I played here more I would
1. Figure out the best times to play to avoid the 5+ hour round
2. really get to know these greens and play more break

[Knoxvillan]

I am playing River Islands Wed. Keep in mind that the greens are still new and will soften over time. It takes high spin to get the ball to spin back or even check up, but it can be done. That place is tough on the weekend to get in a fast round, especially on Labor Day weekend, when there are many people from out of town playing. The course plays tough for those that don't really know their way around it

[matt_thatsme]

My last weekend round at River Island was under 4.5 hours. It wasn't a holiday weekend though. The greens are firm. I spin it pretty good with my wedges and have seen it suck back on only a handful of times on the new greens. Like Knoxvillain said, though, the greens are pretty new. Further, it is supposed to play like a links style course. All of the true links courses I have played have very firm greens. Obviously, RI isn't a true links course, just saying...

Lefty, I think your review of RI is fair, but I recommend giving it another shot on a non-holiday weekend. IMHO, it is overall one of the best public courses in the Knoxville area.

[leftyb]

anyone have some feedback on the new greens at Willow Creek? Have a friend who wants to play there next week but am skeptical about 2 month old greens...

[matt_thatsme]

Walked 9 the other day. The greens rolled true, but they are rock hard.

[Knoxvillan]

The greens yesterday were rolling really well. They are still a bit hard but they will hold spin on full shots. I felt that I was reading more break than was there, but i was also playing in a best ball tournament, so my putts either hit the hole or blew 5 feet passed lol

[2muchclub]

What Knoxvillan said. The greens are rolling smooth and true. The greens are firm and will hold well hit shots, but you need to anticipate the ball releasing. My recommendation as the best course (public) to walk. Fairways are also in good shape.

[matt_thatsme]

Haven't played in over a month. Heck, I haven't played a full round in nearly two months, but I think I am going to get out to River Island tomorrow. Has anyone played RI recently? Course condition?