Imagine building 26 golf courses at the height of the golf development bubble, with nine figures in public pension money — in an effort that now loses money year after year. Welcome to the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail.
In theory, 12-hole designs should be cheaper to play, build, and maintain. But in the staid industry of golf course development, there’s been no rush to test the theory. The minds behind Sweetens Cove are ready to change that.
Rob Collins had one shot. At Sweetens Cove, he took it — and he bet on himself over and over again. Somehow, impossibly, it worked.
Waking up at 1:30 a.m. to watch golf isn’t conducive to work, or anything else really. But it’s become my favorite TV viewing experience of the year.
“The only time I play golf is in my yard, once a year. So when they would come over, we’d hit balls around. And one year we said, ‘Next year, let’s set up some holes and invite our friends over and have our own little Masters tournament.’ It started one year, and 29 years later, you can’t shake a tradition.”
“I had about an 11- or 12-foot putt, Obama had a putt about a foot and a half inside mine on the exact same line. And then Perlmutter was out of the hole, and Courtney was like five feet to the left of the hole. And in order for us not to lose, I had to make and they both had to miss. So, I drained mine, the president ran his just over the edge, and Courtney — who kinda had the yips back then — didn’t even come close on his. So we ended up winning the three dollars.”
