The Chattanooga area boasts two of America’s best golf course holes, according to a new national ranking of the best courses from Golf Digest magazine.
Nestled in the mountains surrounding Chattanooga, the McLemore Cove course atop Lookout Mountain in Walker Conty has the best 18th hole, while the Black Creek Club in Lookout Valley near Mount Aetna has the best 6th hole of any course, concludes the publication on golf in its new ranking of America’s best 18 holes.
McLemore Cove, formerly the Canyon Ridge golf course, rebuilt its course and added its 18th hole last year. The final hole is perched along Lookout Mountain’s eastern bluff overlooking McLemore Cove and Pigeon Mountain and has been relocated to make room for the new 10,000-square-foot clubhouse opening onto the course this fall.
“We have always believed in this special place, but it is certainly a great confirmation that this premier group in the golf industry recognizes a part of our course as the best,” said Duane Horton, president of Scenic Land Co., which acquired the development of the golf course in 2017 and has been working on developing the site ever since.
Designed by golf course architects Bill Bergin and Rees Jones, the last hole at McLemore Cove is a par 4 hole that plays along the edge of an overhanging precipice that drops more than 350 feet to the floor of McLemore Cove.
“The fairway rises to meet a green that appears to hover in midair,” write Golf Digest’s Derek Duncan and Ron Whitten on the 18th hole at McLemore Cove. “The big finishing holes should leave an impression, and few are more memorable or brighter than this.”
The golf magazine also praises Black Creek, which was designed by Brian Silva, for its wooded 6 hole. The par-5 hole requires golfers on their second or third shot to shoot towards the invisible green ahead, which is blocked. from a tall fortress-like embankment of tall grass and bunkers.
“On the other side awaits a more than 55,000 square foot punch bowl arena that would make Raynor blush, with sloping banks funneling shots to a large square green perched against a creek,” says Golf Digest in its eulogy of the single hole.
Golf Digest stated that the ranking of the best 18 holes is based on “finding fun holes to play, because this is the predominant trend so far this century”.
The two best-hole local courses are built adjacent to major residential and resort projects that rely on the appeal of the golf course to spur hundreds of millions of dollars into surrounding development.
In 2006, Chattanooga builder Doug Stein and his associates in Black Creek purchased the Cummings Cove development as well as a large tract of land on the part of nearby Raccoon Mountain known as Aetna Mountain. Developers have begun building homes on the 2,600-acre development just west of downtown Chattanooga.
Last year, local planners approved the first phase of development on the mountain for about 170 homes, priced from $ 350,000 and up, and a 7-acre shopping mall with a community center, convenience store, and ultimately potential. hotel or lodge.
Twenty-five miles south, McLemore Cove continues to grow around its rebuilt golf course.
Horton said the developers have completed most of the evaluation and are close to finalizing the finances to build a $ 100 million hotel resort and conference center. The Curio Collection by Hilton will have 245 rooms and a 30,000-square-foot convention center.
The McLemore Cove housing development has so far built around 70 homes and a total of 150 of the 400 residential lots have been sold. Horton said eight homes and cottages are now under construction at McLemore Cove “and many more are in active discussion.”
Contact Dave Flexner at [email protected] or 423-757-6340.
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