Bent Creek Golf Course — Local services in Pittman Center

Played here on August 4:

It's been many years since I've seen a nicely designed golf course so diminished by a failure of maintenance and upkeep. It's a shame, really.

There's not a smooth putt on the course. Patches of fringe-height grass and weeds are left uncut on the greens. Truly not a decent green on either side.

The website for the course advertises "mountain golf," especially on the back. Tight fairways and blind shots are to be expected on a mountain course, and you'll get plenty of that, but you'll also get the greenside rough. Advertise "mountain golf" all you like, but letting bluegrass grow doesn't equate to "mountain golf"; this is just lazy mowing. Goats could chew it down to four inches, and it would still be punishing, but probably more consistently trimmed. Averaging 6 inches, with patches at 8-10 and some weeds sprouting to 12-16, this rough is simply the result of management saving wear-and-tear on mowers.

This course would be twice as playable were 150-yard stakes placed on each hole, and three times more playable with the purchase of some two-by-two stakes and a couple gallons of paint for other yardages. Bring your rangefinder; you'll need it.

The fairways are in decent shape, but clogged with clippings left to rot.

Hint: the second shot on 11 is to the flag that looks like a fairway marker (that looks like it's in the fairway approach - see above regarding the condition of the greens) not to the one that looks like a pin 60 yards behind it; that's 13.

Avoid the walk to the tee on #14. The only thing you'll find there is a marker for all four tees laying on a range mat.

Yep. You read that right. A driving range mat 50 yards upstairs from your cart is the tee box. Granted, it's in the woods, shaded enough that it's probably hard to grow grass. Cut down a couple trees, already. You need to thin the edges of several holes already, anyway. If you start here, there will be fewer to cut when you close the course to develop the land (that seems to be the goal).

My suggestion after my round was to fire the greenkeeper. The staff advised that the greenkeeper isn't the problem... "it goes much higher than that..."

If you're a golfer in Gatlinburg, you'll play this course once (unless you've read this) mostly because there aren't that many courses within a short drive.) Maybe not even once; unless single rounds are paying the bills (because I can't see that someone who takes the game seriously would return) I can't imagine that the course is profitable.

If you're a recreational golfer, looking for some time outside without concern for playability, have fun. If you just want to swing a club, feel free, but a golfer wouldn't go back, and that's a shame, because this Gary Player design has potential. (Many times I pictured Player looking in circles, muttering, "What have they done to you?")

Until someone takes that potential seriously,...

This was my first time playing the course and I really enjoyed my round. The front 9 is somewhat forgiving but still places a priority of shot placement on most of the holes. Water comes into play on the majority of the holes on this course, mostly in the form of creeks and streams running along the holes, though a few have streams that cross the fairways, and this is where a lot of the target golf shots come into play. The back nine will eat your lunch if you don't have good shot control. Hazards and woodlands bring trouble into play on almost all of the holes on the back. I'm writing this after having played the course 3 times. My biggest complaint about the course is the watering. I played early each day, but many of the greens are so over-watered that there is standing water on the greens while playing. This isn't from rain; it's from intentional irrigation. I was hoping after the first day that this would be a one-time occurrence, but each round has been the same. Some holes are worse than others, with #10 being the worst. There has been so much water on the green here that hammering a 40-foot putt couldn't reach the hole. A rooster-tail of water flies up from the ball, and it gets bogged down in the film of water rapidly. I have honestly never seen this much water on a single green that was caused by irrigation. Greens go from drenched to bone dry, which makes the speeds incredibly inconsistent. This makes for an unnecessary challenge to an already difficult course. Some of the greens have a lot of crabgrass, which affects the role of the ball, but this is only on a couple of holes (#7 stands out, but there are a few others). Despite these issues, I still really...

Truly terrible golf course. The staff are pleasant and I was really looking forward to playing there when I read it was designed by Gary Player. My wife and I looked at each other after the round and she said "I didn't know Gary player had a drug problem". The front nine is pretty straightforward. The layout is fairly traditional. The back nine is one gimmick after another, described by the couse as "mountain golf". Just to give you an idea there are two 90° dog leg holes, one that necessitates at 150 yard shot into the corner and then the same shot uphill to a green, the other is a 150 shot uphill shoot to the corner then a 160 yd blind shot through a small opening and trees and vegetation down to a hidden green at the bottom. There is a par 3 I assume the supposed to be a signature hole that necessitates a long walk up the mountainside to hit to a green far below. The tee box on this hole is made up entirely of driving range mats. I saved the best for last; most greens are entirely unputtable, sometimes due to a tremendous amount of black crusty rot that has killed the grass, all the time because of the greens being over run by crabgrass. The number 9 green is literally 90 percent crabgrass 10 percent black crusty rot. None of this is an exaggeration. Pro shop closes at 4:00 p.m. that should tell you everything you need to know. I hate to write a bad review for anything much less a little public track like this one but people work hard for their money and I hate the thought of people wasting it on playing this...