In September of 2019, Matthew Adamski defied conventional wisdom by leaving his job as PGA of America Director of Golf at the prestigious NCR Club in Kettering, Ohio, to become GM at Sweetens Cove Golf Club in South Pittsburg, Tennessee. The former is a 36-hole private club that has hosted many prestigious tournaments, including the 1969 PGA Championship, the latter a nine-hole public course with no practice range or clubhouse and a 290-square-foot shed as a golf shop.
“I went down with my wife to interview with owner/architect Rob Collins, and we got out of the car, walked toward the shed and she said to me, ‘We’re moving to Tennessee, aren’t we?’” says Adamski, the 2024 PGA of America Merchandiser of the Year for public facilities. “I was told I was committing career suicide, but I knew this was an opportunity that only comes along once.”
Adamski was attracted to the simple charm of Sweetens Cove – located 25 minutes from Chattanooga in the heart of the Sequatchie Valley – and the golf course’s wildly contoured greens, elaborate bunkering and tightly mown fairways. He saw the potential to create an exciting golf experience and just over five years later, has helped take annual revenues from around $795,000 to $3.3 million.
“Here at Sweetens Cove, we are 100 percent focused on making it all about fun and an experience unlike any other,” he says. “Our philosophy is, we take all our landmarks, tournaments and history, and tell stories through our merchandise.”
Adamski was born and raised in Temperance, Michigan, a small town that’s just a few miles away from Toledo, Ohio. His father introduced him to the game at age 7, and after some hip injuries curtailed any chance of continuing to play football after middle school, he started playing more golf during his teenage years, caddying at Inverness Club in Toledo and developing a passion for the game.
While in high school, Adamski had a substitute teacher who was also a PGA of America Professional, and it was through this chance meeting he learned about the PGA Golf Management University Program at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan. He was accepted at Ferris State in 2000, and over the next four years attended school while also interning at Michigan-based facilities such as Whiteford Valley Golf Course, Birchwood Farms Country Club and True North Golf Club, as well as Maryland’s Whiskey Creek Golf Club and Bethesda Country Club, and Barton Creek in Austin, Texas. After graduating from Ferris State in 2005, Adamski became an assistant at Kiwi Vineyards in Greenville, South Carolina. This was followed by his first Head Professional position at Seven Falls Golf and River Club in Hendersonville, North Carolina, during which time he also coached the men’s and women’s golf teams at nearby Brevard College.
However, when Seven Falls went into bankruptcy, he returned to Birchwood Farms before moving on to Detroit Golf Club under Jon Gates, PGA, and then NCR Country Club.
“I’ve always been around people who really loved merchandising and were really good at it,” says Adamski, who was elected to PGA of America Membership in 2007. “I really got into it at Birchwood Farms; Head Professional Cris Cavitt saw my creative side and gave me the opportunity to do more and more buying as we had a record $360,000 sales year. Then at Detroit Golf Club, Jon realized I had a passion for it and we did some cool stuff on our way to $1.3 million in total gross sales.”
When Adamski got to Sweetens Cove, the shed/golf shop was running on a gas generator and had very little inventory – nearly 25 shirts, a dozen or so quarter-zips, a smattering of hats, two golf bags, a couple of headcovers and some towels. He was given full reign to expand the operation and began planning unique “foodie events,” including a collaboration with Waffle House that brought the restaurant’s only food truck on property; Hot Chicken Open with Hattie B.’s, a family owned restaurant chain; Burger Open with Mark and Donny Wahlberg’s Wahlburger on Wheels food truck; a Masters-themed event called “One Day in April” where the staff hands out sandwiches and T-shirts; Skeet Open combining shooting and golf; and annual December Ugly Sweater event whose tee gifts include a Sweetens Cove custom ugly sweater, knit scarf and hat and hand-painted Kitty Keller ornament, among others.
“People love to play in the events because they’re different and fun, and because of all the limited-edition tourney swag they get. We kind of go overboard,” he says. “We don’t have a budget, but we consider that to be our marketing and advertising for the year. Many people take pictures and post them on social media, which makes others want to buy that event swag, even if they didn’t participate. In fact, last year we did $225,000 in event swag.”
Sweetens Cove is also different from other facilities in that there are no tee times. Instead, golfers come for the day, play as much golf as they’d like and can play as fast or slow as they like. There’s also no dress code as Adamski wants people to be comfortable while they play and enjoy the all-day experience.
With at least 36 logos now in the arsenal, the facility carries polos and quarter-zips, as well as comfortable pieces like hoodies, tees and swim trunks from johnnie-O, Holderness & Bourne, Greyson, Puma and Tasc, among others. The connection to Mark Wahlberg also landed Sweetens Cove the distinction of being the first green grass shop in the U.S. to get an account with Municipal, Wahlberg’s new golf/athletic line. In addition, the shop has a “coffee corner” with its own special roast from Sequatchie Valley Coffee Company and co-branded coffee mugs, as well as pennants, football jerseys, leather helmet hats and a custom bourbon label.
And talk about irony: NCR Country Club CEO/GM Jeff Grant, one of the original naysayers regarding Adamski’s decision to leave NCR, now plays in events each year at Sweetens Cove and is becoming one of the facility’s biggest fans.
“It’s taking everyone’s fun things in life and in golf and combining it. It’s what we are,” Adamski says. “People call us unique, but this really is a golf anomaly, including the merchandise we carry.”
