General Manager

Sweetens Cove Golf Club; South Pittsburg (TN); On-site; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) Plan with Company Match

Generous Health Plan with HSA Match

Flexible Paid Time-off

Daily Company Lunches

Cell Phone Service Allowance

Discounts at Company-owned Resorts and

Job summary

Sweetens Cove Golf Club in Tennessee seeks a General Manager to lead daily operations, drive financial performance, guest experience, and team development amid a major redevelopment. You will translate the development plan into staffing and service readiness, oversee golf, F&B, retail, and events, and protect the distinctive brand.

The role requires 10+ years in senior hospitality/golf operations with proven pre-opening and redevelopment leadership, strong financial acumen, and the ability to

Qualifications

• 10+ years in progressively senior hospitality, resort, club, or golf operations, including GM-level or equivalent full P&L ownership.
• Demonstrated pre-opening, renovation, or expansion leadership in a redevelopment context.
• Golf and/or destination-resort background with command of agronomy, retail, and F&B economics.
• Proven track record building teams, service culture, and brand in a growth environment.
• Strong financial acumen: full P&L, budgeting, revenue management, and capital planning.
• Comfort being on-property and visible in a rural destination market.

Responsibilities

• Lead day-to-day operations as the single accountable leader; translate vision into an annual operating plan and deliver it.
• Own commercial execution across golf, F&B, retail, and events within strategy.
• Steward the brand day to day and protect its national reputation.
• Own the full property P&L; deliver revenue, cost, and margin targets by department.
• Lead redevelopment pre-opening plans: staffing, training, vendor/tech selection, and logistics.
• Recruit, develop, and lead department heads and seasonal teams; foster a consumer-focused culture.
• Report performance to Managing Partner and Reef Asset Management; manage vendor/partner relationships.

Skills

Hospitality leadership

Pre-opening leadership

Financial acumen

On-site leadership

Golf/destination resort experience

Team building

Job description

Overview

Centered around shot making, strategy, and fun, Sweetens Cove Golf Club is a handcrafted masterpiece by King Collins Dormer Golf Course Design .

Just 25 minutes from Chattanooga in the heart of the Sequatchie Valley, the golf course's wildly contoured greens, elaborate bunkering, and immense, tightly mown fairways combine to create a golfing experience unlike any other in the southeastern United States.

The course itself presents an entirely unique golfing experience in the southeastern region of the United States in that it was conceived, designed, and built as an inland links course. Borrowing architectural inspiration from some of the game's greatest layouts, King-Collins crafted a course that is reminiscent of the original version of Augusta National according to renowned golf writer and historian, Anthony Pioppi. In his definitive account of nine-hole golf courses, To The Nines, he wrote, "Sweetens Cove...harkens back to one of the most influential golf courses ever built in the United States [Augusta National]....Collins and his partner, [Tad] King, have embraced the original MacKenzie-Jones tenets with gusto. Writing about Augusta then, MacKenzie could have been describing Sweetens today."

By combining artistically rendered features with bold contours and an abundance of tightly mown turf, Sweetens Cove promises to be a round of golf that will leave you inspired and wanting more. As Ran Morrissett wrote, "If you leave [Sweetens Cove] smiling, don't panic, golf is supposed to be fun." We hope to see you soon.

In May 2019, Sweetens Cove Golf Club announced an all-star team of five new co-owner partners (pictured above with owner and architect Rob Collins). Partners include, Tom Nolan, Andy Roddick, Rob Collins, Peyton Manning, Skip Bronson, and Drew Holcomb.

Experience Required

• 10+ years in progressively senior hospitality, resort, club, or golf operations, including prior GM-level or equivalent full P&L ownership.
• Demonstrated pre-opening, renovation, or expansion leadership (strongly preferred given the redevelopment).
• Golf and/or destination-resort background with command of agronomy, retail, and F&B economics.
• Proven record building teams, service culture, and brand in a growth environment.
• Strong financial acumen: full P&L, budgeting, revenue management, and capital planning.
• Comfort being on-property and visible in a rural destination market.

Company Benefits

• 401(k) Plan with Company Match
• Generous Health Plan with HSA Match
• Flexible Paid Time-off
• Daily Company Lunches
• Cell Phone Service Allowance
• Discounts at Company-owned Resorts and Golf Courses

Essential Responsibilities

Position Title: General Manager, Sweetens Cove Golf Club

Company: Reef/ Sweetens Cove Golf Club

Location: South Pittsburg, Tennessee

About Reef

Reef is a Utah-based vertically integrated investment and development firm founded in 2005. Reef's team is currently involved in some of the most prominent development transactions in Utah and other targeted geographies across the United States.

Built on two decades of success, our investment approach combines proven expertise with purposeful innovation. Reef's team has completed more than 500 transactions across all lines of business. In addition to our real estate investment strategy, Reef and/or affiliates own and operate various businesses that add significant long-term value to its projects. We have grown rapidly, growing from about 25 employees to well over 400, with managed assets on behalf of over 750 institutional and individual partners worldwide.

With the motto "Expect the Best," Reef's most prominent developments include Black Desert Resort, a $2 billion luxury resort in Ivins, Utah; Marcella, a luxury private golf community in Park City, Utah; Tributer Resort, Virginia's newest premier private lakeside golf destination; Cornerstone Club, a 5,000-acre residential community, private club, and resort in Telluride, Colorado; Sweetens Cove, a renowned and evolving golf destination nestled in the Tennessee Valley; and the restoration of the historic Coco Palms Resort in Wailua, on the island of Kauai, Hawaii.

Our culture is defined by a shared set of principles that guide how we think, collaborate, make decisions, and pursue success together. This mindset serves as the foundation for the five principles that define how we work together: first, we are One Reef, always prioritizing the success of the whole over individual agendas; we speak candidly and respond collaboratively; we move in solidarity once a decision is made; we take full accountability for outcomes in our domain; and we refuse to settle for anything less than extraordinary. These aren't aspirational values posted on a wall. They are the behaviors we hire for, develop, reward, and exhibit each day. Candidates who thrive at Reef bring energy, ownership, and a genuine commitment to raising the bar on everything they touch.

Position Summary

Sweetens Cove is entering a major redevelopment that will expand the property from a nationally recognized daily-fee course into a broader golf and hospitality destination. The General Manager is the top operational leader on-site, fully accountable for running the business day to day and delivering financial performance, guest experience, and team. The Managing Partner sets the vision and long-term strategy and provides governance and oversight; the GM executes it and owns operational results. The GM runs the business today and leads the operational execution of the expansion, standing up the people, systems, and standards required to open and operate a larger destination without losing what makes Sweetens distinctive. This is a builder's seat for a proven operator who can run lean now and scale it into a bigger, more complex operation.

Responsibilities

Leadership and Operational Strategy

• Serve as the single accountable leader for day-to-day operations; turn the Managing Partner's vision and strategy into an annual operating plan and deliver it.
• Own commercial execution across golf, F&B, retail, and events: positioning, pricing, and growth within the agreed strategy.
• Steward the Sweetens Cove brand day to day and protect the identity that drives its national reputation.

Financial Ownership

• Own the full property P&L; deliver revenue, cost, and margin targets by department.
• Build and manage the annual operating and capital budgets in conjunction with Reef; own the results and explain variances.
• Drive daily-pass revenue, daypart spend, and cost discipline across every revenue center.

Property Operations

• Own daily operations across golf, guest services, F&B, and facilities to a consistent, high standard.
• Set and enforce service standards and operating procedures across every guest touchpoint.
• Coordinate course conditioning and agronomy priorities with the superintendent to protect the core product.

Redevelopment and Pre-Opening

• Lead operational execution of the redevelopment: translate the development plan into staffing, systems, and service readiness.
• Own the pre-opening plan: hiring ramp, training, vendor and technology selection, and opening-sequence logistics.
• Represent the operating perspective in design and construction decisions so the finished product runs efficiently and profitably.

People and Culture

• Recruit, develop, and lead department heads and the seasonal team; build bench strength and succession for a growing operation.
• Build a service culture reflecting Reef's "expect the best" standard and Sweetens' identity.

Stakeholder Management

• Report performance and plans to the Managing Partner and Reef Asset Management on a set cadence.
• Represent Sweetens externally with guests, media, sponsors, community, and partners.
• Manage key vendor and partner relationships to Reef standards.
• Serve as the primary on-site liaison to Reef's remote accounting team, providing the local financial inputs, approvals, and documentation they need to keep the books accurate and current.