Save Knox Muni: Keep All 18 Holes

Three dates that decide this

The Sports Authority is taking public input on the draft RFP right now. Show up in person if you can, and get a written comment in before the window closes.

Tomorrow

Thu, Oct 22, 2026

Community Listening Session

4:00 to 6:00 p.m. at the Knoxville Municipal clubhouse, 3925 Schaad Road. Roundtable discussions with the people writing the plan. This is the room where golfers need to be heard.

Tue, Oct 27, 2026

Sports Authority Public Hearing

9:00 to 10:30 a.m. at the clubhouse, 3925 Schaad Road. The formal hearing on the draft RFP. Morning turnout matters, because decision makers count heads as well as comments.

Mon, Nov 2, 2026

Written Comments Close

The last day to submit written feedback on the draft RFP. Use the comment builder below, copy your words, and paste them into the official form. It takes about two minutes.

The numbers are on our side

Both sets of figures below come from studies the city and its partners commissioned for this very site.

34,137rounds played at Knoxville Municipal in fiscal 2023

$42for 18 holes with cart on a weekday, on the published rate card

156acres of public green space at 3925 Schaad Road

18holes on the table: the draft RFP would cap golf at a par 3 or 9 holes

Fix the course we have

$2.45 million

That is the full capital bill from the City of Knoxville 2023 Golf Course Study, and it keeps all 18 holes.

First the pump and complete irrigation, then tees, drainage, and greens. The study names the order.
The study called the course fun and very playable, the kind of layout golfers come back to.
Demand exceeds supply, and the course runs with consistent positive cash flow.
The money would go into a course that is already busy and already cash flow positive.

Or shrink it for fields

$20 to $25 million

That is the soccer feasibility study estimate to build 10 to 12 fields on this site, before the yearly losses start.

A projected operating shortfall of about $400,000 to $500,000 every year.
Major grading and retaining walls, because much of the site is too hilly for flat fields.
The loss of many mature trees that took decades to grow.
The draft RFP caps golf at a par 3 or 9 hole base proposal and requires at least 10 full sized turf fields.

The two price tags, side by side

Fix the course, all 18 holes (2023 Golf Course Study)$2.45 million

Build 10 to 12 turf fields (soccer feasibility study)$20 to $25 million

Drawn to scale. The fields cost roughly ten times the fix.

Then the fields bill arrives every year

The soccer feasibility study projects an operating shortfall of $400,000 to $500,000 a year for the fields. The projected shortfall repeats every year:

After year 1$0.4 to $0.5M gone

After year 2$0.8 to $1.0M gone

After year 3$1.2 to $1.5M gone

After year 4$1.6 to $2.0M gone

After year 5$2.0 to $2.5M gone

In about five years, the yearly losses alone add up to the entire $2.45 million cost of fixing the golf course, spent with nothing to show for it.

Sources: City of Knoxville Golf Course Study (2023) and the Knoxville Municipal Golf Course Soccer Feasibility Review, both published on the official project page linked at the bottom of this site. The study figures in this section are from those 2023 studies.

A green and flagstick at Knoxville Municipal Golf Course, framed by tall pines and hardwoods — Tree lined fairways and greens like this one are what the fields plan would grade away. Photo: golfknox.com, the course's own site.

Golf is growing, not shrinking

Golf is in the middle of a boom. The growth is coming from the people a public course serves: kids, families, and new and returning golfers.

515 million

Rounds played nationally in 2022

Up 16.0% from the 2017 to 2019 average, according to the national data cited in the city's study.

25.6 million

Golfers across the country

Participation is at its highest level in years.

$102 billion

Size of the golf industry

A major, growing industry, and public courses are where beginners learn the game.

Who is driving the growth

Growth in participation over three years, from the national data cited in the 2023 Golf Course Study. The strongest growth is coming from new and returning golfers.

Youth playUp 36%

Black golfersUp 34%

Hispanic golfersUp 21%

Women golfersUp 15%

34,137

Rounds played at Knoxville Municipal in fiscal 2023. The city's own study found that demand for golf in this area exceeds supply. The tee sheet here stays full.

Kids and families are coming to the game in growing numbers. This is a strange time to cut the city's most accessible 18-hole course in half.

Source: City of Knoxville Golf Course Study (2023) and the national participation and industry data it cites. Local rounds and the demand finding are from the same study.

What a round costs: the card and the tee sheet

There are two sets of numbers, and this page shows both. The published rate card is the course's posted pricing. The live tee sheet on GolfNow prices by day and time of day, and this week it runs a few dollars higher. There is no membership, initiation fee, or waiting list. A working family can afford to play here.

Live on GolfNow this week: 18 holes

$38 to $55

Actual per golfer prices in the course's booking system, checked Wednesday, October 21, 2026, for tee times October 21 to 25. Prices step down in the afternoon, weekends carry a premium, and the course notes the lowest rates are available online. The booking widget does not label riding versus walking, and any GolfNow fee would only appear at checkout.

Wed, Oct 21$38 to $45

Thu, Oct 22$40 to $45

Fri, Oct 23$44 to $46

Sat, Oct 24$48 to $55

Sun, Oct 25$44 to $55

Weekday peak: $45. Weekend peak: $55, late morning to early afternoon on Saturday, stepping down to $50 and then $44 by Sunday afternoon.

Published rate card, golfknox.com, checked October 21, 2026

$42

18 holes with cart, rate card

Adult rate on the published card, Monday to Thursday. $45 on Friday, $49 on weekends and holidays.

$28

Walk all 18, rate card

Adult walking rate on the published card, weekdays. $30 on Friday, $33 on weekends and holidays.

$15

Juniors walk 18, rate card

Golfers 17 and under on the published card, Monday to Friday. $20 on weekends and holidays.

Kids in Youth on Course

Members play Knoxville Municipal for $3 a round through the Tennessee Golf Foundation.

Riding, cart included

Published rate card: public riding rates

18 holes	Mon-Thu	Fri	Sat-Sun
Adult	$42	$45	$49
Senior (55+)	$39	$39	$43
Junior (17 and under)	$26	$26	$30
Twilight (after 2:00 p.m.)	$36	$38	$42
College student with ID	$35	$38	$42
Player's Pass, cart included
Pass holder	$37	$40	$44
Senior pass holder	$34	$34	$38
9 holes
Riding	$27	$28	$30
Junior riding	$20	$20	$22

Monday Special: $32 all day. Weekend rates also apply on holidays.

Walking

Published rate card: for golfers who carry, push, or pull

18 holes	Mon-Thu	Fri	Sat-Sun
Adult	$28	$30	$33
Senior (55+)	$26	$26	$28
Junior (17 and under)	$15	$15	$20
9 holes
Walking	$17	$18	$20
Junior walking	$10	$10	$12

Youth on Course members play for $3. Details and sign up at tgfknoxville.org.

Senior, junior, walking, twilight, Player's Pass, and 9-hole rates are from the course's published rate card at golfknox.com, checked October 21, 2026, shown for reference. Live booking prices can run a few dollars higher, as the adult rates above show.

Published rate card from the Book Tee Times page at golfknox.com, the course's official site, checked October 21, 2026. The rate card says all pricing includes sales tax, and rates are subject to change. Live prices from the GolfNow Booking Engine embedded on that same page, checked Wednesday, October 21, 2026, for tee times October 21 to 25, 2026. Youth on Course is run by the Tennessee Golf Foundation, tgfknoxville.org.

What the alternatives cost

If the Muni shrinks, where do its golfers go? Here is what 18 holes with a cart costs at the other public courses in town, with the bars drawn to the same scale.

Knoxville MunicipalWeekday, published rate card$42Baseline

Dead Horse Lake Golf CourseWeekday, with cart, published season rates$50+19% more

Knoxville MunicipalWeekend, published rate card$49Baseline

Dead Horse Lake Golf CourseWeekend, with cart, published season rates$60+22% more

Willow Creek Golf ClubWeekday, posted rates, cart and tax included$74+76% more

Willow Creek Golf ClubWeekend, posted rates, cart and tax included$82+67% more

Knoxville MunicipalLive on GolfNow this week, October 21 to 25, 2026$38 to $55

Whittle Springs, the city's other municipal course, is not at the same quality as the Muni.

Every other full-length course in the area with a public price costs more, and none of them is on the northwest side of the county near the neighborhoods the Muni serves.

Sources: Knoxville Municipal published rate card and live GolfNow booking prices from golfknox.com, checked October 21, 2026, as detailed in the rates section above. Dead Horse Lake Golf Course published season rates from deadhorselake.com, checked October 21, 2026. All prices shown are for 18 holes with cart. The percentage differences are figured from the published rate card prices, with Knoxville Municipal as the baseline, not from the live GolfNow range. Willow Creek Golf Club posted rates from willowcreekgolf.net, checked October 21, 2026; its rates include cart and tax.

Put the fields where they fit

Knoxville needs more sports fields. The question is where they fit best. The Sports Authority's own soccer study found much of the golf course too hilly for flat fields, needing major grading and retaining walls, at $20 to $25 million, for a complex projected to lose money each year. That is why this site feels like a forced fit. The better path is to build on flatter land elsewhere in the city, and to turf, light, and improve the fields Knoxville already owns, where the ground is already level and the roads and parking are already there. Put the tournament complex where the land suits it, and let a popular golf course that pays for itself keep serving the families around it. Before any proposal is scored, the Authority should have to show, in public, that it evaluated those alternatives first.

Closest to where Knoxville lives

Measured against where people live, Knoxville Municipal is the most central course in the city. The 2020 Census center of population for Knox County sits near Hinton Drive and Third Creek Road, and the Muni is about 3 miles from it, closer than any other course in town: Whittle Springs is about 5 miles from that point, Williams Creek about 6, Dead Horse Lake about 7, and Three Ridges about 12. The county's population center has been moving west for forty years, toward this side of town, and the growth around Powell, Karns, and Schaad Road is why. This course sits where the people are. Knoxville does not need another short course, either. Between them, the City and County already run four par-3 and short courses: Williams Creek and its Wee Course, Concord Park Par 3, and The Barn Short Course at Beverly Park. Shrinking the Muni would duplicate what the city already has, and take away the full course closest to the center of its population.

Knoxville Municipal3.1 miles

Whittle Springs5.4 miles

Williams Creek6.0 miles

Dead Horse Lake7.5 miles

Three Ridges11.6 miles

Distances measured from course addresses and the 2020 U.S. Census center of population for Knox County, checked October 2026.

Build your comment in two minutes

Pick who you are, tap the points you care about, and the page drafts a comment from them. Then send it one of two ways.

Build your comment below and check the wording.
Copy it, or email it straight to Kim Bumpas from your own mail app.
For the official record, paste it into the feedback form on the Visit Knoxville project page. The form sits at the bottom of that page.

Who are you?

What matters most to you?

Make it yours

Your name (optional)

ZIP (optional)

One line of your own (optional)

Your comment

Email it to Kim Bumpas Open the official feedback page

Tip: the email button opens your mail app with this exact comment filled in. Nothing is sent until you press send, and you can edit every word first.

Show up, and bring a golfer

Written comments build the record, and turnout at the meetings matters too. Both meetings are at the clubhouse, and both welcome public comment.

The meetings

Thursday, October 22, 2026, 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.Community listening session and stakeholder roundtables, Knoxville Municipal clubhouse, 3925 Schaad Road.

Tuesday, October 27, 2026, 9:00 to 10:30 a.m.Sports Authority public hearing on the draft RFP, same clubhouse. Get there early if you want to speak.

By Monday, November 2, 2026Written comments close. If you cannot make a meeting, the comment builder above is your seat at the table.

Points worth making out loud

Ask the Authority to rewrite the draft RFP so a full 18-hole course is the base proposal.
Quote the city's own study: $2.45 million fixes this course, starting with the pump and full irrigation.
Quote the soccer study back: $20 to $25 million to build, then a shortfall of roughly half a million dollars a year.
Talk about who plays here: beginners, juniors, seniors, and league golfers who cannot join a private club.
Once 18 holes of public land are graded into fields, Knoxville will not get them back.