Ruggles Ferry Golf Course

This was the first time I’ve ever played this course and think this is a good track overall but it has it’s issues. The staff were all nice and very professional. The practice area is in good condition, both putting and driving range. A bucket of large balls is 6 bucks, which you hit off a grass range. The course isn’t very long but does make up for difficulty elsewhere like challenging greens, water, and narrower fairways. The course has a fun layout, on both front and back 9s, however, I do prefer the back, which is more challenging as well. There’s also something Ive never seen on a golf course before, an old tiny graveyard. It’s not really in play, but there’s some old graves there that were fun to look at while we were waiting for the fairway to clear. Fairways, rough and greens on the course have been maintained well, however, the greens were some of the gnarliest I’ve played on in the Knoxville area or anywhere for that matter. “Wait, you just said they were well maintained?” Let me explain, I can tell the greens are maintained well by the staff, there’s no doubt about it. However, there must be something wrong with the patrons because I have genuinely never seen so many unfixed ball marks on greens in my entire life. That’s a massive claim, I know, but it’s the truth. Almost every green we came across, except the tough to hit greens (of course) was riddle with ball marks. It looked like a WW1 no mans land on some holes and would truly effect putts. I fixed my own and a few of the other worst looking marks in my area. When I did, the green looked to recover fine. So it’s not the green itself that’s the issue, it’s the patrons not fixing them. There were some other issues around etiquette as well. Several different groups of very loud patrons that seemed to be unaware that others were playing on the hole right next to them. Of course, every once in a while that just happens, it’s golf. Someone drains a long putt or something. But this wasn’t excitement, it was just people unaware of golf etiquette. It seemed to happen on every 3rd hole. My last issue around etiquette was the lack of raking bunkers or fixing divots. None of the bunkers I saw, despite having rakes in all of them, were raked out after someone played through it. A picture is attached of one such issue I encountered when my ball landed in someone’s deep footprint. Not just a standard print, but someone really left a major foot hole and just thought, “who cares”. Our play time was rough, and took almost 5 hours as well. However, this time of year frost delays can happen, so I can’t blame the course for that. Perhaps it’s better in different times of the year, but I did want to mention that. Overall, it’s a decent course that I wish I could recommend, but the issues caused by patrons make it not worth playing right now. Idk how you teach your patrons basic etiquette for repairing ball marks, replacing divots, raking bunkers and watching the volume they speak at, but if they get that sorted, I can see myself coming back one day. Maybe they add a marshal or two to remind people about those basics throughout the course and call offenders out when they cause issues?

A must stop for any golfer. We played late July. The staff is very friendly and helpful. Sorry no pics, but the surrounding countryside is STUNNING. The layout is demanding and the greens are fantastic. Undulating lightning fast with challenging pin placements. Hats off to the maintenance staff. ABSOLUTELY PERFECT FAIRWAYS, GREENS, AND THEY KEEP THE ROUGH MANAGEABLE. The ball stays up and you actually find your ball! Again, great job maintenance staff!!!

The course itself was beautiful, but unfortunately the staff left a lot to be desired. We were on pace for a four-hour round on 18 holes, yet a staff member came over and told us we needed to “pick up the pace,” claiming the group behind us had complained. The problem is that the group behind us was actually part of our own party, and we know they never made that complaint, so that explanation simply wasn’t true. I do not appreciate lying. And for the remainder of the time we were golfing, he was just following us around and lurking - we did not appreciate that. The experience started off on the wrong foot when we checked in. We were told they might have to take our golf cart away because it was a busy day—even though we had already paid for it. We were also informed that club sharing isn’t allowed, so if someone in your group doesn’t have clubs, they’ll be required to rent a set from the course. I completely understand that golf courses need rules to keep play moving efficiently, and I have no issue with that. My issue was with how those rules were communicated. We had both men and women in our group, but when two of us women went to pick up the cart we had already paid for, a staff member repeatedly explained everything to us in an incredibly condescending way, as if we didn’t understand basic instructions. It felt patronizing and unnecessary. Later, two different staff members came over to lecture us again, despite us keeping pace with the course. We paid a lot of money to golf here, and while I respect the need to enforce course policies, there’s a professional way to do it. Unfortunately, the staff’s attitude took away from what should have been a fun day on an otherwise beautiful course. Unfortunately we won’t be returning to the course, and they lost business for in the future.

My son, Carter, went fishing with the cub scouts on Saturday! He didn't catch anything, but he had a great time! Also, he is selling popcorn if anyone is interested!!

Went there with a group of men from the Church I attend and the person there was very nice and helpful. The course was a lot of fun to play! Great experience! Hope to go back sometime soon!!