How Do You Compare East Tennessee Golf Communities?

Every golf community shows well on visit day. The fairways are striped and the clubhouse smells like coffee. That is exactly why you bring a scorecard.

The differences that matter are in the answers to ten plain questions. Ask them everywhere you visit, write the answers down, and compare like with like.

Below is the scorecard, with how Tennessee National answers each one. Tennessee National is a private, gated lake and golf community on Watts Bar Lake in Loudon, Tennessee.

What should you ask every golf community?

These ten questions, in the same order, every time.

The rest of this post explains what a good answer sounds like.

What should you ask about the golf course?

Ask who designed it, how many courses there are, and how it plays from the tees you would use. A course is the one amenity you cannot change after you buy.

More courses mean more variety. One course means everyone knows it and plays it together. Decide which you want.

Tennessee National has one course, not two. It is a Greg Norman Signature course with 18 holes, 7,393 yards and a par of 72. What a Greg Norman Signature course is explains the label. For what to look at on the ground, use this guide to evaluating a golf course on a visit.

What does golf membership include?

It depends on the club, so ask. Some communities bundle golf with the home. Some sell it separately. Some have levels, and some have a waitlist.

Ask every club the same things:

• Is membership required, optional or separate from owning a home?
• What does each level cost, and what does it include?
• Who can play, and how are tee times booked?

At Tennessee National, golf membership questions go to the club. Do not accept a guess from anyone else, including a blog.

Is the water a real lake?

Ask whether you can keep a boat there and how far you can go. A lake community can mean a marina on open water or a pond with a fountain.

Tennessee National sits on Watts Bar Lake. It is a TVA reservoir on the Tennessee River with more than 39,000 acres of water, 722 miles of shoreline and 72 navigable miles. The community has a full-service marina with 140+ boat slips. Ask about current slip availability. Marina and lake life has the details.

What will it cost each month?

Ask for the whole stack in writing. One number is never the whole answer.

• HOA dues, and what they cover.
• Club or golf dues, if they are separate.
• Any joining fee.
• Food minimums, cart fees and marina fees, if there are any.
• Any special assessments in recent years.

A community that will not write the list down has told you something. For Tennessee National, pricing is in the info pack. To weigh the total against how you would use the place, see is a golf community home worth it?

Do you have to build right away?

Not at Tennessee National. There is no deadline to build after you buy a homesite.

Ask this one everywhere, because the answers vary. Some communities require you to start building within a set window. Some limit which builders you can use. Either rule can force a decision before you are ready.

Also ask what you can buy. Tennessee National has five ways to own: The Timbers (wooded homesites), lake homesites, waterfront homesites, Land & Home packages, and townhomes. Finished homes are on the properties page. Homes are custom built and go through design review, so ask to see what the review covers.

How do you score the answers?

Give each answer one of three marks: clear, vague, or would not say. Then count.

A clear answer you do not love is still useful. A vague answer is a reason to ask again. "Would not say" on costs or build rules is a reason to slow down.

When the paper narrows the field to two or three, spend an unhurried day at the front-runner. See the course from the tees you would play. Eat where residents eat. Drive the streets at five in the afternoon.

The honest part

A scorecard narrows the field. It cannot tell you whether you will like the people, and people are most of what you are buying.

This scorecard also comes from one of the communities on your list. So use it on Tennessee National as hard as you use it on anyone else. Bring it, ask all ten questions, and then go ask them everywhere else.

Facts about Tennessee National come from the community. Lake facts come from TVA. Rules, taxes, loans and insurance change, so confirm anything that affects a purchase with the right office or professional before you buy.