Architecturally, Rob Collins said, the best golf holes are those in which success and failure reside in close quarters.

Collins has an intimate understanding of success and failure. If you head a half-hour west of Chattanooga, Tenn., exit Interstate 24 onto a quiet country road, turn down a dirt driveway, pull into a grass parking lot and see the locker room (a single blue port-a-potty) and the clubhouse (a 20-foot-by-10-foot aluminum shed), you may not immediately realize which category Sweetens Cove Golf Club comes under.

Rob Collins, 42, is 6 feet 6 inches of unyielding self-assurance. He is the architect of Sweetens Cove and its owner-operator. He also has served as its head of construction, head pro, general manager and entire maintenance crew. Recently, he has acquired a newer, unlikelier title: golf cult hero.

This spring, Golfweek listed Sweetens Cove at No. 59 in its top 100 modern golf courses, a ranking of American courses built since 1960. It is one of only two nine-hole courses included on the list, and it is ranked third among daily-fee public courses. Sweetens Cove is ahead of numerous sites that have hosted PGA Tour events and major championships, including Hazeltine and Valhalla. Quail Hollow Club, the site of the 2017 P.G.A. Championship, which concluded on Sunday, was just behind Sweetens Cove at No. 60.