MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

from McConnell Golf, The Magazine — Summer 2021

CLUB COMMUNITY

Escape to the Hills

Country club provides plenty of opportunities to unwind

YOU MIGHT SAY KEVIN TEETERS has taken a dogleg or two in his career — from scoring birdies to becoming a legal eagle.

Today, he and his family are members at Holston Hills Country Club in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he worked as an assistant golf pro before heading to law school and becoming an assistant district attorney.

“It’s the atmosphere, the people. I’ve made a lot of good friends at Holston Hills over the years,” says Teeters, who continues to play golf as much as he can, in part to unwind from long days at the Knox County DA’s office.

When he says, “over the years,” he means 27 of them. From 1994 to 1999, the then-PGA golfer worked at Holston Hills as a club pro. Then he earned his college diploma at the University of Tennessee. The DA’s office hired him immediately after he earned his law degree from UT in 2006.

“Playing golf is the way I get away from what I do,” Teeters says. “That’s my relief.”

The Teeters family lives just 15 minutes away from the country club, where daughter Kendall says she especially enjoys the pool; she relaxes there even though, as a competitive swimmer, she spends two hours a day, six days a week in the water.

“I can work on some small training things that I might not be able to work on in practice because it’s less hardcore,” says the youngest Teeters. “But, yes, I do go there for fun. I love the facility so much.”

So does mom Allison, a Knox County Health Department inspector who gets away to Holston Hills now and then to enjoy family time, to dabble in a little painting, among other club activities, and for gatherings with girlfriends.

“The social aspect is great. We get together for birthday nights and get to mingle with other couples,” she says. Then, with a nodding smile toward her husband of nearly 19 years, she says, “Most of us are not as into golf as some of the others.”

Through the past year, Allison has used her health and environmental expertise to help the club. Inspecting Holston Hills’ facilities would be a conflict of interest, she explains, so she advises staff about guidelines for dining room operations, mask-wearing and the like. Now, she offers recommendations about vaccinations.

Meanwhile, daughter Hailey grabs an occasional lunch with her father and, like Kendall, relaxes at the pool during the summers.

“When I have time off, it’s like my escape from my day job,” says Hailey, a Knox County juvenile-probation officer who, incidentally, was born when her dad worked at Holston Hills.

Seems her father can’t escape from golf — not that he ever would. Teeters is the 2020-2021 secretary of the Tennessee Golf Association and serves on the board of First Tee Greater Knoxville, a nonprofit network that introduces the game to some 5.3 million youngsters nationwide. Most recently, he served as committee chairman of the Korn Ferry Pro-Am tournament at Holston Hills.

Oh, and he belongs to an especially exclusive club: Teeters has scored two holes-in-one — once in 2019 and again in 2020 — on Holston Hills’ 11th hole, a 200-yard par 3 on the Donald Ross-designed course that Golf Magazine consistently ranks among the country’s top 100 links.

He lauds McConnell Golf’s recent renovation of the clubhouse and grounds —“It just looks like a fabulous facility,” he says. He also appreciates the fact that members can play at other properties within the McConnell Golf portfolio.

“I would just encourage every McConnell Golf member to make the trip over to East Tennessee and visit Holston Hills Country Club,” Teeters says. “I think they will be pleasantly surprised.”