The One Weekend a Year Cuscowilla's Gates Don't Matter

Cuscowilla stopped letting outsiders play its golf course a decade ago. Since 2016, it has been the only club on Lake Oconee that closes its Coore-Crenshaw layout to anyone who isn't a member or a member's guest. That decision is part of what makes Cuscowilla Cuscowilla: a private, 700-acre community built around the idea that the golf course belongs to the people who live there, full stop.

Which is what makes September 13 and 14 worth marking on the calendar even if you have no interest in golf. For one weekend, Cuscowilla opens itself to ticket holders from all over Greene and Putnam counties for the inaugural Songs & Drives for Lives, a two-day fundraiser built around a concert and a golf tournament that has grown, in just a few years, from a modest club outing into one of the largest philanthropic gatherings the lake sees all year.

A Course That Says No, Except Here

The exclusivity isn't incidental. Cuscowilla was ranked Georgia's 14th best course by Golf Digest for 2025-26, and the club has leaned into being the one address on the lake where you can't just show up with a tee time. That reputation is precisely why this event carries weight locally. When a place built on saying no opens its doors, even briefly, for a cause, residents notice.

The cause here is the Spencer Bradley Foundation for Mental Health, established by David, Patti, and Sophia Bradley after they lost their son and brother, Spencer, to his own mental health battle in June 2022. What started as a single golf outing to honor him has become an annual fixture at Cuscowilla, and this year it's expanding into something bigger.

"This event is about much more than great music and great golf," Dr. David Bradley said. "Every ticket purchased, sponsorship secured, and golf team registered helps us continue to provide funding for lifesaving mental health education and resources throughout our communities."

How a 25-Year Friendship Turned Into a $70,000 Weekend

The event's roots trace back to The Oconee Cellar, the wine and spirits shop that has anchored the retail strip next to Publix on Lake Oconee Parkway since 1998. Owner Matt Garofalo and the Bradley family have been friends for more than two decades, which is why the tournament has carried The Oconee Cellar's name from the start.

The numbers tell you how fast this has grown. The tournament's first year raised over $38,000 for the foundation. By September 16, 2025, it had grown enough to draw more than 100 players to Cuscowilla and raise over $70,000, nearly doubling its earliest total in the years since.

"We wanted to create an event that would thank our customers and support our community," Garofalo said. "We have been friends with David and Patti for over 25 years. Donating all proceeds from this tournament to the Spencer Bradley Foundation for Mental Health was a perfect fit."

That trajectory is why 2026 looks different. The organizers aren't just running the tournament back. They're adding a full night of live music the evening before, effectively doubling the event's footprint and, if the pattern holds, its fundraising reach.

What's Actually Happening September 13-14

The two days break down like this:

• September 13 - Singer-Songwriter Night. The evening kicks off the weekend with performances from Corey Crowder, Ray Fulcher, and Ben Williams.
• September 14 - Golf Tournament. Teams register to play Cuscowilla's Coore-Crenshaw course, the same layout that hasn't hosted outside visitor play since the club went fully private.
• Location. Cuscowilla on Lake Oconee, 126 Cuscowilla Drive, Eatonton.
• Tickets, sponsorships, and team registration are available through the Spencer Bradley Foundation.

The songwriter lineup is the part that gives this year's event a different feel from the golf-only format of the past two years. Corey Crowder isn't a touring act passing through. He's a Lake Oconee resident, a working songwriter and producer with hits to his name, playing a show at the club down the road from where he lives. Ray Fulcher and Ben Williams round out the bill alongside him.

That detail matters more than it might seem. A lot of lake events import their draw from outside. This one didn't have to. The headliner already lives here.

Why This Is Worth Knowing If You Live Here

If you're a Cuscowilla resident, or you live in Harbor Club, Reynolds, or anywhere else on the lake, this is the kind of weekend that ends up on your calendar whether or not you golf. The Boathouse crowd will hear about it. The Oconee Cellar regulars already have. And the story behind it, a family turning a devastating loss into a fund that's now moved close to $110,000 through the lake community in two years, is the kind of thing neighbors bring up at the next dinner table long after the last putt drops.

It also says something about how a genuinely private club functions inside a public-facing lake community. Cuscowilla doesn't advertise itself the way some of the other communities do. It doesn't need outside play to stay full. But once a year, it lends its fairways to a cause that has nothing to do with real estate values or club membership rolls, and everything to do with the fact that everyone on this lake, gated community or not, is part of the same small place.

If you want to be there, tickets, sponsorships, and team registrations are open now through the Spencer Bradley Foundation.

Whether you're already calling Cuscowilla home or you're the kind of person who reads a story like this and starts wondering what it would take to be at that concert next September as a resident rather than a guest, Life's Good on Lake Oconee is where Lacie Groeninger writes about what actually happens in this community, week to week. Let's connect.