Tiger Woods to design public course at Big Cedar Lodge in Missouri
Tiger Woods may be on the shelf in terms of competitive golf, but the 14-time major champion is a busy man when it comes to his budding and burgeoning TGR Design golf-course architecture company.
On Tuesday, Woods was at Big Cedar Lodge in Ridgedale, Missouri, with resort owner and Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris to announce Payne’s Valley, a forthcoming 19-hole championship, publicly accessible golf course slated to open in 2019.
The course, named in honor of the late, three-time major winner Payne Stewart, will be designed to show off the rocky topography of the Ozarks, in which the resort sits, with the 19th hole dubbed “The Rock” there to settle wagers and matches. After the 19th hole, players will walk through a cavern system to make their way back to the clubhouse.
Woods, who has two opened designs in Houston and in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, is looking forward to his first public course. However, Woods won’t make any changes in design philosophy just because it’s open to a broader group of players.
“I want this golf course playing fast,” Woods said. “That’s what I tell all my teams, that when I design a golf course, I don’t care if it’s brown, brown’s okay, brown’s good, it doesn’t always have to be perfectly green. I want the ball running, I want it traveling, I want it moving on the ground, and this golf course allows us to do that. We have some amazing elevation changes, some amazing slopes, and I think that we can create some interesting options for a lot of the players and enjoyment for everyone to come out here and just have a good time.”
The Woods-designed course and a potential future Woods-led short course will join a growing slate of golf offerings at the resort, including the Tom Fazio-designed Buffalo Ridge, the Arnold Palmer-designed practice facility, the Jack Nicklaus-designed Top of the Rock par-3 course, the forthcoming Gary Player-designed 13-hole short course and an 18-hole course from Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw opening in 2018.
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
