Now open for preview play in Missouri, Tiger Woods’s first public U.S. golf course will be opening for good at some point in 2020.
According to Larry Olmsted of Forbes, you’ll definitely want to play it when it does.
Payne’s Valley at the Big Cedar Lodge resort in the Ozark Mountains (which we checked out earlier this year) offers a beautiful natural setting that allows golfers to play amongst exposed rock outcroppings, streams, and beautiful mature trees.
Designed to be playable for experienced and novice players alike, Payne’s Valley doesn’t have much penal rough around its putting surfaces to make putting from off of the green a normal part of play, as is common in the British Isles.
“What really wowed me was the fun factor, which comes from the beautiful setting, the very smart hole design, and the emphasis on playability,” Olmsted writes. “Besides the vast areas of grass where you can spray your tee shots (though Tiger also made sure that if you want to score, as opposed to simply not lose your ball and rack up penalty strokes, you do have to hit in the right places), there is amphitheater style mounding around several green complexes which further contains errant approach shots.”
In addition to Payne’s Valley, which is named in honor of two-time U.S. Open champion Payne Stewart, Big Cedar Lodge has multiple other golf courses including Top of the Rock designed by Jack Nicklaus, Buffalo Ridge Springs designed by Tom Fazio and Mountain Top designed by Gary Player.
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