How does arguably the greatest golfer of all time design a course for the masses? “Tiger plays pro-ams all the time and sees plenty of amateur golfers, so he knows how to design holes for them,” Bell said. “He goes to check on what Tiger as a 6-year-old would think of these holes, what he would think of the bunkers and where they are located?”
Adds Woods: “Some of my greatest memories are growing up playing golf alongside my dad at public courses. I want to create courses that future generations can share those same experiences and I can play with my kids.”
Woods’s favorite style of courses are the “inland links”-type designs found in the Australian Sandbelt, which present golfers with multiple ways to play the same shots, either through the air or on the turf. “I want the ground to be a player’s friend,” Woods said. “Tightly mowed green surroundings allow players the option of using everything from a putter to a lob wedge when recovering from a missed green. I believe this allows players to play to their strengths versus forcing them to hit a lob wedge out of thick rough. It also promotes creativity.”
As with his earlier designs, Woods has played a hands-on role in bringing Payne’s Valley to life, at times making adjustments on the fly.
“He is very engaged and interested in the process and how we are going to get things done,” said Todd Bohn, Big Cedar’s director of agronomy. “He drew several holes on a napkin, made changes as we went along.
“We would be walking the holes and he would remember the shot he had hit and the shots other people would have hit. He would say, Vijay [Singh] would hit pitching wedge here.”
Woods’s design joins a deep roster of golf offerings at Big Cedar, including Buffalo Ridge, a Tom Fazio design that is home to the Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf, and Ozarks National, a 2018 design by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. The property also has a nine-hole par-3 course by Jack Nicklaus, a 16-hole practice facility designed by Arnold Palmer, and a sprawling putting “Himalayan” putting complex built by Tom Watson.
Check out some more photos of Payne’s Valley below.
