September 2024 – Wow! Black Desert Resort is the newest addition to the St. George golfing scene and man-oh-Manischewitz is it something to behold. Excepting three holes at Entrada, this is something that you will never, ever experience outside here or Hawaii’s big island. And even there you do not have the butted mountains in the backdrop.
So our 2024 guys’ trip took us to St. George this year and I talk about the area and experience more in my Entrada review. BDR is hands-down the top course in the area and a must play as you build out your itinerary. Playing brand spanking new courses has been a theme this year for me. BDR opened last year. Pinehurst #10 this year. Apogee this year. Fields Ranch in 2023. These are all part of the new golf boom as during COVID’s unnecessary shut down, golf, drinking and you know what were the only activities that Big Brother was allowing. They even tried to control you know what! Anyway, developers took note of the boom, and quickly got some big name designers out and created a bevy of new courses all opening around 2022 to 2026. I just hope we don’t have another period of overbuild and then have to convert some of these new courses into developments et al in a few years when the cycle goes bust.
This was Tom Weiskopf’s final design before passing. You can read at Golf Digest a nice little snippet including the upcoming PGA event to be held here bringing professional golf back to Utah for the first time in 60 years. You’ll see in the photos that they were already erecting (hee hee I said erecting) stands for the tourney and talked to the construction guys who are trying to finish the clubhouse and road infrastructure in time. One month from when I played and I’d bet hard against them finishing.
I added this solidly into my top 100 and if I ever come back this way to play it once the construction is more caught up, I’m sure it will go higher. I’m also sure that this will end up in the Top 100 for the golf mags.
I’ll go into the hole-by-hole description in a second but two things to think about here. One is BDR is truly a modern affair. Golf-Track on the range. Cool music playing at the halfway house/driving range area. Big screen TVs and sports on at the outdoor halfway house. Cool putting green with lit holes. The whole course caters to the modern golfer without alienating the old stodgy golf nerds.
Speaking of golf nerds, my buddy who is an official Golf Digest rater gave the course high marks especially on the aesthetics. He may not submit his review as we played the 6,000-yard tees and he couldn’t give scoring and defense of par from those tees with his handicap – he’s a 4 and all raters are required to be 8 or under. Again, I do this blog to give a point of view on a course for factors outside what a scratch golfer would and I give this high marks.
Number 2. Drinking. In Utah. Sucks. Besides Entrada which is private, there’s no vodka or other mixers available. It’s beer or seltzers. Number two, drinking time doesn’t start until after 10. Number three, if you play BDR take heed: the front nine is in one town and the back in another. The cart girl cannot sell any drinks on the front as the town is dry so load up on the range and again at the turn. So while I deduct some points for that, I love the track, vibe and definitely recommend a play here. While pricey, it is a must play.
Above is the layout. If you like golf maps and have room to hang them in your house (unlike me), you should buy some. https://www.etsy.com/listing/1690365575/black-desert-resort-golf-course-outline.
Here’s the putting green. To the left is the clubhouse facility and you see the stands being built on the 18th green to the right. Directly to my left and unseen is the cool halfway house.
From the combo tees, the first plays from 364 yards. Those tees are only 6,015 yards and slope to a 126. However, it played much harder and despite the limited slope and yardage, I shot horribly all day. So I’ll just talk about the holes and not my God awful score. Play right for a clean approach. This is actually one of only two or three holes I played well. Greens were tough but well conditioned and overall condition despite the newness and construction was top notch.
My approach on one.
The second is 367-yard par four that you need to cut off some desert to eat up yardage.
From this point on my photos got mixed up so will not label these, just enjoy the scenery.
They were playing the par threes from mats in preparation for the PGA. They also had mats on some approach areas on the fairway. This is half our group: Rob, me, Brian and the Sweene.
Same tee part 2 – Jeff, Rob, Dave and Erik.
Final shot. A bitch of mine is a course without a 6,100-6,3000 tee option and you see some spotty areas on the tees and rough but overall BDR is a great experience well worth the cost ($300 as per writing). Will be excited to watch the pros play here and watch as this rockets up the ratings list.
Golf Scrapbook 