Black Magic

The Black Desert Resort in Utah is adding to its offerings while still anchored by a world-class golf course

By Jim Bebbington

In early October, golf fans will be watching a PGA Tour event that won’t look real.

For nearly the entire pro golf season, courses where the world’s best players compete look one of three ways: there are the early season desert courses, then there are the tree-lined fairway courses, and briefly in late summer there are wind-swept links courses in the UK and Ireland.

None look like what will be shown from southern Utah when the Bank of Utah Championship returns to one of the newest resorts in the country, Black Desert Resort. There, emerald green fairways are bracketed by dark black corridors of basalt rock formed by volcanic eruptions that date back 2 million years.

“After the first tour event in 2024, we had comments online saying ‘This is AI-generated,’ and ‘That looks faked; they’ve enhanced it,’” said Colby Cowan, Director of Golf at Black Desert Resort. “It truly isn’t.”

Cowan’s own brother, who has visited the site and is from the area, calls every year during the tournament. “I can see why people think it’s AI-generated; it looks so good on TV,” he says.

The Black Desert Resort property is one of southern Utah’s newest destinations, and its Tom Weiskopf-designed golf course is growing in reputation as a reason to visit.

Black Desert lies near St. George, a two-hour drive north of Las Vegas or a little under a two-hour flight direct from Denver International Airport to St. George. “The scenery is just unbelievable with the green grass, black lava, red rocks in the background,” Cowan said.

The combination of Weiskopf and his longtime partner Phil Smith’s creative design and the unique landscape has created 18 holes of stunning, rugged beauty. “We have a 19th hole as a wager hole, basically; people can settle their bets – it’s about 60 yards over water,” Cowan said. “So it’s kind of a fun little way for people to finish their round.”

With elevation changes and the lava fields making shortcuts between holes all-but impossible, the typical playing experience is cart golf with fore caddies across grassy perfection. “Golfers will come and experience not only a well-manicured golf course, but also a very playable – challenging at the same time- but also the experience of being taken care of through our fore caddy program.” The golf operations have also leaned into the special place that the course has in Tom Weiskopf’s career.

Weiskopf was a great PGA Tour player, and when he died of pancreatic cancer in 2022, Black Desert was his 73rd and final course design. “We have a restaurant out at the driving range . . . with the large 2-acre putting course. We call it Club 73. This was his 73rd and final design. And so we named it after him,” Cowan said.

There are a limited number of tee times available each day for play by visitors who are not staying at the resort, with club members and resort guests getting access to the lion’s share of the slots.

In peak season, golf costs $325 per round for resort guests, which includes all food and drink on the course, carts, and a fore caddy. The resort is no longer in its infancy, and construction is moving fast, adding amenities. A massive water park is underway, and plans for the future run the gamut from concrete (a walkable ‘downtown’ area for resort guests filled with restaurants, shops, and entertainment options ) to hoped-for (additional golf courses).

With the water park on track to open in June 2027, the resort’s guests are expected to be able to have golf be just a part of an overall vacation experience. “There’s the Plume Spa, there’s hiking adventures they can do with different activity guides,” Cowan said. “There’s biking. So what we’re seeing is groups are coming in; they might play one day, take a day off, either explore Snow Canyon State Park, Zion National Park, do a spa treatment, then go on a bike adventure, and then they’re finishing it off with another round of golf.”

There is a combination of resort guest rooms and suites as well as residential units on the grounds, so the facilities are being built out to give options for both short- and long-term visits.

They added 21 pickleball courts, and construction continued this summer on the boardwalk development, the hub of the community.

“That’s (going to be) the gathering spot for evening activity,’’ Cowan said. “We have the four restaurants here on property, but those will have even more options. There’ll be live entertainment. They’re hoping for nightly when that opens up. There are no cars allowed, so it’s all walking and lots of gathering places.”

So every year for the foreseeable future there will be something new for repeat visitors to Black Desert. But the golf course that is the center of it all will remain a destination worth experiencing.