SOUTHERN UTAH’S NEWEST GOLF RESORT DEBUTS ON THE PGA TOUR STAGE
By Jim Bebbington
Black Desert is finally ready to shine.
Northwest of the popular vacation community of St. George, Utah, the Black Desert Resort opens its first hotel rooms to the public in October with its championship golf course also getting its first tryout as a PGA TOUR stop.
The resort has been under construction for more than three years and is the culmination of more than 20 years of effort. The master plan for the full build-out will likely take several years more – with a multi-village hotel, a residential neighborhood, a waterpark, and a Main Street-style commercial and restaurant district in the works.
GOLF ON CENTER STAGE
The breathtaking Black Desert golf course takes its debut on the world stage the second week of October, as it plays host to the PGA TOUR’s FedEx Cup Fall inaugural Black Desert Championship.
The new PGA TOUR stop is from Oct. 9 to 13 this year and will showcase the stunning Tom Weiskopf-designed golf course that opened for play in June 2023.
The PGA TOUR has a five-year commitment to Black Desert. The course also will be one of the few in the world to simultaneously host an LPGA event each year; the women’s Tour begins playing at Black Desert in spring, 2025.
The course is Weiskopf’s 73rd and final design, finished shortly before his death from pancreatic cancer in 2022. He and fellow designer Phil Smith built a par-72 course with wide green fairways that wind and roll through a rare black-lava landscape. The lava flows ended an estimated 20,000 years ago, and the land offered a challenging opportunity to be creative. Parts of the course look like it belongs on the shores of the Big Island of Hawaii. But instead of the Pacific Ocean as a backdrop, players find themselves amid towering red cliffs and hills of nearby Zion National Park and Snow Canyon.
“I think it’s going to blow people away,” St. George-based photographer Brian Oar said after photographing the course shortly after it opened. “It really is built in the lava and they clearly spared no expense. There are some really incredible golf holes and I expect it to be an unbelievable experience.”
Green fees include complimentary non-alcoholic food and beverage service on the course; forecaddies to help shepherd your round; cart; driving range access and a tee box gift. And in perhaps the best perk possible – tee times are spread out over 15-minute increments.
“I loved the wide-open fairways,” said Black Desert’s vice president of sales and marketing Kate Brown. “I felt like it was very challenging. It’s stunning. You feel like you’re in the middle of Nirvana. Undulations, water, sand, lava.”
Developer Patrick Manning told one interviewer that the landscape is what sold the PGA TOUR on adding the course to its schedule.
“Nothing is going to pop on national television like Black Desert,” he said.
BIG VISION
The scale of Black Desert Resort continues to evolve. Manning began thinking about what could be done on the land 20 years ago. He saw the St. George region becoming a popular vacation and visitor destination – with natural beauty drawing visitors from around the world.
What it did not have yet, he felt, was much to keep people there after they completed their hikes through the fantastic surroundings.
Plans began as a simple ‘Boardwalk’ – a main-street ski-village style development that would give visitors a place to shop, eat, listen to live music and stroll.
As the vision came closer to breaking ground he and his team continued to see larger and larger possibilities. The golf course went first. Now, the first hotel will have 791 rooms and be a candidate for national convention traffic as well as destination weddings and other events.
An outdoor amphitheater is in the works for concerts and performances. The family-oriented wa- terpark will be done in time for summer 2026. The final piece of Phase One – the Boardwalk – is slated for completion by 2028.
A development of homes and condos is on the drawing board as the project is seeking to live up to its motto: Luxury Your Way. Visit. Play It. Own It. Manning, the developer, said the scale of the complex is intended to be part of its draw.
“When it’s all done it’s going to be big – more than 20 restaurants; water park; It’s going to be a massive 600-acre entertainment complex,” he said.
DOORS OPEN
The resort’s hotel first opens for guests on Oct. 16, with significantly discounted rates through the winter to give visitors a rare chance to be the first to stay at what is intended to become a world-class destination. “There’s still some construction going on but you’re going to get an amazing rate,” said Brown. “It’s an opportunity for people to come in and be the first to experience the resort. There are seven restaurants, two pools and five Trackman simulators. It’s a great way to be one of the first to experience it when it’s brand new.”
HOW TO GET THERE:
FLIGHTS: Aircraft land at St. George Regional Airport. United Airlines has nonstop service from Denver, and American and Delta Airlines offer connecting service.
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