Branson’s Bestest

ROCK STAR The Top of the Rock, designed by Jack Nicklaus, is the first par-3 course to be included in a professional championship

The rolling, bucolic landscapes of the Ozarks are now home to a bevy of golf courses with distinguished pedigrees, as Farhad Heydari discovers

For a certain generation of Americans, the Missouri city of Branson has been synonymous with music, variety, comedy and theme shows for the better part of half a century, ever since the likes of Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson and Andy Williams decamped to this corner of the Ozarks and their showbiz friends and devoted disciples followed in droves. But nowadays, another pastime is quickly eclipsing all the glitzy productions and entertainment offerings here in the heartland – and that’s golf.

Thanks largely to the vision of one native conservationist and founder of Bass Pro Shops, Johnny Morris, the Show-Me State has quickly established itself as a serious golfing mecca, courtesy of his outsized and expansive Big Cedar Lodge resort (golfbigcedar.com): a sprawling 1,861-hectare (4,600-acre) retreat situated in woodland alongside Table Rock Lake, which he acquired in 1987.

Twenty-five years later, having established it as an unsurpassed conduit to the great outdoors, Morris turned his attention to another of his open-air passions: golf. He took ownership of the former Branson Creek Golf Club on 182 nearby hectares (450 acres), brought in the noted architect Tom Fazio, who gave it a wholesale renovation, and opened it a year later as Buffalo Ridge: a brawny 6,434m (7,036-yard) routing surrounded by hillsides and prairie grasses where herds of roaming bison graze.

Today, alongside Buffalo Ridge, which in 2019 was ranked as the No 1 Public Golf Course You Can Play in Missouri by Golfweek magazine, Morris’s Midwestern golfing lotusland features an additional pair of superlative 18-hole championship tracks (more on those shortly) as well as a couple of absolutely terrific ‘short’ or par-3 courses, one conceived by Jack Nicklaus in 2014 and another completed by Gary Player in 2017. These are not the chip-and-putt venues of yesteryear: the Nicklaus-designed nine-hole Top of the Rock Golf Course was the first-ever par-3 layout included in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event, while Mountain Top by Gary Player is a bonsai-perfect 13-hole track through ancient rock formations, both featuring some of the best vistas in the region.

MAKING A SPLASH The eighth hole at the Tom Fazio-designed Buffalo Ridge

But most who make the pilgrimage to this part of the world will do so for the 18-hole loops – and few venues can compete with the natural majesty of Ozarks National, by renowned architects Bill Coore and former Masters champion Ben Crenshaw. The duo, who work selectively and only on the best of projects, have sketched a 6,434m (7,036-yard) masterpiece that almost levitates above the beauty of the region on a series of wooded ridgeline tentacles. No surprise, then, that in addition to the stunning views in every direction, since its debut in April 2019, it’s been showered with endless praise – first as Best New Public Course in 2019 by Golf Digest and a year later as Best Course You Can Play in Missouri by Golfweek.

As if this emerald tableau (which, come the autumn, is framed by a vibrant fall foliage-scape akin to a burntumber Bob Ross-coloured landscape) wasn’t already alluring enough, hackers and low-handicappers alike can now avail themselves of the first fully public-access course in the world completed by Tiger Woods: Payne’s Valley. Named in honour of the late PGA Tour player Payne Stewart, the 19-hole course (you read that correctly) opened for play in September 2020 and is routed around monumental waterfalls, wandering creeks, ponds and lakes stretching to 6,739m (7,370 yards). Its add-on final hole is a knee-knocking, bet-settling 124m (136-yard) par-3 playing into a 61m (200ft) cliffside island green surrounded by a flowing stream running down exposed limestone.

The entire five-course offering is anchored by the sprawling encampment that is Big Cedar Resort, consisting of a collection of rustic-chic (think: taxidermy, exposed beams, handmade throws and locally sourced toiletries) rooms and suites, plus standalone log cabins, lodges and

SWEET SIXTEEN Above: the 16th at Coore and Crenshaw’s Ozarks National

HIGH HOPES Right: LedgeStone course in the Ozark Mountains

TIGER KING Left: Tiger Woods and Johnny Morris, Bass Pro Shops and Big Cedar Lodge Founder

PLEASURE AT PAYNE’S RIGHT: the fiendish final hole, the 19th, at Payne’s Valley

Hackers and low-handicappers can now avail themselves of the first fully public-access course by Tiger Woods

villas with working fireplaces and kitchens that draw families and friends to this corner of the Ozarks for its unparalleled variety of nature-based experiences, including fishing, boating, hiking, shooting and more. For those 36-a-day types who wish to stay on the links, a trio of outsized lodges have just debuted, all done up to topspec and available for small groups, corporate retreats or multigenerational families. There is, of course, a full complement of no fewer than a dozen restaurants and bars, plus shops, cafés and even a sprawling museum dedicated to the natural history of the area and Native American artefacts and artwork.

Not all the golf, however, is demarcated within Big Cedar. The state’s number-one ranked course, according to the GolfPass, is Branson Hills (bransonhillsgolfclub.com): a tight thriller of a track conceived by Chuck Smith and Bobby Clampett that deserves the accolade, wending its way through valleys of mature trees that require forced carries over rock outcroppings and deep bunkers. And there’s also LedgeStone (ledgestonegolf.com), one of the area’s most popular and eye-catching courses, which highlights the region’s mountainous terrain. In all, there are now no fewer than 10 courses in the area to challenge golfers, with a few more already on the drawing board – guaranteeing that Branson’s next influx of enthusiasts will be devotees of the great game.

BRINGING OUT THE BRANSON Left: Branson Hills Golf Club carves through the mountains

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