Around the PGA Tour’s World Wide Technology Championship, which takes place at Diamante’s El Cardonal course in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, it’s a good time to reflect on Tiger Woods, the architect. El Cardonal was Tiger’s first completed design and opened in 2014. After six years of starts and stops with planned designs in North Carolina, Dubai, and elsewhere in Mexico, he finally realized his goal.
Today, under the auspices of TGR Design by Tiger Woods, the Big Cat has a fistful of championship and short courses on display, with another fistful on the cusp of opening. While each possesses easy to discern differences, they’re all guided by his overriding design philosophy, which emphasizes playability, options and bringing people together.
Tiger’s primary design influences were Pinehurst No. 2 and the Old Course at St. Andrews. “I don’t want people to lose a dozen balls when they play our course,” Tiger said nearly a decade ago. “Pinehurst is a great example of a course that’s tough for us, but playable for everybody else. It gets players thinking, with options around the greens.”
Around the same time, he expressed his belief that great golf courses are the result of variety, strategy, a distinctive environment, and the ability to make golfers think and make choices. So, it was no surprise that he revealed that his favorite course was St. Andrews. “There are so many different ways to play it, ways to get the ball onto the green, run the ball onto the green,” he said.
Yet, there’s one additional influence that resonates equally strong with Woods. “There is so much I love about the Australian Sandbelt courses,” Woods told me awhile back. “I have been lucky enough to play Royal Melbourne and Kingston Heath many times over my career. The bunkers are spectacular. The firm and fast conditions create so many shot options, particularly around the greens. Players need to think their way around the course and be able to play different types of shots to score well. I hope people will see elements of this influence in all my designs.”
So far, so good. Tiger’s courses, short and long, embody these notions.
Executing Tiger’s vision is Senior Design Associate Beau Welling, an A-list architect in his own right with his own firm, as well as a team of associates and Bryon Bell, who runs his design business. The collaborative effort has yielded superb results, but clearly Woods’s finger- and footprints are all over every course TGR Design produces. Here’s a snapshot of the courses created by Tiger Woods the designer, along with a peek at what’s in the pipeline.
Diamante (El Cardonal)—Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Tiger Woods’s first completed course design utilizes the rolling, arroyo-laced terrain to maximum effect, with uphill holes backdropped by mountains and stately Cardon cacti and downhill holes looking at the sea. Influenced by the “Old California” design style, El Cardonal’s bunkering is big and bold, but in homage to the Old Course at St. Andrews and Pinehurst No. 2, Woods built in ways to avoid them, providing for run-up options into almost every green.
To be sure, El Cardonal drew mixed reactions from the pros when it debuted as a PGA Tour venue in 2023. Critics pointed to abnormally wide fairways that weren’t sufficiently challenging. In Tiger’s defense, locals know the wind can blow hard on the Pacific side of Cabo. Tiger and Diamante built the course for member play, not for Tour play, and that kind of fairway width was not only welcomed, but necessary.
A more specific query revolves around the lack of drama on some of the arroyo holes. Some suggest greens could have been placed closer to those desert washes, or even beyond them, to ramp up the excitement factor. Yet, true to Woods’s credo, he sacrificed raw difficulty for pure playability.
Bluejack National—Montgomery, Texas
Woods’s first completed U.S. design, this 2016 layout 50 miles northwest of downtown Houston conjures up images of Augusta National with a fun, option-laden, 7,552-yard spread that emphasizes width, angles, contour, and recoverability, on a handsome, oak-dotted, rolling canvas.
“At Augusta National, you never lose a ball, unless you lose it in Rae’s Creek—but the vegetation is all dug out in most places,” said Woods. “We’ve tried to do the same thing here at Bluejack, so you can play one ball the whole round. Obviously, there are some big lakes—stay out of the lakes!—but if you hit into the trees, you’re going to be able to find your ball. There are not too many courses like that anymore. Some of the older, classic venues are like that. We’re trying to have that older feel here.”
Big Cedar Lodge (Payne’s Valley)—Ridgedale, Mo.
Tiger Woods Design’s first public course honors two-time U.S. Open winner Payne Stewart. Tiger opened Payne’s Valley in September 2020 with a televised exhibition involving Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, and Justin Thomas. What they experienced was a course of remarkable natural beauty, studded with the drama of the Ozarks—tree-cloaked ridges and valleys, tumbling terrain, and exposed rock at every turn. Big, bold slopes and big, bold bunkers are further highlights.
Most talked about was the extra hole, the 19th, an island-green par three of 136 yards framed by waterfalls splashing down the sides of massive rock walls. For the 18-hole, 7,370-yard layout, the 188-yard 5th and the 183-yard 10th are close runners-up in visual splendor, the former played to a peninsula green, the latter a downhill plunge over water. With the rough cut to fairway height, mostly open entrances into greens and player-friendly recovery options around those greens, Payne’s Valley fits perfectly with the Tiger Woods design philosophy.
Bluejack National (The Playgrounds)—Montgomery, Texas
This Woods design witnessed an avalanche of positive publicity upon opening in March 2016, when 11-year-old Taylor Crozier aced the first hole with the first official shot ever hit on the course. A stunned, beaming Woods gave young Crozier a bear hug and shouted to the crowd, “Are you kidding me right now? The inaugural shot and he holes it!” The Playgrounds features 10 par threes measuring from 35 yards to 105 yards (747 yards total), with each hole framed by tall pines and lit for night play. Easily walkable, the layout is designed to be played quickly with one or two clubs and features enough contour and the odd bunker to keep even low-handicappers entertained.
“We try to have it on all of our short courses where every hole is open to all types of shots,” Woods said. “At The Playgrounds’ opening, I just putted the whole way around the golf course. That’s my favorite type of golf. It’s links golf. You can use the ground, you can have a bunch of fun. It’s a reason I love how The Playgrounds turned out is that we were able to use the ground literally from tee to green.”
Diamante (Oasis)—Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Tiger’s second course for Diamante debuted in December 2016. Oasis is a one-of-a-kind layout can be played as 12 par threes, with holes measuring between 41 and 143 yards or as a three-hole regulation course—a par three, a par four, and a par five. Ownership enlisted Woods to craft a walking layout, but one with variety. Two clubs max with a putter was the idea, where people would enjoy it without having to lug their bag around.
Having 12 holes—and the flexibility to play the layout as three regulation holes—appealed very much to Woods. “You can configure however you want,” said Woods. “You can leave it up to the players. You might have suggested areas which you want to tee off from to go to that green, but if you don’t want to use them, don’t. At the Oasis, you can mix and match however you want.”
Jack’s Bay (Playground)—Rock Sound, Eleuthera, Bahamas
Opened in early September 2020, this 10-hole layout is draped atop a bluff above the Atlantic Ocean with holes that range in distance from 55 to 170 yards. Woods raved about the terrain and the spectacular coastline but kept his design vision intact in crafting the course. “The golf course complements the true spirit of the Jack’s Bay development because it’s designed for golfers to have fun, foster friendships and create memories within an unforgettable setting.”
Woods and his team kept the Playground playable for all—with a few unique touches. “The 7th hole is right on the water, a downhill, short par three but actually you’re in the water,” Woods told me. “At high tide, you just tip your foot over to the left side of the green and you’re wet. You can feel spray from the waves hitting.”
The Hay—Pebble Beach, Calif.
Pebble Beach Resorts recognized the fun factor injected into every short par-3 course by Woods and Welling and hired them to transform their aging, uninspiring, 9-hole Peter Hay layout into The Hay in 2021. Measuring a petite 670 yards, holes range from 47 to 106 yards. Eight of the 9 holes feature a precise yardage tied to a historical event at Pebble Beach, including the 2nd hole, a replica of the stunning downhill par-three 7th on Pebble Beach’s championship course. “We know not everyone who comes to Pebble Beach will have a chance to play the U.S. Open course,” said Woods, “so we wanted to create the opportunity for all visitors to experience one of its most famous holes.”
COMING ATTRACTIONS
After a bit of a lull, while Woods refocused on tournament golf, TGR Design has flourished, with one major project after the next either on the books or on the verge of opening. Here’s what’s right around the corner for Tiger the designer.
Trout National–The Reserve—Vineland, N.J.
A collaboration between Woods and baseball’s Mike Trout, a three-time MVP and 11-time All-Star, is expected to be a home run when it opens in spring 2026. The 7,455-yard, par-72 layout will unfold atop land that once housed a silica sand quarry, along with sections of the property composed of gently rolling farmland. Vast natural sand features between holes will highlight each nine.
Marcella (Skyline)—Park City, Utah
Tiger Woods’s first mountain course will burst out of the gates in 2026 as an 8,064-yard, par-72 spread. However, the gargantuan length will be mitigated by Park City’s 7,000-foot elevation. Still, the back nine alone will feature the 702-yard par-five 10th, the 275-yard par-three 13th, and the 292-yard par-three 15th. Stunning 360-degree views of the Wasatch Back—on the east side of the Wasatch Mountain range in the Rockies—will greet golfers throughout the round. As of September 2025, 14 holes were grassed, and 16 green complexes were grassed.
Diamante (Legacy Club)—Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
On tap for 2026 is perhaps the future home of the World Wide Technology PGA Tour event, the Legacy Club—a Shadow Creek-like design concept that will be the centerpiece of a small, exclusive private community. A departure from the classic desert target Cabo course, the Legacy Club will feature five lakes, waterfalls, and tropical-style vegetation.
The Loop at The Patch—Augusta, Ga.
Part of the reimagination of the Augusta Municipal Golf Course, a.k.a. “The Cabbage Patch,” or “The Patch,” TGR Design is creating The Loop at The Patch. The course will feature artificial turf tees and will be located on the high point of the property, in the northwest corner. Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley opined that it would utilize the topography and the elevation of the property very well. The course is expected to open ahead of the 2026 Masters.
Cobbs Creek (The Q-School Short Course)—Philadelphia, Pa.
As part of a major overhaul and revitalization of the venerable municipal course Cobbs Creek in the City of Brotherly Love, TGR Design has completed a 9-hole short course. A September 2025 pgatour.com story stated that the course was scheduled to open later in 2025, but in early November, the course website states, “Coming soon.” When it opens, it will feature nine par-three holes ranging from 70 to 100 yards.
Bluejack Ranch—Aledo, Texas
From the same ownership team that completed Bluejack National comes this Woods design on a 900-acre working ranch 30 miles southwest of Fort Worth. Former PGA Tour winners J.J. Henry and Mark Brooks are involved with the development team. The course is slated to measure nearly 7,700 yards and will feature dramatic topography, reminiscent of the Texas Hill Country. As with Bluejack National, Woods and Welling will also construct a 10-hole lighted par-3 layout.
What is your favorite Tiger Woods-designed golf course?
