My Favorite Places: Scott McCarron
Scott McCarron has made the golf course his workplace for nearly 30 years. After turning pro in 1992, McCarron spent two decades on the PGA Tour where he was a three-time champion. While it was a solid 20 years, it wasn’t until he ventured into the second act of his career that McCarron reached his […]
10 Top Golf Courses That Opened in 2020
Even with golf’s resurgence in 2020 amid the pandemic, new course openings are exceedingly limited. After all, with more than 38,000 courses in over 200 countries worldwide, there’s no shortage of supply. Think about that. Even if you played one new course every single day, you’d need more than 100 years to play them all. […]
Unique Golf Course Prizes Anyone Can Win
Making a birdie on any of the devilish, turtle-back greens at Pinehurst No. 2 is an enduring memory for just about any regular golfer visiting the iconic resort in the sandhills of North Carolina. But for those skilled enough, or lucky enough, to birdie one of the four par threes (or eagle a par four) […]
LINKS Golf Podcast Episode 65: In-Depth on Big Cedar Lodge
Digital Editor Al Lunsford recaps his trip to Missouri’s Big Cedar Lodge and the Payne’s Valley Cup in this episode of the LINKS Golf Podcast. Al talks to Big Cedar’s Assistant Director of Golf Sales and Marketing Matt McQueary, who gives a detailed guide to how one should plan to explore the golf and much […]
5 Unique Elements at Payne’s Valley
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Tiger Woods and Big Cedar Lodge took the phrase “grand opening” to a whole new level in unveiling Payne’s Valley—the Missouri resort’s newest course and Woods’s first public design in the U.S. named in honor of legendary golfer and Ozarks native Payne Stewart. The grandiose resort’s newest course joins its four existing layouts designed by […]
How Golf Resorts Are Adapting in the Coronavirus Era
Oregon wasn’t among the states to put restrictions on golf, but Bandon Dunes Golf Resort shut down for almost six weeks in the interest of protecting its guests, staff, caddies, and community. It was the first time the resort had been closed in its 21-year history. When Bandon Dunes reopened to the public on May […]
First Peek: Tiger Woods’ Payne’s Valley
By Erik Matuszewski Big Cedar Lodge’s Mountain Top clubhouse first comes into view on the winding drive up to the resort’s newest golf course, Payne’s Valley. At a distance, it looks small atop a massive ridge and limestone wall almost 200 feet high—the highest point on the property in southwest Missouri. It’s just […]
Golf’s Short Course Craze
By Tony Dear Golf’s short course movement is in full swing. Whether it’s a layout with fewer than 18 holes, or one consisting solely of par threes, truncated golf is appearing with increasing regularity as America discovers how much fun it can be, how great it is for introducing youth to the game, how […]
A Tour of Payne’s Valley
By Erik Matuszewski As our dusty camouflage utility vehicle squeezed past several excavators on one side of the gravel path behind Big Cedar Lodge’s Mountain Top clubhouse, a group of workers armed with compressed-air devices called air spades was on the other, painstakingly clearing dirt and rock from a wall of limestone outcroppings. Minutes […]
Welcome to Johnny’s Place: Big Cedar Lodge
Big Cedar Lodge is a combination sporting club, museum, and nature preserve with golf. Owner Johnny Morris sums it up as a “wilderness resort,” but it might be better described as Johnny’s playground, filled with examples of his passions that he wants to share with the world. Staying at Big Cedar also feels like visiting […]
