7 Great “Mountain” Golf Courses You Can Play

What are some of top golf courses that have the word “mountain,” or a version thereof, as a part of their name?
An Early Look at Big Cedar Lodge’s New Cliffhangers Par-3 Course

Big Cedar Lodge’s golf offerings are getting bigger. The resort in southwest Missouri, founded by Bass Pro Shops owner Johnny Morris, has three 18-hole championship courses and is set to become the first golf destination in the U.S. with three different short courses. Big Cedar has a pristinely manicured 9-hole par-3 course called Top of […]
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. […]
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 […]
American Dream Courses: Midwest (West)

In a land made up predominantly of plains, pastures, prairies, and relatively few golf courses (1,435 over an area of roughly 520,000 square miles), you might assume rattling off a dozen that fit into our American Dream Courses criteria—good, inexpensive, welcoming, under-the-radar, special in some way—would be pretty straightforward. It actually threw up a number […]
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 […]
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 […]
Tiger Woods and Payne’s Valley at Big Cedar Lodge
By Erik Matuszewski During one of his recent visits to the Ozarks in Missouri, Tiger Woods brought his son Charlie along to help with the construction of the Big Cat’s first public course in the U.S.: Payne’s Valley at Big Cedar Lodge. The team from Woods’s TGR Design was leveling some of the severe terrain […]