VRenowned golf course architect Bill Coore once called Johnny Morris “Walt Disney on steroids,” referring to the Bass Pro Shops founder’s combination of imagination and determination to make his Big Cedar Nature Golf a bucket list destination.
It doesn’t hurt that Morris has a much better palette of landscapes to draw on, with the lakes, rivers, valleys and caves in the Ozarks around Branson, Missouri, than the monotonous landscape that Disney had to recreate from scratch in Central Florida.
Morris – who built a fishing tackle sales operation out of the back room of his father’s liquor store in 1972 and opened 177 Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s across the U.S. and Canada – has built Big Cedar Lodge into one of America’s most popular resorts. Five golf courses – with a sixth in the works – all of which have environmental and sustainability certification from Audubon International, are part of Morris’ wilderness retreat and conservation oasis in the Ozarks.
Located in southwest Missouri, Branson was well-known even before Morris put his heart and soul into Big Cedar to showcase his beloved Ozarks. That sets it apart from other popular golf resorts like Bandon, Cabot, Sand Valley or Streamsong, where the main (or only) option you have there is golfing at the resort. Branson draws 10 million visitors annually, drawn by its wide range of attractions, including three lakes, zip lines, the Silver Dollar City theme park and more seats for live entertainment than Broadway or Vegas, so if your group or family doesn’t want to spend all day golfing, there’s plenty to do without clubs in hand.
The golf course complements the other attractions with courses spread across the rolling and spectacular terrain of the Ozarks.
Branson has 10 public golf courses (the 11th is under construction) within 20 minutes of each other. They were designed by Coore and Ben Crenshaw, Tiger Woods, Tom Fazio, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Bob Cupp. Five of the Golf WeekThe 10 best golf courses to play in Missouri are in Branson — Big Cedar’s three (Payne’s Valley, Buffalo Ridge and Ozarks National), plus Branson Hills and LedgeStone. GolfPass has listed Branson Hills as one of the top 50 golf courses in the U.S., while Big Cedar’s three championship courses are ranked by GolfPass among the top 100 resort golf courses in America. Golf Magazine and/or Golf Digest.
And while Big Cedar offers upscale accommodations, Branson has plenty of affordable options, from hotels to villas that can accommodate multiple families or groups of four.
On our last trip there, we stayed at Thousand Hills Golf Resort’s Lodge No. 6, just behind the 13th green, which comfortably accommodates eight to 10 golfers and illustrates the range of options available to prospective golf visitors. Thousand Hills’ course is short by resort standards – a 4,600-yard par-64 with nine par-3 holes and a closing par-5 – but it is anything but easy, and presents a unique contrast to the muscular Big Cedar courses.
Big Cedar is an expensive bargain, which makes sense given the quality. It’s a trophy golf experience that many are happy and willing to pay for.
All in all, the point to make is that while the lion’s share of attention when it comes to golf in Branson should and does lie with Big Cedar, there are plenty of other options to suit every budget.
Big Cedar is the big ticket, which makes sense given its quality. It’s a trophy golf experience that many are happy and willing to pay for. But it only makes up about 50 percent of the Branson golf pie, the other half coming at a lower price for visitors who may want to play cheaper golf and save for a Big Cedar windfall* at Tiger’s Payne Valley spectacular, which has rates of $450 for public guests ($350 for Big Cedar guests) during peak season (April-October). Or sometimes it’s just hard to get a spot at Big Cedar because, like Bandon and other popular destinations since COVID, it’s booked up well in advance.
* Another great option to splurge would be to set aside half a day to explore Top of the Rock with its limestone cave trails, Native American and Nature Museum, Arnie’s Barn which was relocated here from its original location in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, the pristine Jack Nicklaus nine-hole par-3 Secret Garden golf course, the sunset cannon ceremony overlooking Table Rock Lake and the five-star dinner at Osage Restaurant. All I’m saying is, it’s worth it.
Big Cedar Nature Golf already rivals the greats of North American golf resorts. The course that draws the most attention is Tiger’s first public course design and a tribute to Missouri’s Payne Stewart at Payne’s Valley. It’s the impressive bonus hole 19 – complete with its own bar to pass the time while you wait for your shot on the island green in the middle of a limestone canyon pool – that draws the eye, but the 18 holes before it offer the widest fairways and biggest greens you’ll find in the Ozarks. It’s not easy, just forgiving.
The Coore and Crenshaw Ozarks National is the more demanding challenge – a “player’s course” with nine holes that present a worthy challenge for any golfer – that winds across a series of ridges and offers stunning views over the Ozark valleys (and the wooded ravines that drop off from many of the fairways). Ranking the courses is subjective and in the eye of the beholder, but this course would rank near the top of the three major courses in this book.
And then there’s Buffalo Ridge, a lush Fazio course that’s aptly named, with real bison grazing in the adjacent areas and buffalo skulls serving as tee markers. The oldest of the Big Cedar courses under Morris’s direction, it was the first to reimagine the property’s potential, which had been left unfulfilled by a John Daly design first built there called “Murder Rock.” With exposed limestone cliffs and caves (all uncovered by Morris’s deep understanding of the land) and numerous springs, streams and ponds, Buffalo Ridge plays like a series of signature holes that culminate on the back nine. There’s even a hole dedicated to the late Dale Earnhardt called “The Intimidator”: the long par 3 (natural) 9th hole, which traverses limestone steps and waterfalls that will test your confidence off the tee.
What Big Cedar does as well — or perhaps better — than any other golf resort is short courses. Top of the Rock was the first and most famous, but Jack’s little gem is stiffly challenged by Gary Player’s 13-hole Mountain Top Golf Course. At the highest point on the property, it’s rollicking fun, with a wide variety of tees from long to short and wrought iron bridges winding through limestone formations that make the walk as fascinating and picturesque as the holes themselves.
And if these tips aren’t enough to help visitors plan their travel plans, a third par-3 course will soon be added to balance out the golf offerings, with three first-class and distinctly different short courses (a first in the vacation resort industry).
The apt name is “Cliffhangers”.
“We believe what is taking shape here will provide one of the most exceptional par-3 course experiences anywhere,” says Big Cedar’s official statement on Cliffhangers. “And it will be fun! In fact, we are certain it will be one of the most entertaining experiences in the world!”
Two exclamation points!! That’s a lot, but anyone who has ever seen the steep and jagged limestone hillside on which Cliffhangers is built knows that exclamation points and question marks are the standard characters, mixed in with some CAPS.
“A golf course is being built there?!”
It takes the unique vision that Morris possesses to even consider such a bold idea as building a par-3 course on a rock face. But Morris is the kind of guy willing to put his money and imagination to work to showcase the unique nature of the Ozarks. When the practice range at Top of the Rock became a sinkhole, Morris helped by digging the whole thing up to create the fascinating lost canyon cave and nature trail.
Morris (along with his son John Paul) is himself leading the design of the Cliffhanger – an ambitious project in which workers are carefully excavating the limestone walls like an archaeological dig to make way for a grassy 18-hole short course that somehow fits atop the 50-acre cliffs, with an elevation change of about 400 feet from the Mountain Top clubhouse above to Payne’s Valley below.
Cliffhangers, which can only be used for driving due to the harshness of the terrain, will feature many more shorter holes than its bigger brother, Big Cedar, but it won’t be too dramatic, as there are plans to place some tees in caves, build greens on rocky outcrops and under waterfalls, and some holes may offer downhill putting options.
Just another reason to put Branson on every golf traveler’s wish list.
Above: The 19th “bonus hole” at Payne’s Valley. Photo: Tom Landers, Golfing Magazine
© 2024 Global Golf Post LLC
