IVINS, Utah -- As expected, the FedEx Cup Fall's first jaunt into Utah produced a field missing a number of the game's top players, but the Black Desert Championship has produced an emerging star -- a golf course that players haven't stopped raving about since their arrival.
Black Desert Resort has only been open about a year but has already rocketed to the top of Golfweek's Best public-access courses in Utah.
On a picture-perfect week in this small suburb of St. George, PGA Tour players and others raved about the course, which was designed by World Golf Hall of Famer Tom Weiskopf and was finished off by architecture partner, Phil Smith.
Here's what they were saying:
Zac Blair
The fifth hole during a practice round ahead of the 2024 Black Desert Championship at Black Desert Resort. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images)
The scenery out here is pretty insane. I think it'll look amazing on TV and everything like that. Pretty interested to kind of see what the scores are like and what it plays like in tournament conditions.
I think there is always like a learning curve just from everything. How the setup is, just everything that goes on behind the scenes.
So I think everyone is excited. But also kind of learning what to do and where to go and how to direct people the right way and everything. So it's gone well so far. Hopefully, we continue and have a good week and everything goes according to plan I guess.
I think just the way all the lava rock is and it's not hazard, just kind of lost ball, it's not really like anything else. So it's kind of some places you might go and might be hazard or you might go to Arizona and hit it in the desert and you can still find it and chip it out.
Here, you're not going to find it most of the time. Especially in the rocks. So I think it's very unique, very different. People are all kind of seeing it and learning it for the first time.
But there is plenty of room to play out there. It's not like it's super tight all over the place. They have given us plenty of space to hit driver or anything off the tee. Just got to keep it out of the rocks.
You're able to kind of decide how much you want to bite off on certain holes or how much you want to push it up the fairway and like we kind of mentioned, with the lava rock, it's pretty kind of do or die hazard throughout the whole golf course.
So that aspect is I think pretty cool.
There is definitely a lot to kind of see out there. You know, I think it'll take a few rounds to really start understanding the places where you do want to take that risk. You got par-5s, like No. 9, that the second shot is virtually like you have to hit the green or maybe the bunker and you could get lucky.
But if you're going for that green in two and you miss it, it's like re-hit the shot from 250 yards.
It's going to be interesting to see how people kind of take on those certain situations in a tournament situation. If I'm out there playing last week just like with some friends, it's like, oh, yeah I'll go for this green in two. When it's like I could make a 12 if I hit it in the rocks, you're like, I'll probably just chip it out and hit a wedge on the green.
Mike Weir
Mike Weir looks on from the third tee prior to the Black Desert Championship 2024 at Black Desert Resort on October 09, 2024 in St George, Utah. (Photo by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images)
I think people are blown away by the property. Obviously the scenery hits them first when they get down here, such a unique landscape. I had a chance to play the course late spring and once this summer. We were down here for a family reunion-type thing. We buzzed over and had a chance to play.
And it's incredible how much better it's gotten even in a short period of time. The grounds staff here, the superintendent, they've done an incredible job. It's like carpet out there, the fairways. The greens are great. It was playing really fast when I played it in the summer, so the ball was really chasing out. It's not doing that now. I was thinking that the course might play a little bit short, but it's not playing that way. It's playing a little bit longer.
Looks like we'll have some pretty good weather. If we get some wind, it'll be a little bit tougher. But there's some demanding holes out there, especially on the back nine. The fairways are quite generous, but if you miss, it's pretty much a penalty. You'll see some low scores but you'll see some guys struggle on some holes out there, too.
Jay Don Blake
Jay Don Blake walks off the 1q0th tee to start his 500th PGA Tour event at the first round of the 2024 Black Desert Championship at Black Desert Resort in Ivins, Utah. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
You look at the terrain, it's kind of a desert kind of terrain around this community. There's a lot of people that have asked me, where did all the lava rock come from. They think they actually brought it in to create the golf course with lava rock. But about three miles up the road just kind of up one of the valleys, there's a couple volcanos, which that's probably where it came from.
I mean, having the lava in this terrain, territory, a lot of the community didn't even know this was even part of what it was going to be, the uniqueness of it. Then you've got the red cliffs kind of north of us and to the sides.
We used to go to a place called Tuacahn up in the canyon before the course was even built, and it was kind of a hard road to get up to it. And things started snowballing, just the beauty it has everywhere you look. You've got the mountains in the distance. And bentgrass is not really a grass that's normal for a hot climate kind of areas. And for what they've done to keep this golf course in great shape in the condition it's in, I haven't seen really a dead spot yet anywhere.
And throw the white sand out with the green grass, and then you've got the lava rock just right off the edge of the grass, it's a very unique kind of style of golf course for this desert kind of climate. A lot of people have made the comment, I feel like I'm in Hawai'i playing on some of the courses.
I mean, it's just beautiful. I don't know how they can really explain -- I think anybody can see how unique it is, the way it's been laid out and through all the lava and designed the way it is. Tom Weiskopf did a great job and had a great vision of how he wanted to make it happen.
I was a little leery at first when they started talking about a golf course out here because I already knew the terrain and what it was going to be like. I was like, how are they going to get dirt to be on top of lava rock and have enough to where all of a sudden you put water to it and then you get a sink hole that could be a mile down below.
But what they've done is make a spectacular golf course and picked a great location for the beauty, and they're trying to finish up this resort that's great for the community. It's going to be -- they've got bigger dreams that go way beyond my imagination.
The golf course is very unique and beautiful, and the scenery everywhere you look is spectacular. I've never heard any players really say anything negative about it yet, so I think they all like it and enjoy it.
Nick Taylor
Nick Taylor putts on the fifth green prior to the 2024 Black Desert Championship at Black Desert Resort in Ivins, Utah. (Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images)
off the tee, keeping it in play is definitely step one. The greens are quite large but they have small little pockets, and I think being so new, the grass hasn't quite settled yet. So there's going to be a lot of subtle breaks that make it pretty tricky to read.
I think from far away it looks like there's massive slopes and big breaks, but really once you're in those areas where the pin will be -- we've had a lot of little subtle double breakers from 10 feet quite often the last two days when I've played.
There might be some head scratching from a lot of guys, I'm guessing, from that range. But like I said, I think there will be some really low scores every day, but they'll be -- I think I'll be satisfied with a 4 to 5-under, but I wouldn't be surprised if you saw some guys going quite low.
I think it's great to be able to disengage from what you're doing and look around you. We're lucky to play a lot of beautiful places around the country, but this is very unique in that sense. Yeah, I think it will be a good distraction, a way to get away from in between the shots.
When I think desert, I think I default to TPC Scottsdale or next week in Vegas. But with the lava rock around, it's not really a playable desert. Yeah, there's so many things about this course that are unique. It's a lot of fun to come here.
Ben Kohles
Ben Kohles plays his shot from the 15th tee during the first round of the Black Desert Championship 2024 at Black Desert Resort on October 10, 2024 in St George, Utah. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
It's funny, obviously we're at a little bit of altitude. The ball usually goes a little bit shorter when it's a little cooler out, but obviously with altitude it seemed like they were going pretty standard stock numbers back at sea level. Didn't really have to make too many adjustments. Then you're kind of just trying to figure it out as you go along.
Like I said, the greens are pretty receptive in the morning, and yeah, fairways are very generous. If you're hitting it good off the tee, you can put yourself in a lot of good spots.