The next stop on my fall 2024 hiking/golf trip was the first that I had planned—Ozarks National at the Big Cedar Lodge golf resort just outside of Branson, Missouri. Like the Pfau Course, Big Cedar Lodge had been on my radar for a while. It has gotten a lot of attention in the past 6 or 7 years, with Phil Mickelson winning one of the only Senior Tour events he ever played in and Tiger Woods designing what I think is his only course open to the public (and still one of his only courses). But southern Missouri is a long way from both Washington D.C. and Michigan (the guy in my hotel noted that they don’t get too many people from Washington D.C., probably the result of both physical and cultural distance), so it wasn’t too high on the list of likely golf trips.
Still, the three 18-hole courses of Big Cedar Lodge, Tiger’s Payne’s Valley, Tom Fazio’s Buffalo Ridge, and Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw’s Ozarks National all looked interesting to me and I wanted to come here some day. My hiking trip through Missouri and Arkansas provided the perfect opportunity, although I also wanted to keep it as a hiking trip and I figured that this wouldn’t be a good time for a 36-hole day. So I decided to play only one round and that meant picking one of the three courses. This was a pretty easy decision—rarely if given a choice between a Coore/Crenshaw course and something else would I take the something else.
I had heard that it took a bit of arm-twisting on the part of Big Cedar Lodge (and Bass Pro Shops) founder Johnny Morris to get Coore and Crenshaw to do this course. If you’re familiar with their style of golf course and the land around Branson, Missouri, it’s not hard to understand why—this is a very challenging landscape over which to build a golf course. Very hilly and rocky, not at all conducive to Coore and Crenshaw’s minimalist style. I had also read somewhere that among the courses in Coore/Crenshaw’s portfolio, this one was most reminiscent of Kapalua, notoriously the most challenging course to walk on the PGA Tour. I haven’t played Kapalua but I’ve seen it many times on TV and the comparison seems reasonable. Also, the one person I’d met who’d played here was not positive, noting how difficult it was to keep their ball from rolling through the fairway, into the junk (or off a cliff).
Well, that was unlikely to be a problem for me—it had rained about 4 or 5 inches in the previous 24 hours. And it kept raining throughout much of my round. In fact, I was the only person on the course that morning. But I could see what that guy had meant—the course is short grass from tee-to-green and there are many blind/semi-blind areas where if your ball gets rolling in that direction, there’s nothing to stop it. The severity of the site also means that there it would be challenging to find green sites and that several would be built into slopes which, when surrounded by short grass, could result in some severe run-offs. It’s become the norm in new designs to have tee-to-green short grass but this course reminded me of the drawback of such an approach—if the land is hilly, short grass can create a lot of bad results for not-so-bad shots.
But there are also so many positives about Ozarks National and thinking on it, Coore and Crenshaw accomplished something very impressive here. One, the course is completely walkable. Rarely is there a green-to-tee walk of more than about 50 yards. Two, there’s good variety in the holes and a few are unusual in very good ways, with some interesting doglegs around cliff edges and trees in the line of play. And, of course, it’s breathtaking, certainly one of the most beautiful courses that I’ve played. I think a little more rough around the edges of the course would help save a few bad bounces but there’s no doubt that the course is an impressive accomplishment. It would have been so easy to build something awful here. Not that it was awful, but the next golf stop on my trip, the Highland Course at Primland in Virginia, showed that it’s very easy to do things not as well as this on difficult land.
The first is a par 5 of around 500 yards. But while short, it’s not easy. In fact, it’s probably one of the most challenging drives on the course, with Juniper trees about 230 yards on the left, a drop-off down a cliff at the same distance on the right, a bunker just beyond that, and a convex fairway. The 5 inches of rain definitely helped with this drive!
Still, the three 18-hole courses of Big Cedar Lodge, Tiger’s Payne’s Valley, Tom Fazio’s Buffalo Ridge, and Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw’s Ozarks National all looked interesting to me and I wanted to come here some day. My hiking trip through Missouri and Arkansas provided the perfect opportunity, although I also wanted to keep it as a hiking trip and I figured that this wouldn’t be a good time for a 36-hole day. So I decided to play only one round and that meant picking one of the three courses. This was a pretty easy decision—rarely if given a choice between a Coore/Crenshaw course and something else would I take the something else.
I had heard that it took a bit of arm-twisting on the part of Big Cedar Lodge (and Bass Pro Shops) founder Johnny Morris to get Coore and Crenshaw to do this course. If you’re familiar with their style of golf course and the land around Branson, Missouri, it’s not hard to understand why—this is a very challenging landscape over which to build a golf course. Very hilly and rocky, not at all conducive to Coore and Crenshaw’s minimalist style. I had also read somewhere that among the courses in Coore/Crenshaw’s portfolio, this one was most reminiscent of Kapalua, notoriously the most challenging course to walk on the PGA Tour. I haven’t played Kapalua but I’ve seen it many times on TV and the comparison seems reasonable. Also, the one person I’d met who’d played here was not positive, noting how difficult it was to keep their ball from rolling through the fairway, into the junk (or off a cliff).
Well, that was unlikely to be a problem for me—it had rained about 4 or 5 inches in the previous 24 hours. And it kept raining throughout much of my round. In fact, I was the only person on the course that morning. But I could see what that guy had meant—the course is short grass from tee-to-green and there are many blind/semi-blind areas where if your ball gets rolling in that direction, there’s nothing to stop it. The severity of the site also means that there it would be challenging to find green sites and that several would be built into slopes which, when surrounded by short grass, could result in some severe run-offs. It’s become the norm in new designs to have tee-to-green short grass but this course reminded me of the drawback of such an approach—if the land is hilly, short grass can create a lot of bad results for not-so-bad shots.
But there are also so many positives about Ozarks National and thinking on it, Coore and Crenshaw accomplished something very impressive here. One, the course is completely walkable. Rarely is there a green-to-tee walk of more than about 50 yards. Two, there’s good variety in the holes and a few are unusual in very good ways, with some interesting doglegs around cliff edges and trees in the line of play. And, of course, it’s breathtaking, certainly one of the most beautiful courses that I’ve played. I think a little more rough around the edges of the course would help save a few bad bounces but there’s no doubt that the course is an impressive accomplishment. It would have been so easy to build something awful here. Not that it was awful, but the next golf stop on my trip, the Highland Course at Primland in Virginia, showed that it’s very easy to do things not as well as this on difficult land.
The first is a par 5 of around 500 yards. But while short, it’s not easy. In fact, it’s probably one of the most challenging drives on the course, with Juniper trees about 230 yards on the left, a drop-off down a cliff at the same distance on the right, a bunker just beyond that, and a convex fairway. The 5 inches of rain definitely helped with this drive!
A good drive will leave you an open view into the green, which is open in front save for a bunker about 30 yards short on the left side. You’ll want to stay just right of this because everything left kicks left…but not too far right because then it kicks right. It’s a good hole for a shorter, but more accurate golfer.
The second is a par 3 of ~170 yards playing gradually uphill. There’s obvious trouble short and right, but the bunker left is probably worse as the green slopes from left-to-right. In any case, there’s a safe play to the front-left and that’s probably where you should aim if you aren’t feeling so confident in your mid-irons.
Three is a short par 4 that shouldn’t be too difficult if you can avoid the bunker about 260 out on the left. But the short iron approach is one of several that play a good bit uphill and you need to make sure that you take enough club and hit the ball solid—although the latter is easier than usual because Ozarks National features excellent Zoysia fairways.
At ~430 into the wind and into a side slope, four was a brute of a par 4. But it’s also well-designed for a hole with such features. Obviously a long drive helps here but while the green appears to be in a fortress of bunkers, there’s a good distance between them and the green. Moreover, if you play out to the left, the ball will kick back right, toward the green, which is large and receptive. I may be a bit biased because I hit the three-wood of the year to about 20 feet from about 220 yards, but I think that the shot worked so well is indicative of why this hole works—I played left for safety and the run-up and the latter worked out even better than I thought it would.
Five is a very short par 4 that’s kind of fun, but also potentially very frustrating. It was just over 300 from the 6,500 yard blue tees and I considered going for the front of the green. It’s doable as far as length because the fairway bunker on the right is probably 70 yards short of the green. But it also gets pretty narrow between another bunker on the left and a hidden pond on the right. And as you can see, the green is on top of a hill and probably wouldn’t be the best for a 40 yard pitch. So I laid back, out to the left.
There’s really only one thing to say about the approach if you lay up: don’t be short. The shot probably plays 6-8 yards longer uphill and anything short runs 30 yards back down the fairway. This shot, I assure you, is no fun.
Six is a very pretty long par 3 that plays over one of the tamer parts of the property. The main thing to avoid here is a short hook, which will run into the junk of the left. Generally, right is better than left.
Seven is the next par 5 and is a much more comfortable drive than the first. But I think it’s important to keep it up the more dangerous left side here because things get more complicated on the second shot. While you can see the green, you can’t see the layup zone. And this is an issue because anything left of about the middle of the green runs off a cliff. You can’t tell that from the left side of the fairway, but at least you can see up the right side of the hole, which is blocked by the right fairway bunkers if you drive it up the right side. Long story short, hedge right on your second shot.
The short par 3 eighth definitely reminded me of Kapalua transplanted into the Missouri Ozarks. The idea is pretty simple—you need to get your distance right. There really isn’t anywhere good here to miss.
Topographically, the drive on the par 5 ninth is probably the tamest on the course. But it’s a very interesting one, with a diagonal bunker up the left side. With a max carry of only about 230 from the tips, there’s good reason to be aggressive with the line here although at almost 600 from the tips, it still may not be enough to give you a shot at the green
The approach is deja vu from the seventh, playing into a wide open space with a view of the green in the distance and…a cliff running up the middle of the space. Although I didn’t verify it, I think that all of this might be visible if you keep your drive up the left side. If you don’t, especially if you’ve hit a shorter drive, don’t even think about trying to skirt the pine tree on the left. Better to play out safe toward the clump of trees in the distance on the right.
I thought that ten was a pretty cool longer par 4 and it begins what I think is the best 4-hole stretch on the course. The challenge on the drive if that you’re playing into a pretty tight space unless you carry some of the bunker on the left. It’s not that long of a carry—maybe 220—but it’s also uphill and plays longer than the yardage.
The green site here is really beautiful, perched on the top of the hill with a yawning bunker at the front-left and plenty of room to run the ball up on the right. While the green clearly has a false front, I don’t think a miss short will come back more than a few yards.
While ten has some competition as the course’s best long par four, eleven is clearly the course’s best par 5. I’d go even further than that to say that it’s probably the course’s best hole and that it’s one of the more original holes that I’ve seen in a long time.
The hole’s interest largely stems from the location of several Shortleaf Pines, which are the iconic tree of both the Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks and of the Ouachita Mountains further south in Arkansas and come into play both on the drive and the approach here. The first tree is right in line with the middle of the fairway and forces the lower/shorter hitter to make a decision about which side of the fairway—left will leave a longer approach while right has more trouble. Longer hitters should be able to carry it pretty easily…unless they happen to mishit it.
The hole’s interest largely stems from the location of several Shortleaf Pines, which are the iconic tree of both the Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks and of the Ouachita Mountains further south in Arkansas and come into play both on the drive and the approach here. The first tree is right in line with the middle of the fairway and forces the lower/shorter hitter to make a decision about which side of the fairway—left will leave a longer approach while right has more trouble. Longer hitters should be able to carry it pretty easily…unless they happen to mishit it.
But the approach is the more interesting shot. Again, there’s a large Shortleaf Pine in the middle of the shot. But looking at the green, the left side will clearly leave the better approach. To get there, you’ll have to carry a deep bunker about 80 yards short of the green and skirt a clump of Shortleaf Pines on the left. And unlike the tree on the drive, you’re not going to carry the one on the right if you push your shot. So you really need to think here about what you’re capable of. You can play right of the tree but the further you go on this line, the worse the angle and the blinder your approach into the green.

From where I drove it, I didn't think it would be possible to clear the next Shortleaf Pine, so I tried to go left (I ended up slicing one just around it). You can lay up to its right, but that leaves a much more difficult third. This is one of the best approaches that I've seen on a par 5 and it wouldn't be without the trees.
I know that the dogma these days is to cut every tree down but there’s no substitute for a large, well-placed tree. Although some don’t want to admit it, golf is played largely through the air and having control over what your ball is doing when it’s up there is one of the most important skills in the game. No feature in the ground can test that as well as one above it.
And the long par 3 twelfth would be my pick as Ozarks National’s best par 3. It’s a bit like six in that the ground slopes right-to-left and that you’ll want to hedge up the right side (obviously), but the slope short of the green here is much more pronounced and creates an opportunity to sling one onto the green from short if you’re not so confident about the 220 yard direct carry.
And the long par 3 twelfth would be my pick as Ozarks National’s best par 3. It’s a bit like six in that the ground slopes right-to-left and that you’ll want to hedge up the right side (obviously), but the slope short of the green here is much more pronounced and creates an opportunity to sling one onto the green from short if you’re not so confident about the 220 yard direct carry.
Now I liked the fourth and the tenth a lot, but I’d probably have to give the nod to thirteen as the course’s best long par 4. It’s obviously appealing from the tee, with a heroic carry over the ravine and a stunted Shortleaf Pine in the middle (if it comes into play for you, you were in trouble anyway…).
The carry shouldn’t be an issue if you’re playing from the correct tees but as you might imagine from seeing the massive fairway, which side you’re on makes a big difference for how long the approach will play. The hole turns left, so you’ll want to be up the left side. Over the middle of the pine should be just fine.
The carry shouldn’t be an issue if you’re playing from the correct tees but as you might imagine from seeing the massive fairway, which side you’re on makes a big difference for how long the approach will play. The hole turns left, so you’ll want to be up the left side. Over the middle of the pine should be just fine.
Like ten, the approach is gradually uphill, although this green does not have a false front. There’s plenty of opportunity to run the ball on here but the approach will be challenged by a bunker about 35 yards short and left of the green if you’ve left yourself a long approach.
Fourteen is another ~450 yard par 4 and is also pretty good. It’s more interesting from the 480 yard ‘Ben’s Torture Tee’ than the 460 yard blue tees because there’s a lot more visual clutter and a decision to be made about whether to carry the left bunker. But the right fairway bunker cuts much more into play from the blue tees and I’m not sure that this shot is easier. It shortens the hole, but that doesn’t help much if you’re in a bunker.
Fifteen is a bit shorter on the card but I’m not sure that it plays so much shorter because it’s uphill, especially on the drive. The main feature here is a ring of bunkers that crosses the fairway and runs up its right side. At no point are these bunkers more than about a 215 yard carry, but don’t be surprised if you don’t make that carry if it’s playing into the wind and you mishit it.
The end stretch of Ozarks National consists of two more long par 4s and a very short par 3. To be honest, I think it’s a bit of a mediocre finish. The drive on sixteen is pretty good, with some advantage to be gained by keeping your drive up the left side because of the hilltop green. A long approach here will be very tough because unlike the other long par 4s, there isn’t much room to run your ball onto this green.
And although I had to play it in a rainstorm, the ~135 yard seventeen is a nice change of pace from the other par 3s. Unlike the eighth, the green is very deep and the premium is on accuracy.
The eighteenth is a bit meh however, with a gargantuan fairway and a very uphill approach. I suppose the centerline bunker might come into play for the longest hitters. But for most of us, you can just hit one anywhere out to the left and it will funnel to the right. No reason to challenge the ravine here.

I suspect this hole would be much more interesting in firm conditions because the centerline bunker--about 300 from the tips--would be much more in play. Then you'd have to be wary to land far enough short so that the ball kicked right of it. But it was unreachable in these soft conditions and cold weather.
As I was playing the front nine of Ozarks National, I was afraid that I was playing a course on land that was just a bit too challenging to build a good golf course. But if you asked which holes or features were bad or had features that were over-the-top, I wouldn’t have been able to make a strong case for any of them. Yes, you have to be careful of blind cliffs on the par 5 seventh and ninth holes. But the blindness of the latter can be reduced with a well-placed drive and all of these issues can be eliminated if you take a forecaddy—which is all-but-necessary at Royal County Down and hasn’t seriously affected anyone’s views of that course.
I come back to two things that I said at the beginning, one positive and one negative. The positive—this is an extremely well-routed course. It’s incredible to me that Coore and Crenshaw could get around this property without any significant green-to-tee walks. And the shaping does a good job of shoring up some of the steep edges without looking too much like they were shoring up the steep edges. There’s nothing about this course that’s even close to bad and the architects should be commended for that. I’m not sure that there are too many architects who could have build 18 holes here without a few bad ones or some other awkwardness, like a clunky routing.
The negative is a comment that I’m starting to think applies to more of our new courses than we might realize: that there’s such a thing as too much short grass. I always come back to Pinehurst no. 2 as my archetype for when short grass works well around greens—it works well when the slopes usually aren’t too severe and a normal miss won’t roll into too much trouble. On a hilly site like this, I think it’s better to have some rough around the edges to prevent shots from rolling too much. I still like having a lot of short grass short of greens and on slopes that feed into greens because this allows you to play the slopes. But I think there are a lot of fairways and greens where some rough at the sides wouldn’t hurt and that's especially true on this course.
Overall, I thought Ozarks National was a fine course, certainly deserving of a spot in the top 100 US public courses, although probably somewhere in one of the bottom few deciles. For comparison, I'd have it in a similar spot as the South Course at Arcadia Bluffs in Michigan or Pinehurst no. 4. And while it’s the only course that I played at Big Cedar Lodge, I’d definitely recommend a golf trip here because the other 18 hole courses looked pretty good and there are a few spectacular-looking par 3 courses. The facilities are also some of the nicest that I’ve seen. It’s not cheap, but few of the good golf resorts are any more. At least this one delivers on golf, and in a setting that’s very different, but not much less visually stunning than Bandon or Cabot. Plus, you have Branson next door. It’s not for everyone, but there are some good deals on nice hotels and I had fun at Dolly Parton’s Christmas Stampede.
I come back to two things that I said at the beginning, one positive and one negative. The positive—this is an extremely well-routed course. It’s incredible to me that Coore and Crenshaw could get around this property without any significant green-to-tee walks. And the shaping does a good job of shoring up some of the steep edges without looking too much like they were shoring up the steep edges. There’s nothing about this course that’s even close to bad and the architects should be commended for that. I’m not sure that there are too many architects who could have build 18 holes here without a few bad ones or some other awkwardness, like a clunky routing.
The negative is a comment that I’m starting to think applies to more of our new courses than we might realize: that there’s such a thing as too much short grass. I always come back to Pinehurst no. 2 as my archetype for when short grass works well around greens—it works well when the slopes usually aren’t too severe and a normal miss won’t roll into too much trouble. On a hilly site like this, I think it’s better to have some rough around the edges to prevent shots from rolling too much. I still like having a lot of short grass short of greens and on slopes that feed into greens because this allows you to play the slopes. But I think there are a lot of fairways and greens where some rough at the sides wouldn’t hurt and that's especially true on this course.
Overall, I thought Ozarks National was a fine course, certainly deserving of a spot in the top 100 US public courses, although probably somewhere in one of the bottom few deciles. For comparison, I'd have it in a similar spot as the South Course at Arcadia Bluffs in Michigan or Pinehurst no. 4. And while it’s the only course that I played at Big Cedar Lodge, I’d definitely recommend a golf trip here because the other 18 hole courses looked pretty good and there are a few spectacular-looking par 3 courses. The facilities are also some of the nicest that I’ve seen. It’s not cheap, but few of the good golf resorts are any more. At least this one delivers on golf, and in a setting that’s very different, but not much less visually stunning than Bandon or Cabot. Plus, you have Branson next door. It’s not for everyone, but there are some good deals on nice hotels and I had fun at Dolly Parton’s Christmas Stampede.