Tag: Tom Weiskopf

The widow of Tom Weiskopf fought through tears as Black Desert Resort made its PGA Tour debut

His widow told Golfweek the 1973 British Open champion would have enjoyed the rave reviews.

Sitting in the recently completed and luxurious lobby of the Black Desert Resort near St. George, Utah, Laurie Weiskopf needed a minute to get control of her emotions. The widow of World Golf Hall of Famer Tom Weiskopf knew she might get choked up a little when seeing the finished project that was the last 18-hole golf course her late husband designed, but the grandeur of the red rocks, black lava flows and stunning resort proved too much for her to handle.

As players rushed to praise the new course, which was shoehorned into the FedEx Cup Fall schedule, Laurie Weiskopf fought through tears while talking with Golfweek about how the 1973 British Open champion would have enjoyed the rave reviews the course received.

The layout has quickly climbed the rankings and is No. 1 in Utah on Golfweek’s Best list of public-access courses, No. 26 among all resort courses in the U.S. and No. 81 among all modern courses in the country.

“He would have been just thrilled. Really thrilled,” Laurie Weiskopf said. “You know there was talk of a PGA Tour event potentially coming as he was building it, but Tom thought that was super aggressive thinking. It would be a surprise to him that it came in 2024. I’m not saying he’d be shocked, but this would have been a surprised to him.”

Opened in 2023, Black Desert was the last course designed by Weiskopf before died of pancreatic cancer. Phil Smith, Weiskopf’s partner in golf architecture, finished the job.

More: What are PGA Tour players saying about the stunning Black Desert Resort this week?

While Laurie admired how much love her husband had for each of the courses he designed, and he has over 70 to his name, she also knew his doggedness would make it difficult to slow down as he became more ill. In a famous story, Weiskopf tumbled into the black lava rocks at Black Desert while he was on there putting the project together. Laurie remembers her husband coming with bloodied hands, but he simply wouldn’t stop working on the project.

“The whole thing was scary for me,” she said. “He fell more than once. I sent him out with the best boots, but he came home with blood all over his hands and I had gloves for him the next day. But I knew he wasn’t going to stop. For him, this wasn’t work. Well, most of the projects weren’t work.”

Tom Weiskopf at Augusta National Golf Club during the 1982 Masters. (The Augusta Chronicle)

While Laurie was thrilled to see Tom’s legacy on display at this year’s Black Desert Championship, she wasn’t as thrilled that it took her husband’s death before he entered the Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony was held in June at Pinehurst. Weiskopf was part of a class that included Padraig Harrington, Sandra Palmer, Johnny Farrell and Beverly Hanson, who joined the remaining seven of the 13 LPGA Founders.

Laurie felt her husband should have gotten the call while he was living, rather than having to come to the family posthumously.

“That’s a hard one for me, to be honest,” she said. “That’s more bittersweet than joyful.

“It’s just frustrating when you know it’s just a popularity contest and you don’t like something about someone and you’re not just looking at what the person’s done. That’s the way I look at it.”

Utah feels like it’s having a moment at PGA Tour’s inaugural Black Desert Championship

You’ve got the makings of a Utah coup in a sports world that’s typically dominated by metropolitan regions along the coasts.

IVINS, Utah — It feels like the Beehive State, once known for Mormon temples, a bougie ski resort and the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere, is having something of a moment lately when it comes to the sports world.

Both BYU and Utah are snugly in the middle of the most recent US LBM Coaches Poll, with the Cougars at No. 15 and the Utes just two spots behind. The Utah Jazz recently locked down All-Star forward and former Most Improved Player winner Lauri Markkanen to a five-year deal worth $238 million and this season Salt Lake City will enjoy its first as a National Hockey League city with the Arizona Coyotes relocating to the mountain paradise.

Throw in the PGA Tour’s first return to this geographically diverse region in 60 years at this week’s inaugural Black Desert Championship and you’ve got the makings of a Utah coup in a sports world that’s typically dominated by metropolitan regions along the coasts.

Black Desert: Leaderboard | Photos

That might explain why pro golfers are puffing their chests out a little this week as the Tour’s FedEx Fall rolls through picturesque St. George, a southern municipality that’s closer to Las Vegas than it is Salt Lake City.

“It’s exciting. Utah is kind of the state of sport, so another big event coming to Utah is awesome. Utah fans, people get behind the Jazz and we got a new hockey team, you know, and BYU and Utah and all the colleges,” said Zac Blair, who’s seeking his first PGA Tour victory in the same state where he was reared.

Black Desert Resort Utah
The Tom Weiskopf/Phil Smith-designed Black Desert Resort Golf Course opened in May of 2023 in Ivins, Utah. (Courtesy of Black Desert Golf Club/Brian Oar)

“This is just another big event that I think we’ll get a lot of people coming out to. It’s exciting to have something in your home state. Growing up you dream of playing on the PGA Tour and stuff like that, but never really thought we would have a PGA event here in our home state. Going to be a cool opportunity.”

Although many of the game’s top names will not be on hand — including native son Tonu Finau, who had previous engagements — there won’t be a lack of made-for-TV moments as southern Utah’s red rock mountains will get their day in the sun, literally and figuratively. The par-72 Black Desert Golf Course designed by Phil Smith and the late Tom Weiskopf has been welcomed onto the Tour schedule with rave reviews, rocketing up lists of the nation’s top golf course, including Golfweek’s Best. The design marked the final project from World Golf Hall of Fame 2024 inductee Weiskopf, who died in 2022.

This isn’t the first time Utah has hosted professional golf. The PGA Tour first appeared in Utah in 1930 when World Golf Hall of Fame member Harry “Lighthorse” Cooper won the Salt Lake Open. Seven years later, the Tour returned to Salt Lake City in 1937, when Al Zimmerman won the first of back-to-back Utah Open titles.

The historic Western Open, now known as the BMW Championship, made a stop in the Beehive State a decade later, when seven-time Tour winner Johnny Palmer captured the 1947 tournament in Salt Lake City.

In 1948, the state hosted the Utah Open Invitational, where Lloyd Mangrum edged George Fazio in a playoff. The event was played three more times (1958, 1960, 1963), with the 1963 edition – won by Tommy Jacobs by a stroke over Don January – the last time the Tour played in the state.

While the PGA Tour returns to Utah for the first time since 1963, the Beehive State has been home to the Korn Ferry Tour’s Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank since the Tour’s inaugural season in 1990. Contested at Oakridge Country Club since 2017, past champions of the tournament include John Daly (1990), Zach Johnson (2003), Brendon Todd (2008) and Cameron Champ (2018).

But there is a different feel in this region, a mixture of Arizona heat and Colorado elevation that could give those from the area a distinct advantage, right?

“Of course,” said Patrick Fishburn, who has four top-10 finishes in 2024 and played his college golf at BYU. “Playing at altitude is definitely different for sure. I grew up in Ogden, playing Ogden Country Club, which is probably 4,000 feet elevation and we’re probably 3,000 here. The ball just does different things.

“With the heat this week, there is just a lot of different factors. If you’re maybe not used to that it’ll cause a few more calculations going on in the brain, which for me personally, less calculation is better.”

Golfweek’s Adam Schupak contributed to this report.

Scenic Arizona golf course that battled javelinas will reopen in April after renovation

Javelinas, which are most active at night, dug up big swaths of grass at this scenic golf course.

A viral video last October showed what happens when hungry javelinas have free rein on a golf course in the dark of night.

Now, Seven Canyons Golf Club, located in scenic Sedona, Arizona, is getting ready to unveil a new look.

Originally a Tom Weiskopf design that opened in 2003, the course is putting the finishing touches on a Phil Smith renovation and, according to Golf Course Architecture, will reopen in April.

The course got new ownership in 2022 and Weiskopf visited later that year to offer some thoughts on the renovation, according to Golf Business News.

“It was Tom’s last site visit out of his home state of Montana,” Smith said of Weiskopf, who died in August of that year. “It was wonderful to have him here.”

The renovation includes a re-sequencing of the holes, levelling tees and rebunkering, with new sand in all the sand traps, which were returned to their original shapes.

New amenities include an 8,000-square-foot putting green and a social space called the Turn House.

Seven Canyons is tied for 178th on Golfweek’s Best Top 200 residential courses. The course does have a membership but tee times can be secured by staying in the Enchantment Resort or renting a townhouse at Seven Canyons.

During its back and forth with the javelinas, the grounds crew at Seven Canyons, with the aid of Arizona Game and Fish Department, managed to corral 18 of the wild animals before relocating them to less populated parts of the national forest nearby. It’s likely to be an ongoing battle, however.

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Check the yardage book: TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course for the 2024 WM Phoenix Open on the PGA Tour

No. 16 is famous, but how does the rest of TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course shape up?

There’s a lot more to the Stadium Course at TPC Scottsdale than the famed 16th, the par 3 lined by grandstands and site of this week’s party at the WM Phoenix Open. Here’s your chance to see how the rest of the course sets up for the 2024 version of the PGA Tour event.

The Stadium Course opened in 1986 with a design by the team of Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish. It was renovated in 2014. The site of a Tour event since 1987, the layout will play to 7,261 yards with a par of 71 this week.

The layout ranks No. 4 in Arizona on Golfweek’s Best list of top public-access layouts in each state. It also ties for No. 83 on Golfweek’s Best list of top resort courses in the U.S.

Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the pros face this week at TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course.

Javelinas destroy grass at scenic Seven Canyons Golf Course in Sedona, Arizona

Javelinas, which are most active at night, dug up big swaths of grass at this scenic golf course.

Seven Canyons Golf Course in Sedona, Arizona, is one of the most scenic layouts in the Grand Canyon State, with views of the iconic red rock bluffs coming from all directions.

This northern Arizona community can also be home to a wild animal called the javelina, which is generally more commonly found in the southern part of the state. The creature sort of looks like a pig and they belong to the peccary family, which is a group of hoofed mammals. Javelinas have long, stiff bristles for hair and sharp tusks. Like all wildlife, it’s best to steer clear of them.

Javelinas are most active at night. They’re also known to dig up turf and dig up some turf they did at Seven Canyons recently.

The assistant superintendent at Seven Canyons posted a video on X showing the destruction the group of javelina — actually called a squadron — inflicted on the Tom Weiskopf design.

The course, which opened in 2003, tied for 178th on Golfweek’s Best Top 200 residential courses. The facility also has a 20,000-square-foot practice area with two tiers and 20 hitting stations.

As for the javelina, the Arizona State Department of Game and Fish website states that:

  • The department will sometimes remove javelina that are causing extensive property damage or have become aggressive toward humans. However, this is a last resort, and measures must be taken to remove attractants to prevent problems from recurring.
  • Javelina are classified as a big game species.
  • It is unlawful to injure or kill game animals, even if they are causing a problem, unless certain rigorous provisions under the law have been met.
  • It is unlawful to trap javelina.

Seven Canyons does have a membership but tee times can be secured if you stay in the Enchantment Resort or rent a townhouse at Seven Canyons.

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As Tom Weiskopf’s last design opens in Utah, his first is hosting USGA event in Arizona

“It’s a real showcase for Tom and the club.”

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — In a way, it’s all come full circle.

Tom Weiskopf’s final golf course design, Black Desert, just opened in May in St. George, Utah, a burgeoning golf community. This gem has already landed a PGA Tour stop, coming fall of 2024. The LPGA is also going to stage an event there, starting in 2025.

Black Desert, a venue he did with partner Phil Smith, is the 73rd golf course in Weiskopf’s portfolio, which features layouts located around the world. There are dozens of courses in the U.S., of course, but also Scotland, Italy and China.

His very first design, though, was built in Arizona in a then-remote part of north Scottsdale, at Troon Country Club, the name serving as a tip of the cap to Royal Troon in Scotland, where Weiskopf won his lone major, the 1973 Open Championship.

“It’s funny because we did count them up and it’s 73,” said Smith. “Can you believe that? Between design and renovation we came up with 73 and that just seems to be his lucky number.”

The private layout at Troon CC, which Weiskopf did with Jay Morrish, is set to host the 2023 U.S. Women’s Senior Amateur Championship, Sept. 30 to Oct. 5. It’ll be the second U.S. Golf Association event played there (1990 U.S. Mid-Amateur) and the 17th USGA tournament in all held in Arizona.

Troon Country Club
A mural at Troon Country Club includes a photo of golf course designers Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish. (Photo: Golfweek)

“The thing about Weiskopf courses is they can be played anybody or they can be set up to be played by the best in the world,” Smith said. “We based our design philosophy on that always. You think about TPC Scottsdale, where 95 percent of the time it has to be played by the municipal player and then one week out of the year you gotta be able to challenge the best players in the world [for the PGA Tour’s WM Phoenix Open] so that’s sort of been our philosophy and Tom’s philosophy from Day 1, so I think it’ll be great.”

Ranking 12th on Golfweek’s Best list of private golf courses in Arizona, Troon CC’s best stretch is on the back nine:

  • The par-4 14th, dubbed “The Cliff”, which features a dramatic, elevated second shot down over a desert transition to a large green
  • The par-3 15th, called “Troon Mountain”, which may be the most picturesque point on the property, with the iconic Pinnacle Peak seemingly towering over the green
  • The par-4 16th hole, known as “The Gunsight”, featuring a pair of large boudlers that you hit your tee shot through while aiming at what many say is a gunsight-shaped formation on the distance landscape.
Troon Country Club
The par-4 16th hole called “Gunsight” at Troon Country Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Photo: USGA)

Like many Weiskopf designs, Troon CC features a driveable par 4, and the fourth will play 244 yards for the senior amateurs.

The USGA first did a site visit for the Senior Women’s Am in 2019. Troon CC was officially awarded the event 2021 and Weiskopf, who passed away in August of 2022, was an active participant in the course’s tournament preparations.

“It’s ironic. Troon is where he started and it’s where he found out he was sick, that’s where we were the day he found out he had cancer,” said Smith.

The USGA received a record 594 applications for the tournament, which was first played in 1962. There are 132 golfers in the field, including defending champion Shelly Stouffer. Three-time tournament winner Laura Tennant is also playing. She won it in 2021, 2019 and 2018. There was no event in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The entire field will play two rounds of stroke play Sept. 39 and Oct. 1. The top 64 golfers will then play five rounds of match play, with the 18-hole championship set for Thursday, Oct. 5.

Troon Country Club
A mural at Troon Country Club includes a photo of golf course designers Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish. (Photo: Golfweek)

“The most important thing about Troon is it’s where Tom started and he won best new course right out of the gate. Who does that, right?,” marveled Smith. “I think that just shows the fact that even in the beginnings of Tom’s career he had the talent and the chops to produce a world-class golf course and that’s where it all began.

“I think it’s just great they’re hosting this event. It’s a real showcase for Tom and the club.”

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Photos: Check out the golf courses at Cabo Del Sol in Cabo San Lucas

Come for the golf, stay for the comfort stations in Mexico.

CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico — Jack Nicklaus, designer and builder of golf courses around the world, once declared it “the best golf property I’ve seen.”

He was referring to his golf course, originally called the Ocean Course at Cabo Del Sol, now dubbed Cove Club – the centerpiece to this seaside community on the tip of the Baja California Peninsula.

Cove Club, now fully private, underwent a recent design change which rerouted a few holes and features a spectacular finish at edge of the Sea of Cortez. The club also opened some magnificent beachfront area for the entire membership to enjoy at the Cove Club.

A second 18-hole course, originally called the Desert Course and designed by Tom Weiskopf, runs higher up the hillside and offers views of the blue waters from just about every hole. That course is now called Cabo Del Sol Course and is undergoing a renovation by the team of Dana Fry and Jason Straka.

Check out some photos of the courses at Cabo Del Sol.

Photos: Black Desert Resort opens gorgeous new Tom Weiskopf/Phil Smith course in Utah

Check out photos of the new Black Desert Resort course in Utah that is quickly earning rave reviews.

Black Desert Resort Golf Course in Ivins, Utah, opened in late May as the last course designed by Tom Weiskopf, who passed away in 2022. The Golfweek’s Best raters have a lot of great things to say about the new layout not far from St. George in the southwest corner of the state.

The resort’s 18-hole layout is open for daily-fee play among the region’s ancient basalt rock formations near Snow Canyon State Park. Partnering with architect Phil Smith, Weiskopf built an expansive layout with most fairways 70 to 100 yards wide. The course features two driveable par 4s, the fifth and 14th.

Upon buildout, Black Desert will feature a full hotel and conference center, more than a thousand residences, trails, a spa and plenty more. The property is managed by hospitality-management company Troon Golf, and Black Desert is already slated to host an LPGA event starting in 2025. The course also will offer an amphiteater-style 19th hole and a 36-hole lit putting course.

After a first tour of the course, the Golfweek’s Best raters had many positive comments.

“An amazing design and absolutely stunning contrast of the lava rocks with the greenery and surrounding red mountains,” wrote one rater. “Truly an oasis. Several holes can be played in multiple different ways depending on your confidence that day as risk/reward options abound. It’s a beautiful course, one you’ll remember for a lifetime.”

“Black Desert blew me away,” wrote another. “It has everything I would want in a modern course. The combination of setting, vistas and course itself is the total package. The black lava rock is so unique, I’ve never seen it anywhere else in the mainland. You also have the beautiful sweeping vistas of the red canyons visible from every hole.”

Check out several photos from Black Desert Resort below.

Check the yardage book: TPC Craig Ranch for the 2023 AT&T Byron Nelson on the PGA Tour

Check out StrackaLine’s hole-by-hole maps of TPC Craig Ranch for the AT&T Byron Nelson.

TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas – site of this week’s AT&T Byron Nelson on the PGA Tour – opened in 2004 with a design by former Tour player and noted architect Tom Weiskopf. This will be the third time the long-running event is played at the course just north of Dallas.

The private TPC Craig Ranch will play to 7,414 yards with a par of 72 for this week’s AT&T Byron Nelson.

Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the pros face this week at TPC Craig Ranch.

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Jim Nantz celebrates the life of dear friend in CBS special: ‘The Masterful Tom Weiskopf’

Before the coverage of Sunday’s final round of the Masters begins on CBS, Jim Nantz will host a special program.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Before the coverage of Sunday’s final round of the Masters begins on CBS, Jim Nantz will host a special program that is close to his heart.

Jim Nantz Remembers Augusta: The Masterful Tom Weiskopf (Sunday, April 9, 1 p.m. ET) will include reflections from Nantz on the outstanding career and legacy of Tom Weiskopf, who died last year and was announced as a member of the 2024 World Golf Hall of Fame class in March (to be inducted posthumously during the week of the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst). The special includes an interview with Weiskopf (done in 2020 prior to his passing in 2022) and focuses on his four runner-up finishes at the Masters, including most notably in 1975.

Weiskopf, the winner of 16 PGA Tour titles, including the 1973 British Open, was 79 at the time of his death, and had been dealing with pancreatic cancer since late 2020.

In addition to his playing career and his renown as a golf course designer, Weiskopf worked in television at both CBS and ABC/ESPN as a golf analyst. During the final round of the 1986 Masters as Jack Nicklaus charged up the leaderboard, Weiskopf was asked by Nantz to describe Nicklaus’ mindset as he played the closing stretch. “If I knew the way he thought, I would have won this tournament,” he famously said.

“Boyhood hero. Later life friend. Delivered a eulogy at his memorial service. Admire him so much. Wanted him to get his due,” Nantz wrote in an email last week. “The show documents his amazing life. I think people will be blown away by his standard of excellence in everything he touched.”

Masters 2023 leaderboard: Get the latest news from Augusta

CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus noted that Nantz forged a deep personal relationship with Weiskopf.

“It’s a labor of love, which a lot of Jim’s programs are,” McManus said. “It’s a tribute that comes from Jim’s heart, not just from his brain and not just from his voice.”

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