Black Desert Resort is on its way.
Literally, Black Desert Resort got a huge piece of momentum for the new course located next to Entrada Golf Club in southern Utah.
It just opened in May.
Over the last 20 days, the Black Desert course landed a 2025 LPGA Tour event and a PGA Tour stop, the first Tour stop for Utah in 60 years.
The PGA Tour announced Friday that Utah’s newest golf course will host the Black Desert Championship in 2024. It will be part of the FedEx Cup Fall Series. In other words, many of the best golfers in the world will be heading to Utah to chase Cup points.
This is huge.
The course hasn’t even cut grass more than a few dozen times this summer, and the world’s best players can now put two professional events on their calendar.
This is a home course for Utah, for golf in the state, and for the Black Desert Resort located in Ivins.
If you thought it was already hard to get tee times in Southern Utah, just wait. The world will get a glimpse of the Black Desert’s pristine and immaculate fairways and greens carved out of a beautiful lava field, and word will spread about play throughout St. George area.
“Oh, it is high time,” said St. George Director of Golf Colby Cowan.
“I mean, I think we’re going to see big things happen around here because of it. I don’t think we fully understand the impact it’s going to have on our area and all the golf courses. I mean it’s going to elevate it to , where people will look to St. George and Washington County as a true golf destination and haven.
“I think you can see some people saying, ‘Hey, let’s go to Bandon Dunes and next year we’ll hit St. George again.’ Everything is really going to change the complexity of golf down here completely. It’s a new set of eyes on all of our golf courses. I think it’s going to help raise the tide a little bit. We’re all going to benefit greatly, and it’s going to get us to work harder to make things better.”
In early May I had the chance to play some of the holes in Black Desert. It was eye-catching, challenging, yet fair. The rough is minimal due to the wide fairways and lava rock fields that line the entire layout. No doubt the layout can be set up to challenge the world’s best from the tips.
“We are thrilled to partner with Black Desert Resort to bring PGA Tour golf to the state of Utah,” said PGA Tour executive vice president and president Tyler Dennis. “By introducing the PGA Tour – and the LPGA the following year – to a new market, we look forward to partnering with the Black Desert Resort team in their vision for professional golf in the greater Zion community. Competitively, our members will enjoy the challenges and the incredible views that define the Black Desert Golf Course.”
It is estimated that the economic impact to the area will be more than $60 million. Black Desert Resort, when all phases are completed, is destined to be the largest resort in Utah – larger than any ski resort. A hotel, shops, condos, spas, pools and the golf course will definitely make it a destination stop.
Covering the event as media or attending the event as a fan will be an interesting addition to the Utah sports scene.
“Black Desert Resort has quickly made a huge impact on Utah’s golf history, already announcing an Epson Tour event, the Black Desert Resort Championship, this fall at Soldier Hollow Golf Course in Midway and bringing an LPGA Tour championship to St. George in 2025,” noted Randy Dodson, publisher of Fairways Magazine, the official publication of the Utah Golf Association.
“With today’s announcement of a PGA Tour event in the fall of 2024, Black Desert Resort has re-established Utah’s importance in professional tour golf, all at a time when the game of golf in Utah has experienced significant growth. Junior golfers and even casual golf fans will now have a chance to see the world’s best golfers in person. And besides, the golf course itself is a must-play.”
The Senior PGA Tour, now the Champions Tour, used to make a stop in Park City at the Jeremy Ranch and we saw some of the legends of the game. Then we had the Champions Challenge at Thanksgiving Point, which featured a lot of father-son combinations of senior pros, including hall of famers Johnny Miller, Billy Casper, Jack Nicklaus and many others.
But this Black Rock Champions event is a long-awaited call from the PGA Tour itself. The last time we had a Tour event was the Utah Open back in 1963 at the Salt Lake Country Club when Tommy Jacobs won the trophy.
The folks at Black Desert Resort should be extremely pleased. Tour officials dropped in to visit, toured the course, saw the resort’s hotel plans and then some. It is a huge compliment to everyone involved.
It says a lot about Tom Weiskopf’s design, which is located in beautiful surroundings in our red rock country.
“We are honored to host the world’s most prestigious professional golf tours at Black Desert Resort,” said Black Desert Managing Partner Patrick Manning. “Bringing the best of the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour to Black Desert and then having the best possible experience with their fans is the No. 1 priority.”
Can not wait.
The Black Desert Resort in southern Utah will host a PGA Tour event in 2024. It will mark the first PGA Tour event in Utah in 60 years.