Black Desert Resort gets a very playable Tom Weiskopf-designed golf course


By: March 31, 2022


I have just found a very interesting golf resort development project, the Black Desert Resort. The Black Desert Resort is a 600-plus acre resort, golf and entertainment district in Ivins, Utah, a suburb of St. George.

D.A. Davidson has closed a $106 million bond funding for the development of Black Desert Resort in October 2021.

In the first phase a 147-room hotel, spa, 18-hole golf course, about 300 resort residences, 24,000 feet of convention space, 3 pools and all the other amenities you’d fine in a “true destination resort”.

The first phase of development is expected to create 500 new jobs and future long-term employment opportunities. Troon will manage the golf operations, golf course agronomy, food and beverage, and marketing for the golf facility, the centerpiece of the 600-acre resort community. 

Black Desert Resort Construction

The 18-hole resort/daily-fee facility is currently in the final phase of construction, with grassing underway. Tee times for daily-fee guests will begin to be made available by mid-summer 2022.

Black Desert Resort – Tom Weiskopf-designed golf course

Weiskopf and architect Phil Smith have designed the par-72 Black Desert Resort Golf Course with playability in mind, with most fairways 70 to 100 yards wide.

In true Weiskopf-style, Black Desert will feature two drivable par 4 holes (5th hole and 14th hole) bringing both strategy and the risk/reward element into play. 

Black Desert Resort real-4-1

The property’s distinct black lava rock, called basalt, originated as lava that intermittently flowed from small local volcanoes approximately 2.3 million to 20,000 years ago.

No stranger to working in an ancient lava landscape, Weiskopf also designed the award-winning Ke‘olu Golf Course at Hualalai Resort on the island of Hawaii, which is set in the dramatic lava fields of Ka’upulehu.

In addition to the 18-hole, Weiskopf-designed golf course, guests of Black Desert Resort will enjoy a 36-hole illuminated putting course for day or night play. The resort’s 19th-Hole, an amphitheater-style lakeside gathering place terraced into the black lava, will be the ultimate venue for winding down after a day of golf.