Tiger Woods Design adds first course to design portfolio

It was recently announced that Tiger Woods Design is currently overseeing construction of a new golf course at the Diamante resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The course, to be known as ‘El Cardonal’, will be the first in the Tiger Woods portfolio, joining his only other completed project – a private backyard practice facility at his Jupiter Island home – when finally completed in 2014.

According to Woods’ web site, the new course will ‘remind golfers of the old-style California courses that Tiger grew up playing.’ These include the likes of Riviera and LA Country Club, both crafted by Golden Age icon George Thomas. Says Tiger of his design philosophy, ‘I want to be sure that my designs make individuals think their way around the course. To me, that's an important part of golf and it's what I like to do when I play. I think players like risk-reward opportunities and to feel like they've been challenged in all aspects of the game.’

According to Tiger’s design company, existing arroyos that cross the site will be used with fairway bunkers to provide these risk-reward opportunities off the tee. Strong players will be able to carry hazards to set up better approach angles, while others can take the safer route and leave themselves a longer shot into the green. As Tiger points out, ‘I've played in enough pro-ams to know that not every golfer is a scratch player. Creating wide landing areas and avoiding forced carries whenever possible allow all golfers, even beginners, to keep the ball in play and have more fun.’

While Woods’ words will certainly ring true to those who believe in the principles of Golden Age golf course architecture, the proof in this case will most certainly be in the pudding. Tiger has previously signed up three course design clients, but each of these project was halted during the global financial crisis. Sadly few people ever got to see his six completed holes in Dubai, so until Diamante opens we won’t really know how a Tiger Woods design will look and play. With his enormous international profile, Tiger has the potential to do wonderful things for golf in the course design business. We also risk great damage to the modern game if he doesn’t build the sort of cerebral test he so often espouses but instead regurgitates the same old ‘signature design’ clichés that the rest of us like to admonish.

Needless to say, we will be watching closely.

 

To view a routing plan for the new Tiger Woods golf course click here.

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