Ozarks National — Golfing with a View in Missouri

Anyone visiting the picturesque Ozarks region in the heart of the USA will quickly find what they are looking for at the Big Cedar golf resort. In addition to Tiger Woods' well-known Payne's Valley, the resort has been offering another highlight since 2019 with Ozarks National, designed by renowned designer duo Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. The clubhouse — a restored wooden barn from the 19th century — sets the tone: rustic, authentic and deeply rooted in the landscape.

The course measures between 5,025 and 7,036 yards and is played as par-71 (par-36 on the front nine and par-35 on the back nine). With four tees per lane, the gaming experience can be perfectly adapted to your own level. What sets Ozarks National apart from its siblings is its quiet class: It is perfectly embedded in the open landscape and impresses with natural-looking bunker landscapes and flowing lines.

Here you can find many more travel reports from the most beautiful golf courses in the world.

Front Nine: Precision and Bison Hot Dogs

The Front Nine start cautiously with a par-5 as a dogleg on the right, which rewards precision. It gets really challenging from track 4: Two consecutive doglegs, hanging terrain and slopes behind the greens require strategy instead of strength. Lane 8, a par-3 across a densely vegetated depression, is the visual highlight in the first section.

The first half is completed by a massive, 597 yards long par 5, whose green is almost completely framed by bunkers. At Halfway House, the typical bison hot dogs await the golfers — the “signature dish” in all Big Cedar halfway houses, which is also included in the green fee.

Back Nine: Mental strength over the hills

The back nine noticeably increase the pace. Long par 4 holes with blind tea shots, ascending fairways and strategically placed solitaire trees now require full concentration. Lane 13, for example, a 480-yard uphill dogleg, feels more like a par-5 for many.

Lane 17, the last par-3, is almost played onto a viewing platform — with an unobstructed view of the Ozarks before the shot downhill follows a bunker-reinforced green. The final dogleg uphill rounds off a varied round. Water hardly plays a role on this course, but the wooded valleys and distinctive differences in altitude ensure that you must never lose focus.

A natural experience for strategists

Whoever chooses the tea box to suit their own range will experience one of the most impressive rounds in the Midwest of the USA at the Ozarks National. The Coore Crenshaw design impresses with its naturalness and offers a contrast to the more heavily staged courses in the surrounding area — a must for fans of purist golf architecture.