Utah's Black Desert, site of this week's LPGA event, has soared in Golfweek's Best rankings
Utah's Black Desert, site of this week's LPGA event, has soared in Golfweek's Best rankings
Sunrise hits a little differently in Greater Zion. As morning light comes to life, it's not what it does to the sky. Or to the ground. All eyes are on the towering orange cliffs between – they seem to belong to neither land nor the heavens.
The sunlight strikes the tops first, the mountains bursting in color. Time is marked quickly as illumination slides downward, casting aside the last of the night and presenting the full scope of the escarpments. Sunsets are beautiful in this patch of desert, but mornings are magical.
This all sound perhaps a little too earthy-crunchy or mystical for you? There are plenty of folks who flood the outskirts of Zion National Park looking for such moments, but this is a golf magazine, after all. Fret not. We're getting to the good stuff.
As the shade on the mountains is lowered by the sun's ascent, another darkness shines. The new golf course at Black Desert Resort soaks up the light, a slanted field of ebony lava laced with fairways. The contrasting palette – orange, black, green, blue – plays tricks with the eye, and the whole aesthetic is somewhat overwhelming.
Best of all: You can play it.
Despite the sea of lava, the course is very manageable, wide where it needs to be and tricky where it counts. Black Desert can accommodate a resort guest or a tour pro, which is good, because it was laid out with both in mind.
Opened in 2023, Black Desert was the last course designed by Tom Weiskopf before his death caused by pancreatic cancer. Phil Smith, Weiskopf's partner in golf architecture, finished the job.
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.
And it's all part of one of the most ambitious endeavors golf has seen in decades.
Click here to read the rest of our extensive review of the course.
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