Tiger Woods wants to bring another golf course to the Wasatch Back


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SALT LAKE CITY — The next phase of Tiger Woods' career will include a stop on the Wasatch Back.

The 47-year-old all-time great and his golf course design firm TGR Designs announced Tuesday plans for an 18-hole championship course near Park City in partnership with Marcella Club in Wasatch County. The new course is in collaboration with a private master-planned community at Marcella Mountain and Jordanelle Ridge and Reef Capital Partners, whose portfolio includes Black Desert Resort in St. George, that Woods hopes will "create a world-class golf experience to pair with Marcella Club's vision for modern luxury living," he said in a tweet.

The 18-hole championship course will be the first phase of a 36-hole facility located just minutes away from Park City. It will be the first mountain course and first in Utah for Woods, who has been the architect of nearly a dozen courses in varying degrees of completion since he opened his first public course at Payne's Valley in Missouri's Ozark Mountains in 2020.

The Marcella Club course is set to be over 8,000 yards in length, which would make it one of the longest golf courses in Utah. Woods hopes to open the new course in time for the 2025 golf season.

The course will come with 500 full golf memberships for 36 holes, the teams announced, but Marcella Club said that a second 18-hole course will be coming to Jordanelle Ridge, as well.

"I couldn't be more excited to be partnering with Marcella Club to design and create a new championship golf course just outside Park City," said Woods, the 82-time PGA Tour winner, in a statement. "Utah is an incredible place, with favorable year-round weather that offers opportunities to be active outdoors throughout all four seasons – golfing, skiing, biking, hiking and fishing – the list goes on and on. I'm thrilled to be designing a course in such a special location; this new course is uniquely beautiful and will offer engaging play for every ability. My intent is to create a world-class golf experience to pair with Marcella Club's vision for modern luxury living."

Woods has been known to be "selective in which projects I take on," particularly in the golf course design world, but said two factors played a key role in launching his intent to build in Utah.

"My team has built a superb relationship with our partners on Marcella. That said, I am thrilled about the location of this property," he added. "The canvas for my course is one of the most dramatic I've ever seen. It has ridgelines with some of the most stunning views in the world, valleys with amazing contours and topography, and groves of trees that allow me to use creativity to bring to life a golf experience that's something special."

Investors in the property are excited that Woods, one of the top golfers in the history of the game, is coming to Utah. But they acknowledge there are some concerns — including Utah's current drought condition.

"Tiger Woods is one of the biggest names in golf," said Cody Winterton, president of the Raintree Investment Corporation. "We felt really lucky he chose Utah."

"The drought is real," he added. "In the West, we all have to be focused on it. We're very focused on it, and I think it's thinking of how we do things differently, using technology and being more responsible."

Rep. Doug Walton, R-Payson, introduced a bill in the most recent legislative session that would require all golf courses to disclose their water usage.

HB188 would provide more transparency and accountability to fight Utah's drought conditions, Walton said. The bill has been motioned to be adjourned, but Walton said he and other legislators are currently working on new language that could allow a similar bill to pass.

"Some golf courses are using water from sewer treatment plans. Some have their own lakes they are using," Walton told KSL-TV. "There's a lot of information we don't have, so it's a little bit complex. But we have to start with having data."

Woods hasn't played competitive golf since pairing with his son Charlie at the PNC Championship in December. His foundation is set to host next week's Genesis Invitational, though it is unclear if Woods will play in that event or attend in some other hosting capacity.

The 15-time major winner and World Golf Hall of Fame inductee has been slowed by a single-car crash in February 2021, where he sustained multiple leg injuries and had surgery for other injuries that were not life-threatening, his agent said at the time.

He's also been heavily involved in the launch of TGL, the planned golf league created by TMRW Sports in partnership between Woods, Rory McIlroy and sports executive Mike McCarley that will launch in January 2024 and host Monday night events in conjunction with the PGA Tour schedule.

Contributing: Alex Cabrero, KSL-TV

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