Perhaps one of the most recognizable movie quotes of all time is, “If you build it, they will come,” from Field of Dreams. In the movie, Kevin Costner plays an Iowa farmer who one night hears a voice tell him these words. He’s suddenly compelled to build a baseball diamond in his cornfield, and, when he does so, ghosts from baseball’s past come to play a game.
In Patrick Manning’s case, his “field of dreams” was not on a cornfield in Iowa, but in the black lava fields and red rock mountains of southern Utah. Instead of past baseball players, he is bringing a PGA Tour event back to Utah this week for the first time in 60 years and an LPGA event in the spring.
The $7.5 million Black Desert Championship tees off this week at Black Desert Resort in Ivins, Utah, as the third of eight tournaments in the FedEx Cup Fall.
“This puts Utah squarely on the map of bucket-list golfing locations,” said Manning, managing partner of Black Desert Resort. “This becomes a true destination, with 14 courses just right here in our county.”
When Manning first stepped foot on the 630-acre property in 2004, he knew the place was special.
“I can’t explain why, but I had this overwhelming, suffocating feeling that we’re supposed to live here and do this resort on this property,” Manning said.
To buy the property, Manning said he and his wife sold everything they had. He also borrowed money from Reef Capital Partners, a company with which he is now an equity partner.
In preparation to build the golf course, Manning says he and the team interviewed about 25 designers before they chose Tom Weiskopf and Phil Smith, a pair of architects who worked 24 years together before Weiskopf’s death in 2022.
Smith says he distinctly remembers when the designers visited and walked the property for the first time in 2018.
“We were just blown away,” Smith said.
Weiskopf, 76 years old at the time, was so enthusiastic about the prospect of designing the course that he didn’t come out of the tour unscathed.
“Tom came off of that hike with blood dripping off both hands and bleeding through the butt of his pants and his knees because he’d fallen in the lava several times,” Manning said.
The land presented other challenges to the designers. Smith says it was the most complicated and complex project he’s ever been a part of, but not because it was a creative struggle.
“It became an exercise in eliminating holes more than finding holes,” Smith said.
“It’s very rare to get a site like this. It was a kind of gift from God that it was Tom and my last project together.” – Phil Smith
Despite being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2020, Weiskopf remained heavily involved in the project. Even if Weiskopf couldn’t go to the site often, Smith showed him photos and videos of the project so that he could provide feedback.
“It’s very rare to get a site like this,” Smith said. “It was a kind of gift from God that it was Tom and my last project together.”
After Weiskopf’s death, Smith says he and Black Desert Resort wanted to honor his mentor and make him proud. Black Desert Resort honors the architect’s memory with a restaurant named “Club 73” because this course was the 73rd and final design for Weiskopf, whose 16 PGA Tour victories included the 1973 Open Championship. Golfers will also hear Weiskopf’s voice in their golf carts as he gives them a hole-by-hole tour.
Smith says his and Weiskopf’s goal was to create a “golf mecca”: a place like Bandon Dunes or Hilton Head where golfers from around the world want to play. With PGA Tour and LPGA tournaments being played on the course barely a year after the course’s opening, Black Desert Resort has taken a big step toward the goal.
The LPGA approached Black Desert Resort in 2022 with the idea of hosting an official event at the site. Manning and Black Desert Resort have a history of supporting women’s golf, previously sponsoring events in Utah on the developmental Epson Tour.
Casey Ceman, vice president of tournament business affairs at the LPGA, says the tour found this support of women’s golf to be very attractive. He remembers when he first visited the still under-development course.
“There were only a handful of holes completed, and they were still moving dirt with tractors,” Ceman said. “But you could tell that it was going to be a really breathtaking place.”
The PGA Tour had a similar initial reaction. Manning recalls a visit by Stephen Wenzloff, vice president of design services and player liaison at the PGA Tour, in 2022. After a seven-hour hike, Manning says Wenzloff told him:
“There are spectacular golf courses on the PGA Tour, but nothing is going to pop on international television like Black Desert and southern Utah.”
Even after the grand opening in the spring, the resort will continue to grow. There will be more guest spaces and luxury living, with about 800 rooms and suites projected by the opening.
The Black Desert Championship will certainly give greater exposure to the area, but it also sets the stage for the opening of the resort. On October 16, after the tournament, Black Desert Resort will begin its “preview period.” Guests will be able to stay at the resort and have access to restaurants, hiking trails and more.
Even after the grand opening in the spring, the resort will continue to grow. There will be more guest spaces and luxury living, with about 800 rooms and suites projected by the opening. There will be a waterpark, pools and hot tubs. Desert Boardwalk will be a promenade with restaurants, shops and more open to the public. The resort will continue to grow in phases in the coming years.
Those who watch the Black Desert Championship on TV will see the beauty of Utah’s high-desert landscape and the course itself. However, spectators will have to visit in person to truly do it justice.
“The pictures that you see in the graphics and advertising are amazing,” Smith said. “But when you get there, it will still knock your socks off.”