Appreciating Black Desert

Fan interest in the PGA Tour fall schedule can be hard to gauge. If you’re out on all of it, fair enough. But if you’re going to tune in to one tournament each fall, it’s hard to top this week’s Bank of Utah Championship at Black Desert Resort.

Amidst the lava rocks – which contribute to the stunning, serene setting – lies a fun, strategic Tom Weiskopf design. The golf course offers enough width for players to hit a healthy dose of driver, while any shots hit too far offline find the lava rock, resulting in an unplayable lie nearly every time. Some of the holes, like No. 6, narrow the farther down the fairway you push your tee shot, affording options that don’t come without the risk of penalty shots. Sufficient width, optionality, and severe consequence: solid ingredients for a strong pro golf test.

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One of my favorite holes on the course is No. 5, a 300- to 325-yard drivable par 4 (pictured above). The hole pinches significantly up by the green, with lava rock punishing aggressive errant shots both right and left. They’re hardly spitting images of one another, but No. 5 at Black Desert reminds me a little bit of No. 6 at Los Angeles Country Club (North), another excellent short 4 that promotes optionality.

Some golfers will lay back on the fifth all four days, some will send it all four days, and for some it will depend on the pin location. In Thursday’s Matt McCarty, Billy Horschel, and Maverick McNealy featured group, Horschel and McNealy laid back with an iron while McCarty sent driver.

McCarty’s drive flared left into a safe but difficult position, leaving him the most challenging par save of the three players.

Is the golf course too wide to challenge PGA Tour players without wind? Sure, but that’s not a unique feature to Black Desert. The course has to be playable when the wind blows, so it’s going to be pretty easy when it doesn’t. Still, it does a solid job of straddling the line between providing a challenge for PGA Tour players while remaining enjoyable for resort guests in all conditions.

Unfortunately, this week brought the official announcement of the loss of an iconic PGA Tour venue — the Plantation Course at Kapalua — for at least this season, and possibly for good. Hopefully Black Desert keeps a place in the professional golf calendar for many years to come.