Despite being 76 and scarred from over 70 golf course projects, Tom Weiskopf designed one of the best courses in Utah shortly before passing away. Now, three years later, Black Desert Resort has turned into a celebrity among other courses. The PGA Tour debuted the course two years after its construction and will be returning for the 2025 Bank of Utah Championship. It goes without saying, Weiskopf’s wife couldn’t be prouder of her late husband, getting emotional over his influence.

“He would have been just thrilled. Really thrilled,” Laurie Weiskopf revealed last year, during the course debut. “You know there was talk of a PGA Tour event potentially coming as he was building it, but Tom thought that was super aggressive thinking. It would be a surprise to him that it came in 2024. I’m not saying he’d be shocked, but this would have been a surprise to him.”

Tomy Weiskopf himself examined and designed the layout of the lava course. His decades of experience and exceptional skill made this layout quickly surge in rankings, becoming No. 1 in Utah on Golfweek’s best list of public-access courses, No. 26 among US resort courses, and No. 81 among all modern courses.

But the designing and execution process wasn’t a breeze.

The story begins when Phil Smith, Weiskopf’s architecture partner, spotted the barren volcanic field. Formerly active, the National Park Service reports the latest volcanic eruption around 32,000 years ago. With picturesque hills and canyons nearby, national and state parks fleck the area. As investors pooled into the project, Weiskopf and Smith began turning the wheels.

Surveying the fields wasn’t an easy chore, as Smith and Weiskopf began walking the lumpy, uneven course. On certain occasions, the 76-year-old Weiskopf would accidentally fall on the course. Laurie mentioned how Weiskopf would sometimes return with blood all over his hands.

“The whole thing was scary for me. He fell more than once. I sent him out with the best boots, but he came home with blood all over his hands and I had gloves for him the next day. But I knew he wasn’t going to stop. For him, this wasn’t work. Well, most of the projects weren’t work.”

Laurie’s memory highlights the personal sacrifices that led to this iconic desert lava course. The Black Desert Course flaunts a wide fairway, offering versatile strategic options to skilled golfers, while providing enough space to avoid the dead lava areas. The exceptional course attracted the Bank of Utah as the title sponsor for the Black Desert event.

The strategically designed lava course is fit for both skilled golfers and resort players.

Weiskopf and Smith designed the holes with risk vs. reward play in mind. Some of the standout holes of the course include the par-4 opener, showing off the landscape before descending into lava areas. Par-4s are drivable for maximum risk-to-reward ratio. One of the iconic holes is the par-3 3rd hole, which has a bunker inside the green. The 18th hole of the course is probably the riskiest, but one of the best experiences. The hole is a par-5, with a fairway bending left past desert scrub and lava.

And what do the golfers and participants have to say about the course?

What debuting golfers said about the Black Desert Resort Course

The course is not only recognized among top accolades and honors, but golfers have personally testified to the statements, too. Last year, during its debut, it succeeded in winning the hearts of countless golfers. The participants praised the course’s unique desert-lava landscape, strategic design, and superb conditioning. Some pointed out the visual spectacle while others acknowledged the challenging bunkers and bent fairways.

Commenting on the breathtaking appearance of the lava course, Zac Blair said, “The scenery out here is pretty insane. I think it’ll look amazing on TV and everything like that.” Emphasizing the challenges and the risk-to-reward tension of the course, Blair added, “There is definitely a lot to kind of see out there. You know, I think it’ll take a few rounds to really start understanding the places where you do want to take that risk. You got par-5s, like No. 9, that the second shot is virtually like you have to hit the green or maybe the bunker and you could get lucky.”

Mike Weir praised the scenic attraction of the spot, too. Contrasting with his last time at the course in the summer, Weir reflected on the improvements on the course, too. “And it’s incredible how much better it’s gotten even in a short period of time. The grounds staff here, the superintendent, they’ve done an incredible job. It’s like carpet out there, the fairways. The greens are great,” Weir noted during the Bank of Utah Championship in 2024.

The uniqueness of the lava course and its playability enthralled Nick Taylor. “I think it’s great to be able to disengage from what you’re doing and look around you. We’re lucky to play a lot of beautiful places around the country, but this is very unique in that sense. Yeah, I think it will be a good distraction, a way to get away from in between the shots,” Taylor commented.

As is apparent, the Black Desert Resort Course is more than just another venue on the PGA Tour. With its montage of desert-lava landscape and difficult holes, Weiskopf is bringing back soul to the sport, even after his death.