According to an AP report covered at the USA Today web site and by our friends at GolfVacationInsider, Tiger Woods is likely to design his first course in the U.S. for The Cliffs Communities, the mega-development organization that stretches from Asheville, NC, and all along the western and southwestern edge of South Carolina. The Cliffs already provides a grand buffet of name designer courses by Nicklaus, Player, Fazio, and Tom Jackson. Player recently announced he, his family and his company would take up residence at The Cliffs Mountain, where he is designing the golf course.
Woods said that he would be in Traveler's Rest, SC, on Tuesday. Reportedly, the course will be built in the Asheville area, not far from The Cliffs at Walnut Grove where Nicklaus has designed one of his two courses for the developers. Woods made his comments yesterday at Southern Hills in Tulsa, OK, where he is tuning up for the PGA Championship, which starts tomorrow. Finally, we have something in common with Tiger; we have been to Traveler's Rest, to visit the Cliffs Valley and the nearby high and mighty Cliffs at Glassy community (it plays at an elevation of nearly 4,000 feet). We enjoyed the unusual and entertaining Tom Jackson layout.
Tiger's only other design gig so far is in the Middle East, in Dubai. We wish there were a futures options exchange on golf course initiation fees. The comprehensive membership in The Cliffs courses currently runs north of $100,000. With Tiger's design fees likely well into seven figures, expect an uptick in both membership fees and home site costs at the already pricey Cliffs.
The Tom Jackson layout at The Cliffs at Glassy is never boring.