Big Cedar Lodge to add new Cliffhangers par-3 course in 2025

Big Cedar Lodge in Missouri, already home to two top-notch par-3 courses, is well on its way to adding a third.

To be named Cliffhangers and scheduled to open in the summer of 2025, this newest 18-hole offering will be perched atop the cliffs overlooking the Tiger Woods-designed Payne’s Valley course that opened in 2020. Beneath Cliffhangers lies the bonus 19^th hole at Payne’s Valley, which became a social-media sensation the day the course opened with a match between Tiger Woods, Justin Thomas, Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy.

Johnny Morris, owner of Big Cedar Lodge and founder of Bass Pro Shops, partnered with his son John Paul Morris to come up with the layout for Cliffhangers, as shown in this video below.

Holes on Cliffhangers will range from 60 to 165 yards in length. Big Cedar Lodge states on its website that “Cliffhangers will showcase drastic elevation changes, both large and small targets, tucked pins, severe slopes and movement on the greens.”

The resort’s Top of the Rock course, designed by Jack Nicklaus, ranks No. 3 on the fresh Golfweek’s Best list of top public-access par-3, short and non-traditional courses in the United States. The resort’s Mountain Top course, designed by Gary Player, ranks No. 8 on that list.

The resort also is home to three full-size courses. Ozarks National, designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, is the No. 1 public-access course in Missouri and ties for No. 167 on Golfweek’s Best list of top modern courses in the United States. Buffalo Ridge is No. 2 in Missouri, and Payne’s Valley comes in at No. 3 among the state’s public-access layouts. Each of them ranks among the top 70 resort courses in the country.

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Big Cedar Lodge will open Cliffhangers, a new par-3 course, in 2025