Featured Golf Trip: Big Cedar Lodge

The list of singular American golf resorts with at least three top 100 public golf courses is short. Bandon Dunes. Sand Valley. Streamsong. Pinehurst. Pebble Beach. Kohler—if you combine Blackwolf Run and Whistling.

And: Big Cedar Lodge.

In rare air, the Missouri resort is tucked into the rolling hills of the Ozarks, just south of Branson. And it’s a golf haven, a trio of scenic 18-hole tracks mixed with two of the most fun par 3 courses in the country.

It’s Ozarks National that comes in highest on the respective lists, a Coore-Crenshaw design that is expansive and strategic, showing off the region’s elevation, and coming in at No. 45 on the composite top 100. It takes advantage of the ridge-and-valley topography, Golf Digest writes, “with holes that run out along ridgetops and onto elongated fingers of land that fall off into wooded ravines.”

The Tiger Woods-designed Payne’s Valley is perhaps the most polarizing of the bunch. The first public course from El Tigre, Payne’s is a manicured piece of land that feels particularly manmade, because it is—right down to the iconic 19th that plays down to an island green cut out of dramatic rock formations. That sort of feel won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but it delivers on fun and playability, and it’s turned enough heads to come in at No. 74 on the composite top 100.

Finally, there’s Tom Fazio’s Buffalo Ridge, the first-built Big Cedar offering, another visual stunner that feels very Fazio. It concludes with a big five-hole stretch, Golf Digest writes, including the par 5 14th that plays “through a valley toward a green set on a bluff above a section of creek.” That is a lot of prepositions! Buff Ridge ranks composite 90th.

But it’s the extras that really elevate Big Cedar. Top of the Rock is considered one of the very best par 3 courses in the country—ranked 3rd on Golfweek‘s list. Designed by Jack Nicklaus, its nine holes overlook Table Rock Lake. Newer to the scene is the 2025-opened Cliffhangers, which is the most over-the-top of the bunch. Its 18 holes play off and around the cliffs and through—literally, in one case—the waterfalls. Mountain Top, a 13-hole par 3 from Gary Player and Johnny Morris, rounds out the offerings.

Pricing is a bit difficult to land on, simply because there are so many options, from lodge rooms around $200 a night during peak season to larger luxury accommodations that run well into the thousands. Rustic cabins and cottages are spread across the property, and non-golf hours can be filled with hiking, boating, spa time, or sitting around a fire pit. In other words, it’s a golf trip that can check just about any box you want it to.

Pricing details

Overall range (golf + lodging): $1,485 – $2,265
• Assumes three days, three nights.

Golf + Stay: $1,185 – $1,265
• Peak season resort rates: Payne’s Valley—$400; Ozarks National—$225; Buffalo Ridge—$225; Cliffhangers—$200; Top of the Rock—$135; Mountain Top—$80

Stay: $300 – $1,000

Travel considerations
• Big Cedar sits an hour south of Springfield-Branson airport.

—

This piece originally ran in the GTG newsletter. Subscribe here for free and get pricing details alongside the weekly featured stop—plus news on openings, redesigns, and more—in your inbox each Thursday afternoon.