Grandeur In The Ozarks
Payne’s Valley Another Big Step Up For Big Cedar
By John Steinbreder
People in the Ozark Mountains of southwestern Missouri learned long ago not to doubt Johnny Morris.
He was in his early 20s and competing on the professional bass fishing circuit when he started selling lures to fellow anglers who, like him, were displeased with the tackle being peddled by more established vendors. Morris called his business Bass Pro Shops and opened the first outlet in the back of one of his father’s Brown Derby liquor stores in Springfield.
Nearly half a century later, privately held Bass Pro Shops is one of the largest sporting goods companies in the world. It is also wildly profitable, and Mr. Johnny, as the folksy founder is known in these parts, has amassed a personal fortune that is estimated to exceed $4 billion.
More than two decades after founding Bass Pro Shops, Morris decided to expand into the hospitality realm, creating a “wilderness resort” called Big Cedar Lodge on a 4,600-acre piece of property some 10 miles south of the kitschy entertainment center of Branson, Missouri. He recognized a business opportunity, to be sure, and a chance to elevate his Bass Pro Shops brand and introduce it to a broader audience.
But Morris also saw a way to promote his beloved Ozarks by giving guests a taste of what loved most about this part of the world. So he offered them fishing and boating on a 50,000-acre lake. Clay target shooting, horseback riding and hiking, too, as well as a spa and splendid places to eat, drink and sleep. Morris also built a natural history museum, filling it with one of the finest private collections of Native American art and artifacts.
Then he decided to add golf to the menu of activities, his rationale being that the game was simply another way for people to enjoy the outdoors here. Morris purchased an 18-hole course now called Buffalo Ridge on land that was a short drive away within the town limits of Hollister, and featured sweeping views of leafy hills and gaping hollows. Then he hired Tom Fazio to redesign the layout. Morris also asked Jack Nicklaus to craft a garden-like nine-holer back on the main campus of Big Cedar. Dubbed Top of the Rock, the course overlooks the massive lake.
It wasn’t long before Morris’ ambitions in the game became even more audacious. Soon after Big Cedar began hosting an annual PGA Tour Champions event, he started to speak about making his resort “America’s next great golf destination.”
To some, that seemed an outrageous aim, especially coming from a man who had little experience in golf and had created a place in Big Cedar where it was much more likely to see vehicles with Ducks Unlimited stickers on their bumpers rather than ones from the USGA. But once again, Morris believed there was a way to make the improbable happen.
So, he hired Gary Player to construct Mountain Top – a 13-hole, walking-only, par-3 course that the South African routed in and around dramatic limestone outcroppings on land very near Buffalo Ridge. Then, Morris asked Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw to build another 18-holer on well-contoured ground that runs atop nearby ridges, and boasts stands of oaks and pines, green swathes of Buffalo grass flecked with purple wildflowers and wooden bridges crafted by Amish artisans. Quite appropriately, Mr. Johnny named it Ozarks National.
Those courses opened in 2018. The following year, Morris induced Tiger Woods to create another 18-hole course on the Buffalo Ridge property that came to be called Payne’s Valley – in honor of the late golfer Payne Stewart, who was not only a native of nearby Springfield but also a friend of both men.
I have made several trips during the past several years to keep tabs on what Morris has been doing in golf, with the courses, to be sure, but also the things he was building for the golfers coming to play them. Like a lodge at Buffalo Ridge with a locker room, a bar and restaurant, as well as a cluster of cottages that sleep from one to 16 people and have fully-equipped kitchens, wood-burning fireplaces, gas grills – and, in the case of four abodes – plunge pools and practice putting greens. And after each one, I saw that Morris was getting closer and closer to realizing his goal.
Then came my latest visit, this past June, and now I have no problem averring that Big Cedar Lodge is truly one of the best golf getaways in the land.
Once again, Johnny Morris has proved the doubters wrong.
Start with Payne’s Valley, with its wide fairways, bold-but-fair bunkering, massive greens and interesting movement in the ground. Woods and his senior design associate, Beau Welling, wanted to make this course fun for a wide range of handicaps, and they succeeded. I found it possible to run approach shots onto a vast majority of the putting surfaces – and damn near impossible to miss a fairway. But the course, which has four sets of tees and can be stretched to 7,370 yards, is no cupcake. Par is quite ably protected by the subtle, yet very testy undulations of the greens. To score well, players need to be accurate with their putting and have their distance control down. The wind that so often blows at PV also adds to the degree of difficulty.
Golfers also will have to work hard to keep from getting distracted by the visuals. Morris likes his limestone outcroppings, as well as his creeks and waterfalls. He is no doubt delighted that Woods and Welling incorporated lots of both in big ways at Payne’s Valley. I found myself stopping time and time again just to take in the sights and sounds.
Playing from the white tees, which measure a tad longer than 6,100 yards, I enjoyed how the round unfolded. The opening hole is a long-ish 4-par of 394 yards. But the landing area is huge and pocked by only one fairway bunker, making it a perfect throat clearer. Then there is a long par-3, a short 4 and after that a par-5 of modest length, with the first pond and creek of the day coming into play, and a short par-3 that features an island green. I liked the looks I had on each of my tee shots, and the way Woods and Welling challenged me with my approaches. And while I did have a couple of three-jacks, I appreciated that I was able to hit the first five greens in regulation.
In many ways, however, Payne’s Valley is all about the finish – in the par-5 18th, which plays slightly uphill to a green backed by a pond and towering limestone outcropping, and also the bye hole. Morris designed that one himself, and the short 3-par is as scenic as it is dramatic. And with the official finisher at 18, it gives golfers a great send-off, no matter how they have actually scored.
With the addition of Payne’s Valley, the Big Cedar golf portfolio now boasts 77 holes. The resort also is home to 20 new cottages that are located on the ridge below the Mountain Top clubhouse and overlook portions of that course and PV. The views of the Ozarks are reason alone to commend these, but there is also plenty to like about how these structures feel like a rustic hunting or fishing camp. And a very high-end one at that.
Wood beams run across the ceiling, and the head of a white-tail deer is mounted on the wood-paneled wall just above the bed. There are fly fishing rods, too, and prints depicting hunting and fishing scenes. A stuffed ring-necked pheasant sits on the bureau, and the entire space is illuminated by a pair of wagon-wheel light fixtures. It is too warm to use the fireplace, but I like how it augments the aura of the cottage. Same with the small patio out the back door, where I find myself enjoying a cup of coffee each morning from a rocking chair, and a proper cocktail from that same spot once my golf day is done in the afternoon. I especially like listening to the sounds of pheasants calling from the woods and the occasional sights of deer walking across the clearings below.
There is a sign at the entrance of the Buffalo Ridge property that reads “Nature Golf,” and that is surely what Johnny Morris has created here. And I learn after a few days that he is by no means done. There are plans, for example, to add a golf learning center and a cart barn. The resort is also in the process of establishing a caddie program and is about to open a driving range at Payne’s Valley that can be lit at night for cottage guests to use at their leisure.
True to form, Mr. Johnny keeps elevating his game, and making sure that “America’s next great golf destination” becomes just that.