Payne’s Valley – Review 1

There are a lot of golf courses out there. While some of them are reasonably priced and fun to play, many of them are overpriced with layouts that are terrible to work through.  Over the years, I have played a lot of golf and a lot of golf courses.  I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly through my experience.  I am here to help you to know which courses to play, and which ones to stay away from.

Today I will be talking about one of the newest golf courses in all of America.  Payne’s Valley, located near Branson Missouri, was designed by Tiger woods and has been open now for only several months.  While the newness and publicity of this course got many people talking, I wondered if the style and layout of the course would live up to the hype.

With this idea in mind, I decided to take a trip and play the course with my dad.  The pictures online made me itch to play but the rain in the forecast made me nervous for a cancellation.  As our tee time grew closer and the clouds drifted away, I was filled with excitement.  The first tee was packed with green grass and the rough was perfectly cut.  By the first hole, you could tell that the conditions were definitely going to live up to Golf Digest’s standards.

The next question about this course was the layout.  Are there going to be any trick holes? Are there going to be annoying blind shots? As we continued to make our way through the round we saw that the course was rather simple.  Now, simple doesn’t always mean easy, but it does mean that you can go out with no previous research or homework and play the course without any surprises (which is something that is greatly appreciated by almost all avid golfers). While I definitely did my homework and studied each and every hole on the way to the course, I realized the generosity of the course once I made the turn. 

Overall, the greens were smooth, the fairways were green, and the rough was thick.  While this course was definitely a challenge, it was still very enjoyable.  This course is good for beginners and skilled players alike and definitely lives up to the hype of Golf Digest and the multiple ESPN articles.  And if the 18 holes alone don’t make you love the course, the 19th hole is sure to change your mind.

Unlike all traditional golf courses around the world, this course has a 19th hole as a tribute to the great Payne Stewart.  This hole is a majestic par 3 with an island green that is surrounded by rock.  This final par 3 ties together the entire round and truly lives up to the name The 19th Wonder of The World. 

This course definitely exceeds all expectations and is one that I would love to play again.  I highly suggest this course as a bucket list item; It will not disappoint.