Black Desert Resort eyes expansion and weighs PGA Tour future - Golfweek

IVINS, UT – Three years ago, Lanto Griffin became the first person to check into Black Desert Resort.

It was an appropriate beginning for a resort that was about to put itself on the golf map.

Griffin, a veteran PGA Tour professional, arrived as Black Desert was preparing to host the inaugural Bank of Utah Championship in 2024. At the time, the resort was so new that there was no time for a soft opening – its first Tour event and its first hotel guests were arriving simultaneously.

Three years later, Black Desert looks very different. The resort is expanding rapidly, drawing golfers from around the world and preparing to add three more golf courses on approximately 1,200 acres less than 10 minutes from the existing resort. The reason is simple: Black Desert doesn't have enough golf.

“We have people flying out all over the world to play this course,” said Patrick Manning, managing director of Reef Capital Partners. “We don't have enough golf holes right now. And that's why we're adding a few more courses.”

Three more courses, in fact, one of which is expected to be private. At least one of them is rumored to be built by Tiger Woods, who just opened his second course developed by Reef, Marcella in Park City, Utah. Manning would only confirm that the designers "will definitely be the Mount Rushmore of Golf,” and that the expansion will further establish Black Desert as a destination built around the game with the backdrop of Utah's iconic red rocks. In addition, a 24-hole par-3 course is planned to be a fun alternative and a place to do more than just play golf. Every six holes, golfers, who will be encouraged to play in bare feet, will pass by the clubhouse for food, drink and live music.

“It's going to be a cool vibe,” Manning said.

That description also captures what Black Desert is trying to become. The resort is no longer simply a golf course with a hotel attached. A water park replete with a lazy river, wave pool, drop slides and surf simulators is scheduled to open phase one in May, an important part of Manning's vision of creating a destination that can attract entire families.

“It’s really important to us that this resort is a multi-generational resort,” Manning said. “There’s going to be something for everyone.”

He envisions Black Desert becoming a luxury base camp for those exploring nearby Zion National Park, Snow Canyons and other state parks, and a luxury health resort for those in need of medical care and spa treatments. Other golf resorts, he said, can only offer the ‘buddy trip,’ but Black Desert is going to offer what he’s dubbed “guilt-free golf.” Then there is pickleball. Much like the Lanto Griffin experience three years ago, the first shots at the resort’s pickleball facility were played by the pros during the start of the Greater Zion Open. 

Black Desert is preparing to expand its pickleball facilities to include a 4,000-seat venue with a lower and upper bowl. Manning said the Professional Pickleball Association has selected Black Desert to be one of four major tournaments as the sport moves toward a system more closely resembling professional tennis. The resort is embracing the opportunity.

“We're going all in on this becoming the nation's No. 1 pickleball facility,” Manning said, “and it won’t even be close.”

Golf, however, remains at the heart of the strategy. And that makes the future of the PGA Tour here particularly interesting. The 2026 Bank of Utah Championship was the third year of a four-year agreement. But with the PGA Tour slated to re-make its schedule into a two-tiered system of a Championship Series and Challenger Series after 2027, Black Desert is watching carefully. For now, there is no decision about what comes next. [Final bids to be part of the Championship Series were due at the end of September.]

“So, we'll just see how things play out and if they continue to be beneficial,” Manning said.

That last word — beneficial — may be the key. Because while hosting a Tour event provides enormous exposure, it also comes at a cost. Manning acknowledges the Championship Series, which would require in the neighborhood of $30 million a year, may simply be too expensive for Black Desert and the St. George market. [Challenger Series events are expected to cost title sponsors between $5 million and $15 million per year, depending on the time of year and whether it's on network or cable TV.]

“At first, I was determined to get into the main schedule,” Manning said. “I was 100 percent we're making this happen.”

Then he started looking more closely at the economics. St. George is not a major metropolitan market. There are only so many people in the region to support major professional sporting events, and Black Desert is competing for that attention with other sports and attractions.

“When you think about having a PGA Tour, having an NBA team (Utah Jazz), having an NHL team (Utah Mammoth), and all the other things, it's a very loud space for a very small population,” Manning said.

A move to the PGA Tour's regular schedule would also mean a significantly larger purse — and significantly larger losses if the additional revenue and exposure didn't justify the expense.

“So, I don't know that we can,” Manning said. “As I saw the economics of it all, I'm like, yeah, it's probably not a good financial decision.”

There is also the question of how much more valuable the tournament becomes when the biggest names in golf are playing. Manning isn't convinced that adding stars such as Rory McIlroy or Scottie Scheffler would fundamentally change the equation. “I don't know if we get a whole lot more benefit because Rory comes, you know, where Scottie comes,” he said.

His concern is that moving to a more expensive level of PGA Tour competition could cost Black Desert another $10 million a year. “And I don't know that we have $10 million of value there,” Manning said.

That's not an easy thing for someone like Manning to admit. He has built Black Desert around ambitious ideas. His instinct, by his own admission, is to build the biggest and best version possible.

“Normally, everybody that knows me knows I want to do the biggest, best, whatever,” Manning said. “But sometimes it's expensive.”

And perhaps that is where Black Desert's golf strategy is heading. Not necessarily away from the PGA Tour, but toward a more deliberate calculation of what the tournament is actually worth. Because Manning believes golf has something that none of the resort's other attractions can quite match – a built-in customer base.

“Golfers are just so much more efficient to market to than it is anybody else,” he said.

Black Desert can promote itself as a mountain-biking destination. It can advertise its water park. It can build a world-class pickleball facility. Those attractions will help fill a hotel. But none, Manning believes, will fill a resort by itself.

“I say it all the time, golfers are suckers,” Manning said with a laugh. “Golf is the epitome of if you build it, they will come.”

Black Desert is certainly in building mode. The resort is growing into something much larger than the property that welcomed Griffin as its first guest. The PGA Tour helped put Black Desert on the map. But as the resort grows, it may no longer need the Tour simply for the sake of saying it has one.

“We’re not even speculating right now,” Manning said.

What he's betting on is that if you create enough reasons for people to come, they'll find their way to St. George. Especially if there's multiples golf courses waiting for them.

Adam Schupak is a senior writer for Golfweek, covering the PGA Tour.