Omni PGA Frisco
The destination golf boom continues to roar across North America. Brand new resorts coupled with established ones both upgrading or growing their golf menus are jousting for pro tournaments and buddies groups alike.
Hot architects like Gil Hanse and Tom Doak have highly anticipated new courses opening. Resorts are also adding new amenities and short courses to keep golfers teeing up from dawn until dusk (or in the case of one Texas resort, after dusk, thanks to new lighted holes.)
There’s never been a better time to have a regular buddies trip, and that goes for North, South, East and West destinations. There are scores of new and renovated courses, private and public, from coast-to-coast. We’ve narrowed them down to some of the hottest destination and resort golf courses opening in 2024, as well as some that opened mid-2023 and whose hotels and additional amenities are expected to be completed this year.
Pinehurst No. 10
It’s a big year for Pinehurst. As the USGA settles into its new offices in the village, the U.S. Open returns June 13-16. Pinehurst loves opening new/renovated courses the same year as big tournaments, and this time it’s Pinehurst No. 10 that will be the shiny new kid on the block. The first new 18-hole course in over three decades, the Tom Doak design, featuring rugged terrain, native wiregrass and dunes along 75 feet of elevation change will make a case as the new must-play to compare with the recently remade Pinehurst No. 4 (by Gil Hanse).
Pinehurst No. 10
Omni PGA Frisco
The PGA of America’s new headquarters north of Dallas is rounding into completion and is now one of the country’s most complete golf getaways. Fields Ranch East (Gil Hanse) and Fields Ranch West (Beau Welling) are both maturing and entering their first full year of operations, while additional facilities at this Texas-sized Omni resort now include the Dance Floor, a two-acre lighted practice course, as well as The Swing, a 10-hole lighted par-3 course with holes ranging from 45-100 yards. Be one of the first to enjoy the course before it hosts the 2027 PGA Championship and what many predict to be a future Ryder Cup venue.
Omni PGA Frisco
Cabot Citrus Farms
The Cabot group’s migration from its original property in Nova Scotia to the south takes a giant leap in 2024 with the opening of Cabot Citrus Farms north of Tampa. This is a highly-anticipated revamp of the former World Woods property, which never fully realized its lofty development ambitions of the 1990s, anchored by two Tom Fazio designs that garnered Top 100 public acclaim at its peak. Even if Brooksville never took off as a bonafide destination, the expansive property was always regarded as having some of the best rolling, sandy and wooded terrain for golf in the state, and it’s getting a huge jolt from the Cabot group. Citrus Farms is expected to reopen in 2024 with two full 18-hole courses, a 9-hole course and 11-hole par-3 course along with clubhouse and practice facility. Golf groups will be able to play Cabot Citrus Farms and Streamsong Resort, two of the best resort additions of the 21st century, within about a two-hour drive of one another.
Cabot Citrus Farms
Sedge Valley at Sand Valley
Wisconsin’s Sand Valley resort, a Keiser property, continues expanding at a torrid pace. The latest course to open this year is Sedge Valley, designed by Tom Doak. Inspired by Heathland courses of the British Isles, Sedge Valley will play shorter and smaller in scale compared to Mammoth Dunes and the original course. But it is a Doak design after all, so expect bold greens and visual trickery.
Speaking of Keiser resorts, Bandon Dunes will open a nsa brand new “Shorty’s” Course this April. Formerly a small pitch and putt by the driving range, it’s been moved to a site beside Bandon Trails and features 19 par-3 holes.
Sedge Valley at Sand Valley
Black Desert Resort
Utah has a shiny new course that will enjoy its first full year of operation which also includes a PGA Tour event. Black Desert, Tom Weiskopf’s final design before passing away, opened in the spectacular Greater Zion region of the state. It’s the first course at a resort development with lofty ambitions. The resort, featuring 3,000 rooms, opens this fall, and will include a water park, spa and 20-plus restaurants. On-course thrills include two short par 4s, bonus 19th hole and holes framed with black lava rock. The bright lights of the PGA Tour will tee it up at Black Desert in October , 2024 and the LPGA in 2025.
Black Desert Resort
Omni La Costa Resort
Omni has doubled down on golf in a big way recently and it continues with Omni La Costa, the venerable Carlsbad resort north of San Diego. The former PGA Tour host Champions course is undergoing a major transformation by architect Gil Hanse that is expected to be completed in June 2024. The practice facilities onsite are also being rebuilt and enhanced. When opened, the Champions will host the NCAA D1 National Championships and rival the other high-caliber venues in the area like Torrey Pines.
Omni La Costa
St. John’s Michigan
Who says all of Michigan’s golf resorts are up north? Metro Detroit’s St. John’s Inn in Plymouth is a unique property minutes from Metro Airport that is spread across 200 acres on the grounds of a former seminary. The hotel was purchased in 2021 by a new ownership group who have wasted no time upgrading the golf product, transforming its originalå 27-hole course into The Cardinal championship course (designed by Ray Hearn), as well as a Little Cardinal 7-hole short course and putting course inspired by the Himalayas at St. Andrews. Expect it to rival the best public-access courses in the metro area.
St. John’s Michigan
Northern Michigan: BOYNE Par 3 course
Finally, the Boyne Golf umbrella in Northern Michigan has a bonafide par-3 course on its roster. The Boyne Highlands resort in Harbor Springs. For such a family-friendly resort as Boyne and Northern Michigan, it will fit right in. If you’re a short-course aficionadoafficionado, you could compare this new Boyne short course, named Doon Brae, with the Forest Dunes Bootlegger par-3 course, and compare them with the OG par-3 course in the area, Threetops at Treetops Resort in Gaylord.
BOYNE Par-3 course