Overview: Ozarks National is the 3rd and last regulation golf course at Big Cedar Lodge, and is a Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw design that was built in 2018. Ozarks National is a links style course wi... Continue »

Overview: Ozarks National is the 3rd and last regulation golf course at Big Cedar Lodge, and is a Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw design that was built in 2018. Ozarks National is a links style course with wide fairways, and ample slopes that funnel the ball back toward the greens. The course has a few blind tee shots, but they are not that bad even if you do not take a forecaddie as our group did. The course has a group of risk/reward par 4's and reachable par 5's.

Clubhouse: A small clubhouse with only one restroom (combined) for men's and ladies The outdoor food area was very small, and not really a place to have a meal before or after the round. You had to go over to the Payne's Valley clubhouse ... which was about 5 minutes away by golf cart. All the player assistant's were very friendly at the clubhouse.

Practice Area: The practice area was shared with Payne's Valley until that one was being completed. I thought the practice area was very average, but the short game and bunker were very good.

Course: A classic Coore and Crenshaw design with with wide Zoysia fairways and firm bengrass greens. Out of all the three regulation courses at Big Cedar Lodge, these bentgrass greens were the best. They were quite firm, rolled true and had good pace. The fairways were cut a little bit tighter then Payne's Valley and Buffalo Ridge, so there was more rollout off the tee. The rough was about an inch to an inch and a half in length and was not as penal as the other 2 courses. The sand in all the bunkers was excellent and very easy to hit out of.
The course starts out with a few holes that are right in front of you, but when you hit #5 the course starts to get really interesting. There has been a lot of complaints about blind tee shots, but I did not really find them to be a problem. There was directional polls out in a couple of the fairways that assisted you with direction and the cart GPS was excellent.
As mentioned earlier, we had a forecaddie for the round, and Jackson was very good at helping us with the lines off the tee, reading putts and taking care of racking the bunkers for us. The cost for the forecaddie was $40 per bag and gratuity was at least $30 per bag. I would not use a forecaddie at either Payne's Valley or Buffalo Ridge, but I think for this course it might be a good idea to have one. What was nice was complimentary hot dogs and snacks at the turn. Beverages (including water) were not free.

Final Thoughts: What I thought was great about the 3 regulation courses at Big Cedar Lodge was that each of them was very unique and different from each other. It did not feel like we played the same course all three rounds. Big Cedar Lodge is definitely on it's way to being an excellent golf resort. It has that Bandon Dunes sort of feel because you have to travel a little bit to get there. The closest airport is about an hour away in Springfield, Missouri ... while Little Rock, Arkansas is about 170 miles away from Big Cedar Lodge.