Cliffhangers at Big Cedar Golf is a must for all golf fans everywhere

Golf means different things to different people.

It offers an opportunity for exercise, that much is obvious given that it is a physical activity.

You can challenge yourself mentally in golf. It is the only sport or game in which you are completely and totally competing against the person in the mirror looking across you.

With golf courses all over the world you can play in all sorts of conditions. There are different things you can see, hear and feel during a given round.

There is also a communal aspect to golf. Time spent with those we care about, or random strangers we happen to find ourselves in a group with, helps us forge memories that we hold onto. Great shots (or bad ones!) get remembered and the tales from them get taller as more of that time passes.

I’ve had the great blessing in my life of visiting a number of golf destinations and partaking in amazing golf adventures. I am here to tell you that nothing will check all of those boxes like Cliffhangers, the new par-3 course at Big Cedar Golf.

It opens on the Fourth of July and has to soar to the top of your list.

This is the second hole, Cascades, at Cliffhangers. There is a literal waterfall between you and the green. You can see the cart path to the left… you drive over a break in the waterfall to get up to it. Totally normal stuff… at Cliffhangers and nowhere else.

It is a one-of-one place. Not just in golf. On the earth at large.

Every fan of golf, outdoors, spectacular views or life in general will absolutely love Cliffhangers

While the course officially opens on the Fourth of July I was fortunate to have a chance to visit and play Cliffhangers in late June. I am here to tell you that you must do so as well.

Golf enthusiasts are familiar with Big Cedar Golf in general, obviously. Payne’s Valley is on everybody’s bucket list. Buffalo Ridge is a delight (they just re-opened with brand new greens in June and it is in perfect shape). Ozarks National will test and thrill you. This is a sacred place for golf as a whole.

With all due respect to its other illustrious courses, Big Cedar Golf offers nothing like Cliffhangers now. It feels like Disney World designed a ride for you to get beyond inside of. You are the vehicle that rides the tracks. To that point there are no actual tracks. The course opens itself up for you to design them yourself with all sorts of fun encircling every hole whether it be a body of water, waterfall as noted or series of bunkers. One of the holes is even called Bunkers and at one point on the course you also drive through a bunker on the cart path.

Grid View

To be clear I am hardly a stick when it comes to this beautiful game. I am comfortable with my skills and can generally not embarrass myself, but I am not setting any course records. We can all empathize with this disposition, I’m sure.

That being said I found Cliffhangers to both attainable and incredibly challenging. Its design offered opportunities for me to score and use slopes to my advantage, but it also punished my missed hits the way that it should. Beyond any level of skill or talent it also made me feel both like a PGA Tour star in the middle of such a spectacular place as well as like Mark Watney traversing his way through Mars what with how completely and totally secluded I felt. Big Cedar Golf and the lodge do an amazing job of tucking their visitors away from the rest of the world and Cliffhangers is no exception.

Like any good golf course Cliffhangers also has some signature elements and holes. There are those moments and shots that you will remember above others when it is all said and done.

There is zero doubt that “Lion’s Den” stands out in this regard. You enter through a cave and are told that during construction of Payne’s Valley that a “mature mountain lion” was observed. You are advised to continue at your own risk. Seriously. What a thrill.

As you navigate the cave you are led to an opening and realize you are underneath a waterfall. This is where you must hit your tee shot from. I’m telling you, this place is special.

As you drive on out from the cave and down the hill (crossing yet another waterfall) all worries and whatevers that are going on feel non-existent. The green overlooks a dip in elevation and you feel both small relative to the entire world and big relative to your place in it all at the same time.

Rounds of golf at Big Cedar are unique if that is not obvious and that means that you get a bison dog midway through. That goes for Cliffhangers as well. This special place offers a transformative experience from the moment you set foot on property and the hospitality from every sector of the staff ensures that you feel it.

While I played Cliffhangers during the afternoon I was able to attend a special event at the property in the evening. Re-entering the ride that Disney World designed was one thing, but being met by “Walt” in the process made the experience all the more special. Johnny Morris and JP Morris offered some thoughts and input on what led to the creation and design of Cliffhangers while showing us their favorite parts of it. The father and son duo are well-known for how they have designed and overseen so much throughout the Ozarks and now Cliffhangers serves as their latest point of pride.

It is difficult to encapsulate what this part of the space we all live in looks like when the sun sets. Nothing else matters when you are here. All that is going on is you, golf, nature and life.

Grid View

There is not a single part of Cliffhangers that doesn’t offer one of the most breathtaking views that you have ever seen in your life. Those who have been know that the Ozarks are humbling to stand in the presence of and that is exactly how I felt with every step that I took.

If it isn’t obvious my steps were across several points of elevation. You descend quite a bit throughout this journey and when you finish 18 you have to obviously climb back up, relatively speaking. This was quite special to experience.

Look at how low, over the cliff if you will, the tee box at 18 is. You have to criss-cross on your way back up and as you do you are overlooking the quest you just traversed. On the way you are met with more terrain and signature elements from Big Cedar Golf as a whole, it is like after the big drop on the ride when you are being taken to where you first boarded the car.

Grid View

For as long as I live I will remember my day at Cliffhangers. It was golf on the edge in all capacities that it could be.

The property has the highest seal of approval that I can give. You will walk away from this experience with a point of pride for having survived but also with a full heart thanks to the joy contained in every blade of grass, drip of the waterfall and grain of sand in its many traps.

Go. Enjoy. Prosper.

Big Cedar Golf provided travel and accommodations for this story, but was not granted creative input and did not interfere with our editorial independence or the integrity of this review.