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Michelle Wie West, one of the most recognizable golfers of the 21st century, is getting into golf course design.
The five-time LPGA Tour winner, who captured the 2014 U.S. Women's Open at Pinehurst No. 2, will collaborate with architect Mike Koprowski on Sweet Tooth, a new par-3 course at the emerging Candyroot Lodge golf resort property in South Carolina, located midway between the city of Florence and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Within Candyroot Lodge's greater 1,210-acre property, Wie West and Koprowski have carved out 25 acres for Sweet Tooth. The course will mainly function as a par-3 loop, but with a twist: an alternate routing will turn some corridors into longer holes, adding variety to the experience. The course will also be lighted for evening play.
Wie West views Sweet Tooth as a return to her own roots in the game. "My golf journey began on par-3 courses, so this project feels incredibly personal to me,” she said. “I grew up playing on a public course, and that shaped my love for the game. With Sweet Tooth, I want to create that same kind of environment, where families can connect, kids can discover golf for the first time, and players of all levels feel welcome and excited to play."
Wie West retired from regular competitive golf in 2022, but recently returned to play in the LPGA Tour's Mizuho Americas Open, an event for which she serves as host. She is also expected to tee it up in the 2026 U.S. Women's Open, 23 years after making her debut in the event at the age of 13.
Sweet Tooth's emphasis on different options and hole types partly echoes the approach Koprowski and architect Kyle Franz took at Broomsedge Golf Club, an 18-hole course that opened in 2023 in Rembert, S.C., about 45 miles south of Jefferson, S.C., where Candyroot will sit. Several holes at Broomsedge feature alternate greens that are brought into play on certain days, offering members and guests some new perspectives while playing the course over multiple consecutive days. Golden Age architect George Thomas referred to this approach as creating "a course within the course," and famously employed it at Los Angeles Country Club's North Course, which hosted the 2023 U.S. Open.
More about Candyroot Lodge
Candyroot Lodge lies just west of the Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge, which comprises more than 45,000 acres of protected lands managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Early photos of the site and renderings of what the golf may look like there suggest a landscape not unlike that found at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina, with gentle topography interspersed with exposed sandy areas. Quick-draining soils are expected to enable the courses to play firm and fast.
While Wie West brings input to Sweet Tooth, Koprowski is laying out Candyroot Lodge's initial 18-hole course. The property's website describes it as "defined by extreme minimalism," with smallish greens and little to no significant shaping of main hole corridors. Preview play of this course is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2026, while resort amenities like lodging and dining are expected to follow. More golf courses are planned for Candyroot Lodge, too, with the intent to lean on up-and-coming architects to showcase their abilities across the property.
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