Ozarks National

Few golf developers have the vision or wherewithal to go to the lengths that Johnny Morris has to serve up engaging experiences for every flavor of golfer. For example, Ozarks National, the Coore & Crenshaw course at Big Cedar Lodge, is the one for golf purists like myself. I enjoy some of the kookier indulgences that happen at Payne’s Valley and Cliffhangers, but the sort of seriousness and architectural rigor of Ozarks National – combined with stunning natural beauty – is what I value more at the end of the day. That’s not to say O.N. is not also a fun golf course – it absolutely is. But as a more traditionally-tuned golf experience, it is excellent, and far and away the course on property I would be most excited to play on back-to-back days, given the opportunity.

After playing Paynes Valley the cart boy said we were in for a big change and challenge at Ozarks so we asked him what he meant. He said: " narrow fairways, elevation changes and blind shots." And boy he wasn't kidding. In our group, I think I heard the same comment after every hole. "Boy, if I played this again I would definitely approach it differently." If you are trying to score well a forecaddy would be worth the money. The conditions were nice but with being past my prime a few of the carrys' were challenging.

Out of the three Big Cedar 18 hole courses, this course was our second favorite, (Buffalo Ridge was our first) . Note that It is currently ranked as Golf Digest’s #155 course in the country, which seems a little surprising, but i like playing highly rated golf courses.

The pace of play was the best of the three at 4 1/2 hours. There are a lot of blind tee shots and approaches, which is not ideal at a resort course (forecaddies are available which would have helped, but we didn’t see many groups using them).

The course did have a lot of character and was fun to play. This course, while relatively forgiving, certainly had carry shots making it the most challenging of the three. Not a course for beginners.

This course had the best and fastest greens, which was great. There were some very challenging pin positions. Definitely play this course as part of a golf trip.

Anyone who has been to Disney World with their kids knows that Space Mountain is a lame roller coaster made exciting by being covered so that it is in the dark. Ozarks is similar, in that it has a ton of blind shots, a cheap way for a golf course designer to add difficulty. You can have a challenging golf course--such as the Ocean Course at Kiawah--that is also fun and interesting to play, but Ozarks was simply unpleasant. I've played other Coore/Crenshaw courses that great, but this one is simply frustrating. First, there are blind shots all over the golf course, which makes club selection and direction difficult. Second, the course is completely mis-rated. We played the white-blue combo tees, which had a slope rating of 122, when 132 would have been more accurate. I play a 6050 yard set of tees at home that is rated at 127; the white/blue combo at Ozarks was 6300, with the back nine being 3300 for a par 35. The course is always windy and most approach shots are uphill, so this course played very long. There are no stakes of any kind--red, yellow or white, and many fairways have no rough and fall off into wilderness areas, resulting in many lost balls. If you do play this course, agree among your group to treat such shots as lateral hazards, otherwise you will spend much time and frustration looking for balls that, coming off the club, seemed like a good shot. If it is wet and the course is cart path only, seriously consider doing something else--you cannot see anything from the cart path on most holes, meaning you have to lug 4-5 clubs up to your ball, then discover it is a blind shot, hit, lose sight of the ball, go back to your cart and try to guess where it is for the next trudge out. The course is also dangerous--the designers inexplicably placed the tee box on one par three on the back nine immediately to the right and downhill from the green on a par five that has several blind approaches--you could easily be beaned by a shot just a little off line on the slice side. By comparison, the other two courses at Big Cedar Lodge--Buffalo Ridge, a Fazio design, and Payne's Valley, a Tiger Woods design--are delightful to play, with great views and plenty of challenges.

The Good: Ozarks National, another wizardly fun design from Coore & Crenshaw, is an excellent addition to the Big Cedar golf portfolio that is quickly becoming one of the best golf resorts in not just the Midwest, but the entire country. While not as flashy as Ozarks National nor as beautiful as Buffalo Ridge, it may be the best design of any course in the area. Wide, expansive fairways jet in strategically with tons of large, rugged sand traps and the green complexes are the most severe of any at the resort. Best compilation of Par-3’s in the greater Branson area, excellent Par-4 variety, and a couple awesome Par-5’s. Superbly conditioned considering it’s just a toddler learning to walk, it also possesses a modest practice area and very nice clubhouse area with full outdoor restaurant and bar. Nice halfway house and GPS on carts is nice touch.

The Bad: A very strategic golf course, yet it lacks the pizzazz of the other Big Cedar regulation courses. Overpriced at $250 during peak season. The staff was nice but weren’t quite as on their game compared to the other Big Cedar courses.

The Verdict: Ozarks National is the third best overall experience at the resort, but it’s the best routing and natural use of the land. A Top 10 Midwest public golf course that I’ve played.

Best Hole: The mid-length Par-3 8th is one of the most understated holes of the entire Big Cedar complex. An extremely large, yet challenging green complex is guarded by deep sand traps short.

This is the second time I have played this course. The first time was 3 yrs ago when it had just opened. It rained before we played so cart path only was expected. The problem is that this course is absolutely not designed for cart paths only. The fairways are huge so the walks are LONG! And, there are many places where you cannot see over a hill, and it's too far to walk up and back to know what trouble may lie ahead. These courses overdo the cart path only thing. It wasn't that wet, but there were some bad spots. They could have had 5 or 6 holes as CPO, or use the 90 degree rule. Sure they are protecting the course, but what about the golfers who drive many miles to get to Branson and pay premium prices to play these courses. No consideration is given to the quality of the experience. I can't really rate the course because I have never played it yet under "normal" conditions. And, we were receiving messages from the clubhouse constantly advising us how far behind the pace of play we were. Give me a break! Poor golf experience...again! I honestly can't imagine going back, an I certainly couldn't recommend this course to anyone.

Greens were recently aerated so we did get a better rate than originally had thought. Coore/Crenshaw classic. Greens were only down side of playing at Ozark National.

Course Condition was as good as public gets. Play was slow, but exactly as advertised. Greens are HUGE and fast so time on greens will take more than normal. 2 biggest disappointments were GPS in carts were very inaccurate. Consistently off by 10-20 yards. We completely stopped using them by hole 4-5 and used range finder or phone apps. Just frustrating when you spend 250 and the GPS is wrong. Our GPS watches did not synced to the course either. We did finally find a phone app that had the course registered. In the parking lot, the kid helping us even said oh yea the GPS yardage is wrong. Fix them, turn them off, or at the very least tell us. We just over paid $250 to play and you don't have the professionalism to warn us about the GPS. Ruined our first 4-5 holes. Course was beautiful and the condition was just as beautiful, but I don't think I would ever pay $250 to play it again. It isn't in that category.

Ozark National is straight out of the Coore/Crenshaw playbook: wide playing corridors, ample slopes to funnel balls toward greens and pins, short par 4s and reachable par 5s.

Caught this place on a cold day and it rained the final five holes, which was disappointing. Would definitely like to play it in-season when it is greened up, but the place still played firm and fast.

Played the gold tees, which are ~6,600 yards. From there, the par 5s, except for No. 9 were all reachable, offering up opportunities to gain a stroke back from par.

The par 3s provide two similar length holes, one super-short one and the beastly 200+-yard 12th, which boasts the largest green on the property. Of note, the tree that provided some visual discomfort on No. 2 is no longer there.

The greens were impeccable. So pure.

I paired this course with Buffalo Ridge Springs the day before and the contrast the two courses provide are discerning. ON allows for more creativity, while BRS asks for more precise shots.

Played the course today with my wife, and I will preface that the weather was a challenge for playing golf at all. with wind gusts of 30-40 MPH it made the experience a little rough. The course was in good shape for November, the fairways were cut very short and the ground was hard.

the greens were true and fast,and the layout was good. We were a little disappointed that the first experience was that of pulling up to a tent and then driving through construction to get to the "clubhouse". The range was nice and the starter was able to get us off early which was good since the weather turned cold and rainy on 17. I would like to play the course again when the weather is nice. My advice would be if it is supposed to be windy, and or cold, I would pass on this course for the 300 dollars that we spent, there could have been a much more enjoyable experience in the area. Will try again when the weather is good. Free Hot Dogs and snacks at the turn was nice however.

Parking and cart pickup was at a temporary tent a distance from the clubhouse. Staff was friendly and the range was nice. Would have liked to have been told about the practice area for bunker shots but not a big deal. The clubhouse is quite small with only one bathroom. Unfortunately it was cart path only, although it wasn’t wet. It made for a rather lengthy round and was difficult to locate the ball occasionally.

The course design left a lot to be desired. There were too many blind shots, and many holes weren’t shaped well. I think if you played the course a few times it would be better. I was disappointed in the condition of the fairways. They were thin in many areas. Over time this will likely improve as the course matures.

I have played Buffalo Ridge and it is a much better design, and actually more picturesque. I would prefer it and Payne’s Valley.

This is one of the 3 destination courses at Big Cedar Lodge. Lots of construction going on in area due to proximity to Payne’s Valley, the new Woods designed course. Very long course with big elevation changes and blind shots, particularly off the tee (makes it hard on first timers). Fairways are wide and with good reason - if you are in the rough, you are dead. Pros - Staff were very friendly and very accommodating. Tee boxes and fairways were in excellent shape. From a scenery standpoint, very tough to beat this course (will be even better when construction on Payne’s Valley And surrounding area is complete). Cons - Pace of play was really bad, largely due to Course allowing 5 somes in October. You just cannot do that in October in my opinion, especially when players paying a premium to play your course. If you put a target stick in the middle of a fairway of a blind tee shot with instructions to hit at the stick, the advice needs to be solid, and it isn’t on at least two tee boxes. Greens in only fair condition, largely due to unrepaired ball marks. The driving range is great, but the clubhouse only has one bathroom which is a little odd. All in all, glad I played it and would do so again if rate was a little more reasonable. If you are asking mid to low $200s for a round in MO, should be close to a perfect course.

Phil Mickelson's BOMBs made Ozarks National look easy during the win in his PGA TOUR Champions debut. It isn't so simple for amateurs to go low. It's probably the toughest Coore & Crenshaw resort course I've played. With no rough, if you miss the fairway, the ball will bound into impossibly long grasses.

The front nine delivers what you'd expect from this dynamic architectural duo. It's filled with scoring opportunities with three par 3s, three par 5s and a pair of short par 4s. The back nine, however, felt like a penal parade of long par 4s (462, 440, 428, and 425 yards) with less variety. Maybe this issue can be solved with some combo tees. Most golfers will play from the golds (6,510 yards) since the whites (5,903 yards) look too short on the card. I love the inclusion of a comfort station with free ice cream, chips, snacks and hotdogs. Groups pass it several times, so nobody leaves Ozarks National hungry.

Ozarks National is a fantastic course and was in amazing condition. Greens were as pure as can be and free hot dogs at the turn was a nice touch!

My friend and I drove 2 hours to play this course. We needed to use the restroom upon arrival. To our astonishment there was only one bathroom at the club house for men and women. One stool! Outstanding course, friendly employees, but why on earth would you only have one bathroom? Johnny Morris screwed this one up!

I caught Ozarks National on a beautiful 80-degree August day and decided to walk the course. I wasn't alone; I saw a lot of trolleys out there that afternoon. The routing is definitely hilly but highly walkable with tees always steps from the previous green. The scenery is great throughout with long views (though Payne's Valley next door may have better overall views) and the walk comes with strolls across bridges in the woods and several "hub" spots at comfort stations.

After playing Payne's 13-hole preview in the morning, some landing zones at ON were a little tighter but there is still a lot of room on most tee shots. The green complexes are phenomenal and subtly tricky at times. There are risk-reward options, especially on the front nine, with two short par 4s and a few great par 5s, including the opener. The 5th is one of the best and boldest short par 4s in the country with decisions galore off the tee.

If I had to knock ON, it's that there are a few too many elevated greens, which might get old for higher handicaps. The par 3s and 5s are front loaded with 3s and 5s in the first 12 holes and 5 of the last 6 holes are par 4s. Quite a few of the tee markers were moved up a box compared to what the yardage was on the card and that's a pet peeve of mine. I ended up playing from the plates on some holes.

The par-3 17th is stunning but it ate my lunch. I went pin seeking to a back left location and ended up making triple.

I was a little surprised at how few amenities were at the Ozarks National clubhouse so for hot food you have to make the short cart trip to the Mountain Top-Payne's clubhouse. The practice facility has a great range and short game area.

I think $195 for this course is a steal compared to other resort courses these days that earn $250+. It can hold its own with the top resort courses in the country with both scenery and interesting design.

This course is unique, fun and views are unbelievable. If you have not played a Coore/Crenshaw course, they design a course that is challenging, but fair. Make sure you pick the correct tees and you will be in for a great, rewarding and fun round of golf.

The staff from beverage cart, to marshals, to club house staff are there to make your day enjoyable and memorable. They are very helpful, informative and willing to do whatever it takes to make your visit great.

The corse is in perfect condition. Does not seem to be a blade of grass out of p,ace. Greens are true and fast. Green complexes are interesting to say the least. Some greens are huge and all seem to fit the type of hole you are playing perfectly. Number of memorable holes. Holes 4, 7, 11 and 12 are just a few that standout. The views over the entire course are amazing. They designed the course along the ridges of the mountains and you seem to be able to see for miles on every hole of the Ozarks.

As per earlier reviews I have done of this course and Buffalo Ridge, Johnny Morris has made it quite clear he is committed to making the Branson area a golf Mecca. As a PGA Professional, I have had the privilege of playing some great courses and resorts throughout the country and these courses rank right up there with any I have played.

Make a trip to Branson. You will not be disappointed. Ozark National is a true gem and I look forward to visiting again soon.

Ozarks National has been well written about already, so I’ll try not to spit out everything you might have already heard, even though I will try to defend a few parts of the golf course that have drawn some criticism. The best compliment I can give the golf course myself is it is a course that you can play differently every time you play it, I don’t think you can ever be bored here. The options of play (especially along the ground) are endless and you can really be creative around the property! I love that. For being such a big property and a “mountain” course, it is very walkable. The overall look of the course is different than the other courses at big cedar. ON truly looks like a place that could host a US Open.

The true gems on the course are holes 4, 8, 9, 10-13, 17, and 18. The other holes are very good as well but these are standout holes in my opinion.

To defend a few critiques on the course, I’ll start with the 7th hole. Many people have a complaint that it isn’t long enough to be a par 5, and so therefore they think it is a bad hole. As a par 5, maybe they are right. But take out the “par” and just look at the hole and the shots it requires to accurately hold that green in two shots, and it is a good hole. The green is in a beautiful setting and is very interesting to play around. Take the hole for what it is and forget the par, I think it is a good hole that way. Next up is hole 15. It’s a blind tee shot on a short hole with a green that isn’t to challenging. The green is probably the most disappointing part of the hole. However, with the land they had to work with on that hole, I actually quite enjoy it. The necklace of bunkers was the only way to make that tee shot interesting without blowing out the hill. Then the bunkers further up the fairway, combined with the slope to the left pinching in actually make you have to think a little off the tee. I think it’s as good of a hole as they could have made in that spot overall. Finally, 17 green gets some flack for not being interesting enough. I find the green to have some subtleties that keep it interesting. Furthermore, when the wind gets up, 17 is interesting enough as is. It’s a pretty hole.

My criticisms of the course are these. The par 5 first hole could really stand for some extra length (as well as 7...for it to be truly a par 5). Then, on holes 14 and 15, I believe the slopes kicking shots off the fairways to the left are a little too punishing and severe. Finally, for such a long and challenging hole, the 16th green seems to be a little small in my opinion.

The pricing of the course I don’t think makes it a great value because I’m not on board with any golf course being around $200 to play....like Buffalo ridge, it is not family friendly to play, even though they try to make it out to be, 5 people playing at $195 is going to be $1000. That’s rough. But, it is an amazing place to play and one worth playing many times. So that does make it a good value I guess.

I truly love this golf course for all its options and intricacies. Play it, and play it again. Keep an open mind when playing and you’ll find this golf course to be very exciting and worthy of all the praise it has received.

Should preface this by saying that the day I played was not ideal for golf. It was about 40 deg and breezy when I teed off at @9:15 a.m. and it had rained most of the day before. Still, the course was in very good shape and I have no complaints about the physical conditions or playability. My criticism is mostly for off-course things. First, the day I played, access to the ballyhooed stone house was closed, and there was no drink cart in service. That meant no restrooms, no food, no refreshments of any kind were available after I teed off. Unacceptable for the $150 I paid to play there.

Second, there are no layout maps on the hole markers or the scorecard to help you know where to hit, what to aim for, etc. On a course with as many blind tee shots as this one (at least five), that will no doubt host a majority of first-timer-visitors, that's inexcusable.

Third, course yardage markers were scant and hard-to-find, even on the tee boxes.

Finally, maintenance crew people and vehicles were omnipresent, and they seemed to have little regard for players. Several times they would roll up on a vehicle just before I hit and start talking. On at least three tee boxes they continued with loading, banging, laughing and generally being loud even though I was just a few yards away trying to tee off. Again, unacceptable.

I will wrap up with this caveat: it was the off-season. Perhaps all of these things will be fixed when the weather warms up and more people are playing there. And even on an ugly day, this course is gorgeous, well-kept, and the views are incredible. That alone is almost worth the steep admission price despite all the other problems. Almost.

Fun scoreable track. Always in great shape. I actually got to play as the very first public tee time back in November 2018 on a cold blustery rainy day. I feel as this course is overpriced for the AREA (not for the country)... I believe it IS the cheapest Coore Crenshaw design in the country though.if I'm not mistaken. I still believe Buffalo Ridge is the better of the two local courses and it's $125 vs $200 at Ozark National. Ozark National is definitely a 5 star track though.