Branson/Lakes Area Courses Dominate “America’s Best Courses You Can Play” Missouri List

(BRANSON, Mo.) – Payne Stewart, Buffalo Ridge Springs and LedgeStone earned three of five Missouri spots in “America’s Best Courses You Can Play, 2015,” so determined by Golfweek raters and published today.

The media network deploys 700-plus experienced raters each year to survey thousands of courses based on routing, shaping, management, natural setting, variety of golf holes, strength of conditioning and more.

“These course honors help prospective guests discover the playing options and high quality found in our golf destination,” said Lynn Berry, Branson/Lakes Area CVB communications director.

Payne Stewart is an experiential tribute to Missouri’s favorite golf son that seamlessly meshes water, hardwoods and undulating terrain into a scenic, memorable round.  Guests feel his legacy throughout the property, and each hole is interwoven with a story from Stewart’s accomplished golf career.  The clubhouse displays museum-quality memorabilia that further enhances time spent at the club.  The course layout was authored by Chuck Smith with design consultant Bobby Clampett, a PGA Tour life-time member currently playing on the Champions Tour and commentating on CBS Sports golf broadcasts.

Along with the new Jack Nicklaus-designed Top of the Rock, Buffalo Ridge Springs (formerly Branson Creek) is a host course for the Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf at Big Cedar Lodge (April 22-26, 2015).  A “Top 100 Public Course” upon opening in 1999, Buffalo Ridge Springs re-opened last summer after an astonishingly nuanced transformation guided by visionary conservationist Johnny Morris and renowned course architect Tom Fazio.  Adding new approaches, water features and bunkers, Morris and Fazio redesigned the layout to bring players in close contact with nature, native grasses and free-ranging buffalo from near-by Dogwood Canyon Nature Park.

LedgeStone Country Club is located within the StoneBridge master-planned community and features a popular, locals-favorite public golf course.  The course was creatively designed by Tom Clark and includes an array of diverse holes, substantial elevation change, doglegs and nerve-tingling risk-reward shot options.  The 15th hole best exemplifies the many fine design distinctions at LedgeStone, which has five teeing areas per hole.  Named “The Quarry,” it’s a postcard hole with a roughly 100-foot drop from the teeing area to the putting surface.  A scenic 30-foot-high bank of exposed rock face serves as the green’s backdrop and a pond lay in front of the extremely wide, relatively deep green.  A significant thumbprint depression in the center divides the green, so finding the putting surface is one-half of the hole’s dramatic dynamic.

For more information about Branson/Lakes Area Golf, visit www.explorebranson.com/golf.
* Payne Stewart Golf Club, www.paynestewartgolfclub.com, 417.337.2963
* Buffalo Ridge Springs Golf Course, http://www.topoftherock.com/Page/Golf.aspx, 417.339.5430
* LedgeStone Country Club at StoneBridge Village, www.ledgestonegolf.com, 417.335.8187
* Top of the Rock Golf Course, http://www.topoftherock.com/Page/Golf.aspx, 417.339.5343
* Pointe Royale Golf Village, www.pointeroyalegolf.net, 417.334.4477
* Thousand Hills Golf Resort, www.thousandhillsgolf.com, 800.487.0769, 417.334.4553
* Holiday Hills Resort and Golf Club, www.holidayhills.com, 417.334.4838
* Don Gardner Golf Course, http://www.bransonparksandrecreation.com, 417.337.8510