Sitting in the recently completed and luxurious lobby of the Black Desert Resort near St. George, Utah, Laurie Weiskopf needed a minute to get control of her emotions. The widow of World Golf Hall of Famer Tom Weiskopf knew she might get choked up a little when seeing the finished project that was the last 18-hole golf course her late husband designed, but the grandeur of the red rocks, black lava flows and stunning resort proved too much for her to handle.
As players rushed to praise the new course, which was shoehorned into the FedEx Cup Fall schedule, Laurie Weiskopf fought through tears while talking with Golfweek about how the 1973 British Open champion would have enjoyed the rave reviews the course received.
The layout has quickly climbed the rankings and is No. 1 in Utah on Golfweek’s Best list of public-access courses, No. 26 among all resort courses in the U.S. and No. 81 among all modern courses in the country.
“He would have been just thrilled. Really thrilled,” Laurie Weiskopf said. “You know there was talk of a PGA Tour event potentially coming as he was building it, but Tom thought that was super aggressive thinking. It would be a surprise to him that it came in 2024. I’m not saying he’d be shocked, but this would have been a surprised to him.”
Opened in 2023, Black Desert was the last course designed by Weiskopf before died of pancreatic cancer. Phil Smith, Weiskopf’s partner in golf architecture, finished the job.
More: What are PGA Tour players saying about the stunning Black Desert Resort this week?
While Laurie admired how much love her husband had for each of the courses he designed, and he has over 70 to his name, she also knew his doggedness would make it difficult to slow down as he became more ill. In a famous story, Weiskopf tumbled into the black lava rocks at Black Desert while he was on there putting the project together. Laurie remembers her husband coming with bloodied hands, but he simply wouldn’t stop working on the project.
“The whole thing was scary for me,” she said. “He fell more than once. I sent him out with the best boots, but he came home with blood all over his hands and I had gloves for him the next day. But I knew he wasn’t going to stop. For him, this wasn’t work. Well, most of the projects weren’t work.”
Tom Weiskopf at Augusta National Golf Club during the 1982 Masters. (The Augusta Chronicle)
While Laurie was thrilled to see Tom’s legacy on display at this year’s Black Desert Championship, she wasn’t as thrilled that it took her husband’s death before he entered the Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony was held in June at Pinehurst. Weiskopf was part of a class that included Padraig Harrington, Sandra Palmer, Johnny Farrell and Beverly Hanson, who joined the remaining seven of the 13 LPGA Founders.
Laurie felt her husband should have gotten the call while he was living, rather than having to come to the family posthumously.
“That’s a hard one for me, to be honest,” she said. “That’s more bittersweet than joyful.
“It’s just frustrating when you know it’s just a popularity contest and you don’t like something about someone and you’re not just looking at what the person’s done. That’s the way I look at it.”
