Tiger Stops in Houston to Inspect New Course


On Monday, Tiger Woods paid a visit to the site of the new golf course he's building in Montgomery, Texas, just north of Houston. Woods was hired to design the all-new layout - called Bluejack National - on the site of the former Blaketree National Golf Club.

Woods made the stop in the Lone Star State while en route to the first course he designed that will open, the El Cardonal at Diamante in Cabo San Lucas. Woods will be in attendance when the new track in Mexico debuts Tuesday.

Site prep has begun on Bluejack, which - with the exception of its TifEagle Bermuda greens - will feature zoysiagrass tees and fairways.

Woods told reporters he was surprised that Houston and environs had such variety in its local terrain. "I've been to Houston many times and I never, ever thought that Houston had hills," Woods told Houston Chronicle reporter Jenny Dial Creech. "I always thought it was a very flat city. To come out here, it was totally different to see this type of typography. It just blew my mind."

Woods' new layout won't have any similarities with Blaketree National, which has been plowed under for the new course. Still, some of the routing will be retained. "Having the ability to - the corridors were already here - then to make our improvements, how we think the golf course should be played," he said.

"We are going to have it fast, we are going to have it more open, no rough, all the under-story will be cleaned up. I know you see people lose a lot of golf balls. The whole idea for here is that you slice and hook it and you can still find it and play."

In addition to the 7,475-yard course, Blackjack National will contain a short nine-hole course called "The Playground," which should open next summer. Woods, who has two young children, thinks it is appropriately named. "I think you have to have a facility that will cater to all different levels of play that has amenities as well," he told Creech.

"Kids are going to be able to enjoy this. We want to have people come stay for weekends or for a week and have the things that everyone can enjoy. One of the neatest things to me is the little playground. I grew up on a par-3 course, and the longest hole out there was maybe 120 yards. I remember hitting driver, 7-iron on those holes because I couldn't get there."

After a bit of a sluggish start, owed mainly to the nation's poor economy and a general hiatus in new golf-related development, Woods's design career has been on the upswing of late. In addition to El Cardonal and Bluejack National, he was recently hired to design a new 18-hole layout in Dubai. The course will be part of the Akoya Oxygen residential project and, if all goes well, will open in 2017.

Despite the work outside the ropes of tournament play, Woods said his immediate focus is returning to the winner's circle, a place he's visited 79 times - including at 14 major championships - during his illustrious career.

"The whole idea is I'm not going to be doing a lot of golf courses because I want to be able to put as much time as I can into (competition)," he said. "I have always done it that way, whether in golf or other parts of my business life. I am either all in or I am not in. I work my tail off, and I am very proud of my work."

For Creech's full article, visit http://www.chron.com/sports/golf/article/Tiger-Woods-in-Houston-for-his-first-United-5958380.php.