Woods Walks Carolina Design Site

Tiger Woods made a site visit to High Carolina, the golf course he is designing at The Cliffs property in Swannanoa, S.C., last weekend. The Charlotte Observer offers a report of that visit here.

Highlights of the story? First of all, given all the turmoil in the golf course construction business, it's nice to hear that any designer is making a site visit these days.

Second, according to the story, the course is at least two years away from opening. Permitting took longer than expected and, as a result, the land is still going through initial clearing stages. But tree stumps or no tree stumps, Woods apparently likes the land he's been given to work with. "I'm from L.A." he told the Observer. "We don't see [views] like this."

Finally, it's clear that whatever design fee The Cliffs is paying Woods -- and some reports say it could be as much as $10 million -- officials there feel they are getting their money's worth.

"We never anticipated he would be involved to this level," Jim Anthony, who has developed the six previous Cliffs golf communities, told the Observer.

-- G.R.