Johnny Morris, founder of Big Cedar Lodge and its five golf courses, has been named the recipient of the 40th Old Tom Morris Award presented by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA). Morris will be honored Feb. 9 at the Send-Off Celebration at the 2023 GCSAA Conference and Trade Show in Orlando, Fla.
The Old Tom Morris Award is presented to an individual who, through a continuing lifetime commitment to the game of golf, has helped to mold the welfare of the game in a manner and style exemplified by Old Tom Morris. Old Tom Morris was a four-time British Open winner and the legendary greenkeeper at St. Andrews in Scotland.
“Johnny Morris and Old Tom Morris share the same sense of ingenuity and love for the game of golf,” GCSAA CEO Rhett Evans said. “His dedication to the environment, respect for superintendents and his contributions to the growth of the game make Johnny a perfect choice for the Old Tom Morris Award.”
Morris, who founded Bass Pro Shops, is a conservationist who created Big Cedar Lodge in Ridgedale, Mo., as a destination for families and friends to connect in the great outdoors. The resort, located in the Ozark Mountains, touts being environmentally conscious it does.
Morris used golf as an avenue to get people out to enjoy nature and at the same time turn the Missouri Ozarks into one of the nation’s more popular golf destinations. After purchasing the Big Cedar property in 1987, he had Jack Nicklaus design Top of the Rock in 1996, enticing more access to the beautiful area which overlooks Table Rock Lake.
“On behalf of the Big Cedar Golf team, I am honored to accept this wonderful award,” Morris said. “We are proud of the reception our nature golf experience has received by golfers from across six continents who have come to play with us. Our golf courses are a wonderful way to bring friends and families closer to nature and to each other.”
Renovation was done on Nicklaus’ nine-hole, par-three creation and it re-opened in 2014. At the same time Buffalo Ridge, another Big Cedar Lodge course eight miles down the hill, was renovated by Tom Fazio.
Morris added Mountain Top, a 13-hole, Gary Player-design, to the Big Cedar Lodge family in 2017. Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw’s Ozarks National opened in 2019 and Payne Valley, a 19-hole Tiger Woods design, debuted in 2020.
The 4,600-acre property also includes Arnie’s Barn, a 150-year-old barn relocated from Arnold Palmer’s backyard in Latrobe, Pa. There is also a Tom Watson-designed putting course at Mountain Top. Palmer (1983), Watson (1992), Fazio (1996), Crenshaw (1997), Nicklaus (2005) and Player (2020) each are previous Old Tom Morris Award recipients.
Photo Credit: Big Cedar Lodge
https://www.gcsaa.org/about-gcsaa/awards/old-tom-morris-award