The PGA TOUR Black Desert Championship, Now the Bank of Utah Championship in Ivins, Utah: Dates, Closures and Playing the Course

The PGA TOUR Black Desert Championship is still played in Ivins, Utah, on the west side of the St. George area, but it is now called the Bank of Utah Championship. The 2026 event ran October 1 to 4 at Black Desert Resort, a FedExCup Fall stop, and the Bank of Utah title deal runs through 2027. The course closes to the public for about three weeks around tournament week, so plan a St. George golf trip on either side of it.

This guide covers the event from a traveling golfer's point of view: when it lands, what it shuts down, what it does to hotel prices across St. George and Ivins, and how to play the same 18 holes the pros do. For a full course review, see the Black Desert golf course guide, or go straight to the Black Desert course page.

The PGA TOUR Black Desert Championship, year by year

Black Desert opened its first nine for preview play in November 2022 and the full 18 on May 27, 2023. Tour golf arrived almost immediately.

The LPGA event was held once and is not on the 2026 LPGA schedule, so the PGA TOUR stop is now the only big tour week at the resort. Golf Digest ranks Black Desert #2 in its Utah Best in State list (2025-26) and includes it among America's 100 Greatest Public courses. The resort also cites Golfweek's #1 in Utah, #34 on its Best Courses You Can Play list and #96 on its Top 200 Modern list.

Where the tournament is: Ivins, 13 minutes from downtown St. George

Black Desert sits in Ivins, northwest of downtown St. George, about 13 minutes and 6.2 miles by road. It is part of the west-side cluster of Washington County golf: private Entrada at Snow Canyon is 5 minutes from the resort, the city's 27-hole Sunbrook about 15, and The Ledges, on the rim of Snow Canyon State Park, about 18. Our Ivins and Snow Canyon golf guide covers the area in detail.

Coming from farther out, these are the road times to the resort:

Our files do not include spectator parking or shuttle plans. Check the PGA TOUR's event page for those.

What closes, and when

If you want to play the PGA TOUR Black Desert Championship course, the calendar matters more than the price. Here is the 2026 maintenance and tournament schedule from the resort's course-conditions calendar.

So in 2026 the course was fully closed for just over three weeks, and for six weeks before that you hit off mats on some holes. Because Black Desert is all bentgrass (bent tees, fairways and greens, with Kentucky bluegrass rough), it never closes for a fall overseed the way the bermuda courses in town do. The tournament closure takes the place of that gap.

If the 2027 event lands in October again, expect a similar closure pattern. The resort had not published 2027 dates when we checked.

What else is open around St. George during the closure

The tournament closure overlaps the city's overseed calendar, so late September is thin. Here is how the 2026 closures lined up for the courses closest to Ivins and downtown:

Dates are the 2026 schedules and change each year. Our St. George overseed schedule has the full list, including Mesquite.

How tournament week affects a St. George golf trip

Tournament week is not just about one closed course. Early October is the most crowded stretch of the year in Greater Zion golf.

• The St. George Marathon runs the first Saturday of October. In 2026 it was Saturday, October 3, with more than 10,000 participants, and it overlapped the PGA TOUR weekend. Local reports mentioned premium hotel rates of $150 or more a night, and roads close on race morning.
• The Huntsman World Senior Games filled the next two weeks, October 5 to 17 in 2026. Golf is one of its sports, so other courses and hotels stay busy into mid-October.
• City course overseed wraps up the same week. In 2026 the overseed closures ran to October 5 at St. George Golf Club and October 6 at Southgate, and Southgate stays cart-path-only for two to three weeks after reopening.

If you are coming to watch, book your room early and accept the price. If you are coming to play, our events calendar will point you to quieter weeks. November has comfortable low-60s afternoons and the lightest wind of the year, and the event crowds are gone.

Our files do not include spectator ticket prices. Check the PGA TOUR's event page for those.

Playing the tournament course yourself

Black Desert is a resort course that is open to the public. It was Tom Weiskopf's final design, completed by his longtime partner Phil Smith. Bentgrass corridors run through black basalt lava fields with red cliffs behind, and a ball that misses the corridor is usually gone.

Pick the right tees

The pros play the Tournament tees. Unless you are a strong low handicap, you should not.

Combo tees fill the gaps, including a Weiskopf/Snow Canyon combo at 5,982 yards for men (68.7 / 126). For most visitors the Weiskopf tees are the sensible test. You play the same holes as the pros at a length most visitors can handle. For the tour, the course has been set up at 7,421 yards and par 71.

Holes to know before you watch or play

• #3 is a par 3 with a bunker in the middle of the green, a nod to Riviera's 6th.
• #2 and #8 share a double green out in the lava field.
• #5 and #14 are drivable par 4s.
• #13 is a par 5 for resort guests, but the PGA TOUR plays it as a 519-yard par 4. The green sits on a knob ringed by lava, inspired by Pebble Beach's 14th.
• #18 is a dogleg-left par 5 whose green takes its cue from Augusta's 5th. On our terrain model it falls about 51 feet tee to green, the biggest drop on the course.
• There is also a bonus 19th hole for settling bets.

The greens are creeping bentgrass averaging about 7,000 square feet and heavily undulating. Every group gets a forecaddie, and the resort uses 12-minute tee intervals. Use the forecaddie's reads. A tip for the forecaddie is extra, and the resort does not publish a suggested amount.

What it costs to play

Rates from the resort's 2026 table, checked October 2026. They change, so confirm before booking.

Tee times from 7 to 10 am in that summer window are charged the peak rate, and no twilight rate is published. The fee includes your cart (GPS, with Weiskopf's hole-by-hole audio), the forecaddie, food and non-alcoholic drinks at the on-course Oasis and Club 73 stops, the practice facility and a tee gift.

Staying on the property saves $75 to $125 a round. The cheapest way onto the course is a January to mid-March date as a resort guest at $250, when St. George highs are in the mid-50s to high-60s and the tour crowds are long gone.

Booking a tee time

A 2024 resort press release said the public can book up to 60 days out, with resort guests and owners getting priority. The 2026 site does not restate that window, so call 435-222-7830 if your date matters. Stay-and-play bookings can go up to a year out. Singles and same-day times are by phone, and there is a virtual waitlist if your date is full. For other courses' windows, see our St. George tee times booking guide.

Where to stay for tournament week in Ivins and St. George

Hotel rates are snapshots and change, and the 2026 tournament and marathon weekend brought premium rates. Black Desert Resort's reviews also mention crowds during tournament weeks. A downtown St. George room works fine if you have a car. More options are in our St. George golf hotels guide.

Build a trip around it

If the PGA TOUR Black Desert Championship course is your splurge round, pair it with other demanding courses that cost less. The Ledges sits 15 minutes from downtown on the rim of Snow Canyon (see The Ledges course guide). Sand Hollow Championship in Hurricane has the cliff-edge back nine, and Copper Rock, also in Hurricane, hosted the LPGA's Epson Tour event from 2021 to 2026 and has the highest men's Course Rating in the area (75.8 from the tips). Our list of the hardest golf courses in St. George ranks them by the numbers.

Plan it on the map

Black Desert, its neighbouring hotels in Ivins and every other St. George and Mesquite course are on the 3D map of St. George golf. Click the course to see its tees, closures and drive times, then check which week of your trip it is actually open.