Black Desert Golf Course in Ivins, Near St. George, Utah: What $250 to $450 Buys You, When to Go, and How to Pay Less

Black Desert golf course in Ivins, Utah, about 13 minutes from downtown St. George, costs $250 to $450 a round in 2026, depending on the season and whether you are staying at the resort. That fee includes a cart, a forecaddie, on-course food and soft drinks, and the practice facility. Golf Digest ranks it #2 in Utah, Golfweek ranks it #1, and it hosts a PGA TOUR event.

On a St. George golf trip, it is the premium round. The question is not whether it is good. It is whether it is worth the price for you, and how to pay less. Here is the math, the calendar, the course itself, and how it fits with the other west-side courses around Ivins.

Black Desert golf course in one table

See it on the map or the Black Desert course page.

Where Black Desert sits: Ivins, on the west side of St. George

Black Desert is in Ivins, northwest of downtown St. George, out past the city's west side. It is one of a small cluster of courses on that side of Washington County. Next door is the private Entrada at Snow Canyon, and a little farther are The Ledges, on the sandstone rim of Snow Canyon State Park, and the city's 27-hole Sunbrook. Our Ivins and Snow Canyon golf guide covers that whole west-side group.

Drive times from Black Desert Resort, by road:

The useful takeaway: staying in Ivins puts Black Desert, Entrada and the city courses on the west side within 20 minutes, but Hurricane and Mesquite are a real drive. If your trip leans toward Sand Hollow and Zion, Black Desert works better as a single splurge round than as a base.

What the green fee buys

The 2026 rate table (checked October 11, 2026):

Every rate includes:

• A GPS cart (15 mph) with Weiskopf's own hole-by-hole audio
• A CADDIEMASTER forecaddie, whose tip is extra
• Food and non-alcoholic drinks at the Oasis (an on-course taqueria) and Club 73 (barbecue)
• The practice facility: a Trackman range, chipping green and putting areas
• A tee gift

No twilight rate is published. The forecaddie earns his tip on the greens, which are bentgrass, average about 7,000 square feet and are heavily undulating. Use his reads.

The math on staying at the resort

Resort guests save $75 per round in winter and $125 per round in peak season. That is real money on a two- or three-round stay, but the room is not cheap. A snapshot in October 2026 put typical nights at about $400 to $450 or more before a 15% resort fee, with self-parking listed at $15 a day and valet at $25.

The resort fee covers Wi-Fi, the on-demand cart shuttle around the property, the pools and hot tubs, the fitness center, and the driving range and 2-acre putting course (reservation required). The offers page in October 2026 listed 25% off the room rate for stays of three nights or more, and a "Championship Stay & Play" package with one round per person per night. Cancellation is free until 3 days before arrival.

A rough way to think about it:

• One round, short trip: pay the non-guest rate and stay somewhere cheaper. The Advenire in downtown St. George is 12 minutes away.
• Two or more rounds at Black Desert: the guest savings ($150 to $250 for two rounds) start to offset the room rate, and you can book further out.
• Group of 4 to 8: the resort calls its Terrace Collection, residential-style units with kitchens across from the range and Club 73, the top choice for golf groups. Compare it with The Inn at Entrada, 3 minutes away, whose casitas have a private bath for every bedroom and whose guests can play the private Entrada course.

Our St. George golf hotels guide covers the full range. Recent hotel reviews mention construction work (including blasting) and uneven service, so read the latest before you book.

When to play, and when you can't

At Black Desert golf course, the calendar matters as much as the price.

• January 2 to March 12: the value window. The lowest non-guest rate ($325). St. George highs average about 54°F in January and 59°F in February, with frosty mornings. Spring aerification recovery ran February 26 to March 12 in 2026, with the course open but possibly cart-path-only.
• March 13 to early July: peak rate. $450 for non-guests, covering the spring peak season.
• July 7 to September 3: summer deal, with a catch. Tee times from 10:15 am drop to $325 and $250, but July highs average about 102°F. Early tee times are charged the peak rate. See summer golf in St. George.
• August 1 to September 13: tour prep. In 2026 the course played off mats with limited tee boxes.
• September 14 to October 6: closed for the PGA TOUR event in 2026.

The tour event was October 1 to 4 in 2026 and October 23 to 26 in 2025. The Bank of Utah title deal runs through 2027, but 2027 dates are not yet published. Our Bank of Utah Championship guide tracks it.

Because the turf is all bentgrass, there is no fall overseed closure on top of the tour closure. That matters in September, when the bermuda courses around St. George close in turn for overseed.

Picking a tee

There are eight men's tee options, from 4,916 to 7,393 yards. All are par 72.

For the tour, the course has been set up at 7,421 yards and par 71, with the par-5 13th played as a 519-yard par 4.

Length is not the main test. Black lava lines most holes, and a ball that goes in is usually gone. Pick the tee from which you can keep the ball in the fairway, not the one that matches your ego.

The holes people talk about

Weiskopf built several homages to famous holes into the routing:

• No. 3, a short par 3 with a bunker in the middle of the green, a nod to the 6th at Riviera.
• Nos. 2 and 8 share a double green out in the lava field.
• Nos. 5 and 14 are drivable par 4s. On the mapped layout the 5th is about 320 yards and the 14th about 305, with the 14th climbing about 35 feet to the green.
• No. 13, a par 5 to a green on a lava-ringed knob, inspired by the 14th at Pebble Beach. It plays about 32 feet uphill.
• No. 18, a dogleg-left par 5 whose green was inspired by the 5th at Augusta. It is the biggest drop on the course, falling about 51 feet tee to green on the terrain model.
• A bonus 19th hole for settling bets.

The back nine has the most movement. The 11th and 12th, both par 4s, fall about 47 and 38 feet. Across the round the course climbs about 241 feet and drops about 172, tee to green, on the mapped holes.

Booking a tee time at Black Desert golf course

• Resort guests and owners get booking priority. An August 2024 release put the public window at 60 days; the 2026 site does not restate it.
• Stay-and-play bookings can be made up to a year out. Premium packages: (866) 237-5066.
• Singles and same-day requests go by phone.
• If your date is full, join the virtual waitlist.
• Tee times are 12 minutes apart. The resort does not publish a round time.

For how this compares with other St. George tee times, see our tee times booking guide.

After the round

The 20th Hole is the post-round bar. The practice area includes an illuminated 2-acre putting course you can use at night, a 36-hole putting course, Trackman simulators and academy clinics. The resort publishes no dress code for golf. Off the course, the resort lists a steakhouse (Basalt), an open-air breakfast spot (Latitude) and a sports bar with golf simulators. Groceries and other restaurants mean a short drive into Ivins or Santa Clara.

Pairing Black Desert with the rest of the west side

A two- or three-day stay in Ivins can be built almost entirely from courses within 20 minutes:

• Entrada at Snow Canyon (course page): private, so the only route in for a visitor is a stay at The Inn at Entrada. See our Entrada at Snow Canyon guide.
• The Ledges (course page): semi-private, bookable online up to 120 days out, with afternoon prices well below its morning rate. It sits higher, at about 3,810 feet.
• Sunbrook: the city's 27-hole course, $88 with a cart from October to May in 2026, a fraction of the Black Desert fee.
• Dixie Red Hills: nine holes, $27 walking in peak season, for an extra loop late in the day.

Who should play Black Desert golf course

Play Black Desert if you want the highest-ranked course around St. George that the public can book, or if you want to see a tour venue up close. Skip it, or save it for January to mid-March, if you are price-sensitive or tend to spray the ball. For a full list of alternatives, see our best golf courses in St. George.

Plan it on the map

The 3D map of St. George golf shows Black Desert, Entrada next door, The Ledges and Sunbrook, and the hotels around Ivins with drive times. Click the course to see each hole's par and elevation change, and check the closure calendar before you pick your dates.