Tom Weiskopf’s final design opens at Spanish Peaks Mountain Club

On July 1, Spanish Peaks Mountain Club opened its new Tom’s 10 golf course, designer and 2024 World Golf Hall of Fame inductee Tom Weiskopf’s final contribution to the sport before he passed away in August 2022.

The 10-hole par-3 course pays homage to Weiskopf’s favorite holes from around the world. A member of Spanish Peaks Mountain Club and resident of the Big Sky, Montana, community, Weiskopf designed the club’s original 18-hole championship course and, in his final years, collaborated with longtime partner Phil Smith of Phil Smith Designs on the new par-3 course.

With increasing membership and the opening of Montage Big Sky on its grounds, Spanish Peaks Mountain Club began looking at options for a new golf course in 2020. The effort was led by Ryan Blechta, senior director of grounds and mountain operations.

“Working with Tom on this course was such an incredible experience,” Blechta said. “From our first walk through the woods when he shared his vision till the last time he was on the site a week before his passing, I got to know Tom on not just a professional level, but a personal one, and will always cherish the time spent with him and his wife, Laurie. On behalf of the club, I’m proud to share this course with our members — I truly believe it kept Tom going in his final years.”

In Blechta’s time at Spanish Peaks Mountain Club, Weiskopf had taken to visiting his office on occasion to talk. On one of these visits, Blechta told Weiskopf of the club’s desire to expand and Weiskopf said he knew the perfect location for a par-3 course, a 35-acre site where he liked to walk his dog among the timber, streams and wetlands. Soon, the two were scouting the site on foot with Weiskopf describing potential locations for tees and greens.

The club broke ground on the course in summer 2021. Weiskopf brought in Smith throughout the design and construction process. Smith worked for Weiskopf for many years and continued to partner with him after starting his own company. Frontier Golf was the primary contractor. Construction took three summers because of the complexity of the project and its elevation at over 7,000 feet.

Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2020, Weiskopf was undergoing treatment during the initial design and construction of the course. In spring 2022, when his cancer returned, a second shaper was brought in to speed up the process. Weiskopf was able to work on the course until the week leading up to his passing in August 2022 and approved all but the final hole.

Spanish Peaks Mountain Club dedicated the course to Weiskopf with the name Tom’s 10 paying homage to the British Open winner’s favorite par-3 holes from around the world. Holes include the original 18th at the club, seventh at Pebble Beach, 18th at Loch Lomond, eighth at Royal Troon and 16th at Augusta National. Holes range from 90 to 161 yards and total 1,199 yards. The course has 200 feet of elevation change.

Unique features include a man-made half-acre pond stocked with over 1,000 westslope cutthroat trout — the state fish of Montana on hole 4 — a deep bunker at the front right of the fifth green set to Weiskopf’s 6-foot-3 height and an old log cabin from one of Weiskopf’s properties that was reassembled and converted into a comfort station filled with memorabilia from his career that was donated by his wife, Laurie.

“This new par-3 course really shows off the design principles we used throughout our time working together — It’s a throwback to a lot of fun things we’ve done in the past,” Smith said. “And it was very therapeutic for Tom. Because he lived nearby, he was able to keep his mind off his illness and give the project his personal attention. Being at Spanish Peaks from the inception of the original course till he couldn’t work anymore was such a gift. This final project is a direct reflection of his commitment to his craft.”

Tom’s 10 is open to members of Spanish Peaks Mountain Club and their guests.