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Golf fans in Middle Tennessee got excited a few years back when a land developer announced a Tiger Woods-designed 18-hole golf course would be part of a planned residential project in Williamson County.
Not long after the announcement, Woods visited the 2,000-acre site where the resort-style community was to be built and liked what he saw.
Before Woods’ visit in March 2016, however, opposition to the project named Two Farms at Thompson’s Station was starting to grow.
That was seven years ago, and if you hit a golf ball today in the area where the development was designated you’d spend the rest of the day trying to find it.
Question: Whatever happened to the Two Farms project at Thompson’s Station and its Tigers Woods-designed golf course?
Answer: It never got off the tee. From the start, the project was met with resistance from the area’s residents. The blowback started small but grew much bigger before the project was eventually abandoned.
Just say no
The opposition resulted in the creation of a Facebook page titled Two Farms Equals One Nightmare.
For his part, Woods let it be known his company would make an effort to design a golf course that would be aesthetically pleasing and blend with the local scenery.
“(Woods) talks about preservation of the way the land looks today. He’s looking to take the character of the land today and enhance it,” Beacon Land Development President Mike Abbot said at the time.
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Still, Two Farms raised questions from the Heritage Foundation, which works to preserve communities and cultural heritage in Williamson County. The foundation’s CEO Bari Beasley told the Thompson’s Station Board of Mayor and Aldermen that Two Farms would have a “profound impact” on the area’s character.
The late country music artist Naomi Judd and former Franklin vice mayor Pamela Lewis were also among those who spoke out against the project.
No water, no golf
Along with opposition from local residents, the project faced issues with water supply, wastewater treatment and development density near Coleman Road.
The water issues put the golf course in limbo.
Beacon Land Development had partnered with Discovery Land Co. out of Scottsdale, Arizona, in an effort to get the project under way in 2017. Discovery, however, backed out, citing lack of a water source in the area for the golf course.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t find the ground water needed for the golf course and are not able to move forward. Please withdraw the request,” Discovery Land Development president Tom Collopy said in an email sent to then-Thompson’s Station town planner Wendy Deats .
Tiger Woods PopStroke coming to Nashville
While a Tiger Woods designed golf course won’t be coming to the area anytime soon, a Woods-backed PopStroke putting and dining venue announced plans recently for 13 new locations, including Antioch in the Century Farms development.
The new venues will open in 2023 and 2024.
Each venue features two 18-hole putting courses, one inside and one outside, created by Woods and his TGR Design team. It also has a restaurant and bar, indoor and outdoor dining areas, other outdoor games and playgrounds.
Balls and rental putters will be provided for customers.
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on Twitter @MikeOrganWriter.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: What happened to the Tiger Woods golf course in Thompson’s Station?