Michelle Wie To Design New Par 3 Golf Course At Candyroot Lodge

Michelle Wie is teaming with architect Mike Koprowski to design the new short course at Candyroot Lodge in South Carolina.

Candyroot Lodge

Michelle Wie got her start playing golf on a public par 3 course in Hawaii and fondly recalls the days of being rewarded with a sugary treat after the round. So, it’s fitting that Wie’s start in the world of design is not only a par 3 course, but one at a “sweet” new resort in South Carolina sandhills.

Wie is teaming with golf course architect Mike Koprowski on ‘Sweet Tooth,’ the forthcoming lighted short course at Candyroot Lodge, a 1,200-acre destination property about an hour from Charlotte, North Carolina, and Columbia, South Carolina. The property is set to open the first of its four planned 18-hole courses in spring of 2027, with Sweet Tooth to debut at some point afterward.

“Golf course design has always been something that I’ve been interested in, particularly Par 3 and public golf course design,” said the 36-year-old Wie, a five-time LPGA winner who at the age of 10 became the youngest player to qualify for a USGA amateur championship.

The project is still in the early stages, but Wie has been out to meet with Koprowski, the architect of nearby Broomsedge, and see the land and layout for his initial course at Candyroot. The two have talked about the themes of Sweet Tooth, which Wie says will primarily be flexibility and inclusivity.

Set across 25 acres, the terrain-driven course will have a routing with holes that crisscross and converge, elastic tee boxes, and irregularly shaped greens that have multiple pin positions. There will be two distinct scorecards scorecards, one that preserves the traditional par 3 routing (none longer than 200 yards) as well as another that reimagines some holes to be played as par 4s or 5s.

“It’s creatively shaping holes so that kids or beginner golfers can… get a real taste of a bigger golf course, but in a smaller, easier, less intimidating setting,” said Wie. “That’s kind of what I envision. A lot of risk/rewards. So, being very welcoming and inclusive, but for low-handicap players there would be forced carries and harder attack angles into the holes.”

Wie said she hopes Sweet Tooth is the first in a series of course design projects in her future. She added that hopes at some point to design a regulation-length 18-hole course with three six-hole loops that all circle back to the clubhouse.

Wie’s Sandhills Success

Wie has an affinity for the Carolina Sandhills region, where she’s enjoyed some noteworthy competitive success.

She made golf history in 2000 by becoming the youngest qualifier for the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship at Legacy Golf Club in Aberdeen, North Carolina, about a 90-minute drive from Candyroot. And in 2014 Wie won the U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst Resort’s No. 2 course (just north of Aberdeen). Wie calls Pinehurst one of her favorite designs, alongside places such as Pebble Beach (California), National Golf Links (New York) and Kingsbarns (Scotland), and expects a similar look and feel will carry over to Sweet Tooth.

“You’re not going to see super-manicured fairways or rough lines,” Wie said. “It’ll all be pretty native and a blend-in-with-nature kind of thing.”

The name of the resort itself has a similar tie, with Candyroot deriving its name from a small native plant that grows in sandy soil. It’s unique and memorable, so when Wie heard Sweet Tooth among the suggested names for the short course, she was all-in.

“I was like, `that’s it, we don’t need to look any further,’” Wie said. “I have a very big sweet tooth. And I love the concept because (the course) should be short and sweet.”

Wie says she envisions Sweet Tooth as an “experiential” par 3 course, one where people can have fun and still be tested. She wants guests to be itching for more when they finish, whether that’s wanting to go out again with friends under the lights at night or having kids and beginners get excited about playing a longer course.

And, naturally, Wie said she expects there to be some sweet treats as a tie-in.

“That’s about childhood and golf, right? It’s all about sweet bribes and sweet snacks after the round,” Wie said. “We’re definitely going to lean heavy into that. That was my childhood as well.”