Fallen Oak Golf Club

Overview: Fallen Oak is a Tom Fazio course in Saucier, north of Biloxi, set across a large tract of southern Mississippi landscape. The routing moves through live oaks, pecan groves, pines, marshes, lakes and streams, so the course changes character as it crosses the property. Its parkland identity comes from the contrast between broad maintained playing corridors and native ground at the edges. Fazio’s design uses water and vegetation to frame decisions without turning every hole into the same test. From the championship tees the course has substantial length, but the variety of lies, sightlines and green approaches is just as important to its identity.

History: Fallen Oak was developed by MGM Resorts International for the Beau Rivage resort and opened in November 2006. The project was built as a resort course on a 510-acre site, with Tom Fazio responsible for the design. Its relationship with Beau Rivage shaped the way the course operates and explains why it is presented as part of a destination rather than as a standalone daily-fee facility. Fallen Oak also entered the professional tournament story of Mississippi when it hosted the Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic on the Champions Tour, first held there in 2010.

Did You Know? The project’s construction record says more than 1,000 oak, magnolia, pine and other hardwood trees were transplanted. That effort helped establish the wooded framework that now separates the holes and gives the course its mature-looking setting despite its 2006 opening.