With her recent return to competitive golf, Michelle Wie West has revived her old career. At the same time, she has embarked on a new one: golf course architecture.
Wie West has signed on to design her first layout, a par-3 course at Candyroot, a destination resort-in-the-making in South Carolina about an hour from Columbia and Charlotte. The course, called Sweet Tooth, will sit on the same sandy belt that stretches across the Carolinas into Pinehurst, where Wie West won the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open. Construction is slated to begin late next year.
“Public courses are really interesting to me because that’s what I grew up playing,” Wie West said of her childhood in Hawaii. “I’m also drawn to shorter-form courses because golf can be so intimidating to people just starting out. This helps lower the barrier to entry.”
Though the routing has not been finalized — the length and number of holes will depend on what the land allows — the broader concept, Wie West said, is already taking shape. Spread across roughly 25 acres on Candyroot’s 1,210-acre property, Sweet Tooth is intended to be both flexible and social, with holes that can vary in length and strategy depending on the setup. Better players chasing birdies will be asked to carry hazards to small landing areas, while beginners, juniors and shorter hitters will have safer layup options on holes that can be played as par-4s and par-5s.
To underscore that point, Sweet Tooth will feature alternate scorecards.
“Technically, it’s a par-3 course,” Wie West said. “But I also want it to be configured so kids and beginners can play it as a par-72.”
The course will also be lighted for night play, with holes designed to crisscross and converge to foster a communal atmosphere.
“I want it to be a fun, unique design,” Wie West said. “Kind of a ‘choose your own adventure.'”
Wie West’s collaborator is Mike Koprowski, a former Washington, D.C., policy analyst turned golf architect who earned praise for his work at nearby Broomsedge Golf Club. Koprowski is also leading the design of Candyroot’s first full-length 18-hole course, which is scheduled for preview play this fall and is one of four planned 18-hole layouts at the resort.
The Sweet Tooth announcement comes at a transitional moment for Wie West, who bid an emotional farewell to competitive golf at the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach before returning early this month on a sponsor’s exemption at the LPGA’s Mizuho Americas Open in New Jersey. She struggled there but said that she enjoyed “feeling the nerves in all the worst ways.” She’ll experience them again next month at the U.S. Women’s Open at Riviera.
Wie West married Jonnie West, the son of late NBA legend Jerry West, in 2019, and the couple have two children. One of the pleasures of returning to competition, Wie West said, is that her 5-year-old daughter is now old enough to follow along more fully with her journey.
At Sweet Tooth, presumably, mother and daughter will have a place to play together.
