Tiger Woods Teams with TCU Graduates on Parker County Golf Development

October 14, 2024 By: John Henry / Fort Worth Magazine

The on-again, off-again plans for a championship golf course in Parker County are back on, and this time on solid footing, with one of the game’s most historic figures as part of the enterprise.

The more than 900-acre Bluejack Ranch development in Aledo will encompass more than 600 home lots and a club built around a Tiger Woods-designed course, stretching across somewhere in the neighborhood of 7,700 yards.

The development, made public on Thursday morning, will be distinctly local, even with Woods’ participation.

The project marks a homecoming for developers Andy and Kristin Mitchell, both TCU graduates, and founders of the Bluejack brand. Bluejack National, an award-winning, world-class private golf community built in 2014 near Houston, was Woods’ first course design in the U.S.

Another partner is J.J. Henry, the former TCU golfer who had the original vision to build a championship-caliber course on the site, which has been purchased by Mitchell’s Lantern Asset Management from landowner Ryan Voorhees.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

“We’re bringing that same Bluejack spirit and passion to Fort Worth — a city celebrated not only as Cowtown but also as a golf town,” said Woods in a letter to members of Bluejack. “With legends like Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson, the love for the game here is genuine. I’m grateful for the encore opportunity to reteam with Bluejack National and home-towners Andy and Kristin Mitchell to design a course around this incredibly special property and community.

“It’s extremely motivating for me to contribute to the golfing legacy of Fort Worth, and I’m excited to see what we’ll build together.”

Mitchell and Tiger have become friends since joining forces over Bluejack National 10 years ago. “He’s been a great business partner, and he does a lot behind the scenes,” Mitchell says.

Bluejack National has been rated the best residential golf community in Texas and among the best in the country by Golfweek.

Advisers on the project include Mark Brooks, a former PGA Tour player from Fort Worth, and Michael Bennett, executive partner and CEO of architecture firm Bennett Partners.

The Bluejack Ranch golf course is expected to open in the first quarter of 2026, Mitchell says.

Bluejack Ranch will be the fulfillment of a vision by Henry, a longtime PGA Tour pro who has kept Fort Worth as his home, to build a course and club on the property, which sits off U.S. 377 and Kelly Ranch Road. Henry also played on the 2006 Ryder Cup team with Woods.

In November 2022, Henry, along with Bubba Vann, developer of the renowned South Padre Island Golf Club, announced their intention to build a golf course as part of the Avanzada Golf & Ranch Club in the Kelly Ranch development. After the development was not able to be brought to completion, Escalante Golf announced plans to take over where Avanzada left off. In January, after Escalante was not able to “to reach a mutually beneficial deal structure” with the developer, Voorhees, the project once again came to a standsill.

After Escalante pulled out, Henry called Mitchell to gauge his interest.

“I like to think how things happen for a reason and to be able to circle back with Andy, who obviously I went to college with, and knowing him and all his success in both investment banking and private equity and real estate, hospitality, what he's done for 10 years at Bluejack National … I said, ‘Andy, you got to come take a look at this property.’

“It's always been my vision to kind of bring a similar brand, a similar feel, legacy-type project to our hometown. Sure enough, his wife Kristin came out and she says, ‘I could live here.’”

The partners envision a “Ranch Club” membership of 600, including 400 golf members.

In addition to a clubhouse and dining, Ranch Club amenities will include a working dude ranch with eight full-time horses, longhorns, mini-donkeys, and “other ranch friends.” The “Fort at the Ranch” will be the center of family entertainment. Spa and wellness areas will also be featured.

A Lantern Entertainment Studio will feature a film/TV and podcast studio.

Sports and recreation areas will include tennis and pickleball courts. In conjunction with the golf course, there will also be a lighted 10-hole short course and a golf performance center and practice areas.

Andy Mitchell’s story is one of local boy done good. He’s a Fort Worth native with modest beginnings. Before TCU, he was a graduate of Western Hills High School.

He has more than 25 years of investment management, financial advisory, capital markets and restructuring experience. His professional investment and advisory experience include Cerberus Capital Management, Centerbridge Partners, Ally Financial’s Global Special Assets Group, Houlihan Lokey’s and PricewaterhouseCoopers’ restructuring groups.

He made a media splash in 2018 by acquiring The Weinstein Co., the film production company of disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, out of bankruptcy.

Mitchell says returning home to build Bluejack Ranch ranks “pretty high up there” in career accomplishments. And you can tell because it’s difficult for him to describe his emotions.

“This is that point in life that I get to come back, build it in west Fort Worth,” says Mitchell, 48. “I have always loved Fort Worth. I think to have been around the country and to be able to come back, it's going to stay surreal. It really is.”

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