Ernie Els Puts His Name on Bridgesong, a 1,000-Acre Private Golf Community Near Oklahoma City
Bridgesong, a private golf and residential community on about 1,000 acres in Blanchard, Oklahoma, southwest of Oklahoma City, is being built around an Ernie Els Signature course expected to open in 2027. Membership, home pricing, and the clubhouse have not been announced.
Bridgesong, a private golf and residential community on about 1,000 acres in Blanchard, Oklahoma, southwest of Oklahoma City, is taking shape around an Ernie Els Signature course. Ernie Els Design senior design associate Greg Letsche designed the layout, and Landscapes Unlimited is handling construction. The course is expected to open in June or July of 2027, according to Golf Oklahoma.
A release from Ernie Els Design dated Oct. 2, 2026, later run by the Newcastle Pacer, describes the project as having been created with a simple philosophy: let the land lead. Rolling terrain, waterways, mature trees, and open prairie define the property. The routing follows the land’s movement, elevation, water, and existing landscape. Plans also include a practice and short-game complex of about 1 million square feet across 23 acres, along with distinct residential neighborhoods, club and gathering spaces, hospitality, dining, future village amenities, and trails shaped around the site.
Els first saw the land in October 2025. In the release he said he knew right away it was going to be very special. He also pointed to the name. “There will be a lot of bridges, hence the name of the golf course, there’s obviously a lot of water, a river is going to flow through the property,” he said. “It’s going to be a natural beauty and a really competitive championship golf course, but also a course where an ‘everyday guy’ can play.”
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The project carries weight in Els’s portfolio. Golf Oklahoma reported in June that it will be his second course in the continental United States and his third overall, counting one in Hawaii. Els has 21 projects completed and open worldwide and another 12 in development. At that point he said the work was about halfway through, with the range complete. The site sits just off U.S. 62 and was previously home to a partly finished course known as Indian Ridge, which was completely eliminated, so Bridgesong is a brand-new design. Ownership includes businesspeople from Louisville, Kentucky, among them Renee Mardis, Richard Rigney, and James French.
An earlier Ernie Els Design post from October 2025 named French as a co-owner and Blanchard resident and Joe Steier as an investor. In that post Els said the project was not originally going to carry his firm’s name, but that after seeing the site he wanted it to. He and Letsche have worked together for more than 20 years. The same post noted that stated plans for the project had included more than 600 surrounding single-family residences, a 130-room hotel, restaurants, retail sites, and a bison preserve. The 2026 release does not repeat those numbers.
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Much remains unannounced. Membership, home pricing, and the clubhouse have not been released. The Newcastle Pacer reports that Bridgesong will share more on membership, residential offerings, and amenities as development continues. Mardis, whose title is “Steward of Vision,” framed the approach in terms of restraint. “We have been very intentional about not trying to build everything at once or force something onto the land that does not belong,” she said. She added, “We are not building Bridgesong for a moment. We are building it with the hope that it matters generations from now.”
That patience stands out. A top player-designer is putting his name on a ground-up private community in the Oklahoma City market, and the owners say they will let it unfold in stages rather than all at once. It joins other ambitious new clubs, including Bluejack Ranch, the Tiger Woods ranch club in Aledo, Texas, near Fort Worth, and The Trail, the walking-only Gil Hanse club planned in Union County, North Carolina.
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