Golf Estate Made for a Resting Tiger

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (TheStreet) -- Personal turmoil took Tiger Woods from the golf course, and it's taking the golf course away from a California trust. Oddly, Woods and the course seem like a good fit right now.

Water world: Porcupine Creek is among two U.S. estates with its own golf course for sale.

The 249-acre Porcupine Creek estate in Rancho Mirage, Calif., comes with a 25,000-square-foot main residence, a private drive with a Las Vegas-style fountain and antique lampposts from the Champs-Elysees in Paris and 19-hole golf course that was rated the 13th best in California by Golf Digest. Its seems ideal for a well-heeled golfer looking for both privacy and a place to practice his way back into the game, but is also just the latest property to hit the market following the 2008 divorce of Edra and Tim Blixseth, co-founders of the Yellowstone Club billionaires' resort in Montana.

Since then, Tim has had trouble selling his Turks & Caicos retreat Emerald Cay, which made TheStreet's list of 2009's biggest real-estate flops when its price dropped to $48.5 million from its $75 million asking price. Edra, meanwhile, took both the Yellowstone Club and Porcupine Creek in the divorce, but declared personal bankruptcy and is now a shareholder in the club's holding company, BLX Group. The group's trustee is selling the Rancho Mirage estate for the same $75 million price that Tim sought for Emerald Cay.

Much like Woods' personal misfortunes, however, the Blixseths' story distracted from their true gift: creating estates and resorts that could impress the upper reaches of society and instill envy in everyone else. The 19-hole course (18 and a playoff hole), plays at 6,817 yards and was designed, in part, by 1973 British Open Champion Tom Weiskopf, 1970 and 1976 PGA Championship winner Dave Stockton and World Golf Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam. The course landscaping is divided into California and Arizona desert, Hawaiian tropic and Western mountain motifs, while the signature 227-yard, par-three 15th hole requires players to drop a tee shot off a bluff, over a gorge and onto the green 200 feet below.