Breakfast buffet
In the lodge and included with the room. Daily, 6:30 to 10:00 AM.
I. Arrival · Home base
Angler’s Lodge
Four nights on Financial Drive in Hollister, 12 minutes from the first tee. Twenty rooms, forty players, one front desk.
Photo: Drew de F Fawkes · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
II.The lodge
A Bass Pro house, twelve minutes from the first tee
For four nights the club’s address is 291 Financial Drive, Hollister. The building was a La Quinta Inn until Bass Pro Shops and Big Cedar announced its conversion on October 29, 2020. They refinished it inside and out in the company’s rustic house style and reopened it as Angler’s Lodge on March 10, 2021. Ninety-four rooms. Twenty are ours.
The lobby tells you whose building it is: a stacked-stone fireplace, an antler chandelier, a full bison standing near the front desk and canoes hung from the beams. Off it sits a firelit sitting room under a painted ceiling map. Out back, a stone outdoor fireplace and a ring of wicker chairs make the obvious place to settle the day’s accounts.
It is not the resort, and it does not pretend to be. What it has is position. By Big Cedar’s own chart it is twelve minutes from Ozarks National and Payne’s Valley and nine from Buffalo Ridge. It sits on the resort’s complimentary shuttle route, and a room here carries privileges at Big Cedar’s restaurants, the Camp Long Creek pool and the Top of the Rock gate.
- Rooms in the house
- 94
- Ours, Apr 14–17
- 20
- Minutes to Ozarks National & Payne’s Valley
- 12
- Minutes to Buffalo Ridge
- 9
III.The stay
Twenty Double Queens, four nights
Rooms are booked individually, with the group code. The dates below are the ones the captains hold you to.
The room block
- Rooms
- 20 Double Queen, non-smoking
- Nights
- April 14 – 17 · 4 nights
- Check-in
- After 4:00 PM
- Check-out
- By 11:00 AM, Sunday
- Book at
- bassproanglerslodge.com
- Book by
- January 14, 2027Deadline
- Room deposit
- Refundable until March 24, 2027
Group code
Under seal
Issued by Big Cedar; posted here and sent to the field when it arrives. Do not book without it.
The account
- Room rate
- $289 a night + tax
- Resort fee
- $25 a night
- Per room, four nights
- $1,256 + tax
- Your share, two to a room
- $628 + tax
- Signup deposit
- $300 to Ryan Arbogast, applied to the trip
Roommates are assigned with the confirmed field. The lodge publishes no room specifications; the photograph is its own Double Queen.
IV.Amenities & dining
The house, and the table
In the house
- 01Full breakfast buffet, included, daily 6:30–10:00 AM
- 02Indoor pool and hot tub, 10:00 AM–10:00 PM
- 03Fitness center
- 04Free parking and high-speed WiFi
- 05Non-smoking throughout
- 06Overnight desk clerk for late arrivals
- 07Complimentary Big Cedar shuttle, 6:00 AM to midnight
- 08Big Cedar Lodge restaurants and activities open to lodge guests
- 09Camp Long Creek: heated saltwater pool kept at 80–84°F and hot tub, open March through October
- 10Top of the Rock entry fee waived for overnight guests
- 11Mini golf, sand volleyball, horseshoes, pickleball and shuffleboard at Big Cedar; equipment from Guest Services
At the table
Tall Tales Bar & Grill
Footsteps from the entrance at 313 Financial Drive. Kitchen 4–10 PM, bar 4–11 PM, happy hour weekdays 4–6. Burgers, a full bar, pool tables, big screens and an outdoor putting green. Open to the public.
Big Cedar Lodge
The resort’s restaurants are open to lodge guests, paid separately. Fifteen minutes by Big Cedar’s chart.
Mind the gapNothing on site serves food between 10 AM, when breakfast ends, and 4 PM, when Tall Tales opens. Plan lunch elsewhere.
Getting to the tee
Big Cedar’s complimentary shuttle stops at Anglers Lodge Hollister and serves every off-site Nature Golf course, Top of the Rock, Tall Tales and Camp Long Creek.
- Hours
- 6:00 AM to midnight, daily
- Golf pickup
- 90 minutes before your tee
- Book
- 417-339-5104 or the JM Shuttle app
- The field
- Big Cedar’s shuttle from Angler’s Lodge to each course.
- Your bags
- Moved course to course by Big Cedar staff.
V.The destination
White River country
Big Cedar, Table Rock Lake and the Ozark hills around them.
This is White River country. Table Rock Dam was completed on the river in 1958, and the lake behind it covers about 42,400 acres at conservation pool, with some 715 miles of shoreline folded around wooded points and coves. Everything the week is built on sits above that waterline.
Big Cedar came first. In the 1920s Jude Simmons and Harry Worman, a Frisco Railroad executive, bought 300 acres of Big Cedar Hollow along the White River and built country retreats there. Dan Norris turned it into the Devil’s Pool Guest Ranch in 1947. Johnny Morris, the founder of Bass Pro Shops, bought it in 1987, restored the Simmons and Worman buildings and built a wilderness resort around them. It now runs to 4,600 acres and six golf courses. We play three.
Mid-April is early spring in the Ozarks and it is not reliably dry. The thirty-year normals put the week in the high sixties by day and the mid-forties by night, with close to five inches of rain across the month. Pack a layer and a rain shell; the forecast will settle the rest.
Within reach
- 01
Big Cedar Lodge
The resort itself, above Table Rock Lake. Its restaurants and activities are open to lodge guests.
Visit →15 min8.8 mi
- 02
Top of the Rock
The highest ground in Taney County: a par-3 course, the Ancient Ozarks Natural History Museum, the Chapel of the Ozarks and several restaurants. The $10 vehicle fee is waived for lodge guests.
Visit →15 min7.7 mi
- 03
Lost Canyon Cave & Nature Trail
A 2.5-mile golf-cart trail at Top of the Rock, through a cave and past nine waterfalls, with one drink at the Bat Bar included. 8:30 AM to 7 PM; last cart an hour before close.
Visit →15 min7.7 mi
- 04
Thunder Ridge Nature Arena
A 20,000-seat outdoor amphitheater at Ridgedale. Shuttles are sold separately and booked ahead.
Visit →8.3 mi
- 05
Long Creek Marina
Bass Pro’s marina on Table Rock Lake: boat and personal-watercraft rentals, fishing guides, rod and reel rentals.
Visit →18 min†11 mi
- 06
Branson Landing
More than 100 storefronts on a lakeside boardwalk on Lake Taneycomo, a Bass Pro Shops at the south end and a $7.5 million fountain show with 120-foot geysers and fire columns.
Visit →7 min†3.6 mi†
- 07
Dogwood Canyon Nature Park
Johnny Morris’s 10,000-acre preserve at Lampe: trout fishing, horseback riding, hiking, biking and wildlife tram tours. Daily, 8:30 AM to 5 PM.
Visit →33 min†23 mi
- 08
Bass Pro Outdoor World & Wonders of Wildlife
The original Bass Pro store in Springfield, the Grandaddy: nearly 500,000 square feet, and next to it 35,000 live animals in 1.5 million gallons of water. On the road to or from SGF.
Visit →56 min†44 mi
V. Distances & almanac
From the front desk
Wed · Apr 14Ozarks National12min · 6.0 mi†Tees 1:00–2:30 PMThu · Apr 15Payne’s Valley12min · 6.0 mi†Tees 11:00 AM–12:30 PMFri · Apr 16Buffalo Ridge Springs9minTees 9:00–10:30 AMSat · Apr 17Ozarks National12min · 6.0 mi†Tees 12:00–1:30 PM
Point to point
| From | To | Miles | Drive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Angler’s Lodge | Ozarks National | 6.0† | 12 min |
| Angler’s Lodge | Payne’s Valley | 6.0† | 12 min |
| Angler’s Lodge | Buffalo Ridge Springs | — | 9 min |
| Ozarks National | Payne’s Valley | — | Same gate |
| Buffalo Ridge Springs | Ozarks National | — | 3 min |
| Angler’s Lodge | Big Cedar Lodge | 8.8 | 15 min |
| Angler’s Lodge | Top of the Rock | 7.7 | 15 min |
| Branson Airport (BKG) | Angler’s Lodge | 7.9† | 17 min† |
| Springfield–Branson (SGF) | Angler’s Lodge | 54.5† | 69 min† |
† OpenStreetMap routing estimate. Where the lodge publishes its own mileage, these estimates agree with it to within 0.4 miles.
Drive minutes to the courses, Big Cedar Lodge and Top of the Rock are Big Cedar’s published travel-time chart. Mileages to Big Cedar Lodge and Top of the Rock are the lodge’s own.
Flying in
SGF
Springfield–Branson National
The commercial airport to plan around, about 54 road miles and a little over an hour north. Nonstop routes change by season; check the April 2027 schedule when it is published. Big Cedar will arrange a shuttle with ten days’ notice (417-339-5104).
BKG
Branson Airport
Eight road miles from the lodge, but it has had no scheduled airline service since Sun Country’s Minneapolis flights ended after the 2024 season. Private aircraft only, unless an airline announces a route.
Sun, arrival day
Wednesday, April 14
Sunrise6:41AM
Sunset7:46PM
First light 6:14 AM, last light 8:13 PM. Saturday, April 17: sunrise 6:37 AM, sunset 7:49 PM. U.S. Naval Observatory, for the lodge’s coordinates. Central Daylight Time. First and last light are civil twilight.
April, by the numbers
68°Normal high
47°Normal low
4.77″Rain, the month
| Day | Apr 14 | Apr 15 | Apr 16 | Apr 17 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High | 67.4 | 67.7 | 67.9 | 68.1 |
| Low | 46.4 | 46.7 | 46.9 | 47.2 |
NOAA 1991–2020 normals, Branson Airport station, about 8 road miles from the lodge.
VI.Gallery
The lodge and the lake
Select a photograph to see it full screen.
Links
- Book the room · bassproanglerslodge.com →
- Angler’s Lodge Hollister →
- Included with your stay →
- Lodge FAQ →
- Tall Tales Bar & Grill →
- Nearby, with the lodge’s mileages →
- Big Cedar shuttle →
- Big Cedar golf and travel-time chart →
- Directions →
- The three courses →
Angler’s Lodge · 291 Financial Drive, Hollister, MO 65672 · Reservations (855) 225-6734
Sources
- bassproanglerslodge.com/hollister
- bassproanglerslodge.com/hollister/included
- bassproanglerslodge.com/hollister/attractions
- bassproanglerslodge.com/faq
- bassproanglerslodge.com/tall-tales
- about.basspro.com/newsroom/stories/bass-pro-shops-anglers-lodge-in-hollister-to-provide-convenient-lodging-near-world-class-golf-courses-outdoor-attractions
- bigcedar.com/golf
- bigcedar.com/shuttle-information
- bigcedar.com/faq
- bigcedar.com/about-us
- bigcedar.com/top-of-the-rock
- bigcedar.com/activity/lost-canyon-cave-nature-trail
- dogwoodcanyon.org
- springfieldmo.org/things-to-do/attractions/bass-pro-shops-outdoor-world
- explorebranson.com/blog-explore/blog/post/branson-landing-has-something-everyone
- pubs.usgs.gov/publication/sim3499/full
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branson_Airport
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springfield%E2%80%93Branson_National_Airport
- ncei.noaa.gov/access/services/data/v1
- ncei.noaa.gov/access/services/data/v1
- aa.usno.navy.mil/api/rstt/oneday
- aa.usno.navy.mil/api/rstt/oneday
- project-osrm.org
Facts checked against these pages on 2026-09-22. Lake photographs from Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons licences, credited where shown. Lodge photographs are Bass Pro’s.