Even Nicklaus, an admirer of Woods’ talent on the course, is skeptical about the new projects’ timing. “He’s on his third golf course contract,” Nicklaus says, emphasizing the last word. “He hasn’t done any yet. I don’t think he’s finished any golf courses.”

It’s always foolish to bet against Woods, who won the U.S. Open in June despite two stress fractures and a torn ligament in his leg, solidifying his status as a sports legend. And in the short term, Woods stands to gain no matter what happens to these projects. While precise numbers are a closely guarded secret, Golf World estimates that for Punta Brava alone, Woods’ firm will be paid $25 million. If that figure is even close to correct, it is unprecedented, given that a backer of one of the courses puts the cost of the entire Punta Brava venture at about $100 million. Top course architects like Tom Fazio rarely earn fees of more than $2 million.

When Nicklaus opened his first golf course, Glen Abbey, in Oakville, Ontario, at age 36, the difference between his earnings on and off the course was not so great. Today, Woods’ growing business interests account for seven times his winnings on the PGA Tour. In addition to owning Tiger Woods Design, he is paid to endorse Accenture, Electronic Arts, Gatorade, Gillette, and Nike. In all, he earned $769 million between 1996 and 2007, according to Golf Digest. Only $100 million of that came directly from playing golf.

On the course, Woods has a reputation for beating his opponents before they even tee off. His very presence has a ripple effect that unsettles the rest of the field. An economist at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University has shown that when Woods competes, other golfers in the tournament shoot nearly a stroke higher—a remarkable statistic considering that the difference between the second-ranked player on the PGA Tour and the lowest-ranked member, No. 125, is only two strokes.

Woods seems to have a similar effect on investors in his golf courses. When doing business with Woods, many of them suspend their normal skepticism. Red McCombs, a Texan who made his fortune with some 50 car dealerships before co-founding radio giant Clear Channel Communications, is a backer of Woods’ new venture in Mexico.

McCombs, 81, whose net worth is estimated at $1.7 billion, is not one to swoon, but the prospect of working with Woods was tantalizing. When Punta Brava’s developers approached him seeking an investment, McCombs was initially reluctant. “I wasn’t turned on by the whole thing,” McCombs says. “Then they said, ‘I think we can get Tiger involved in designing this.’ I said, ‘Forget it. It’s over. I’m in.’ ” Woods, he adds, “has such an impeccable background.”

The developers of the Cliffs project near Asheville were similarly starstruck. Jim Anthony, founder of the privately held Cliffs Communities, says that he would not have even included a golf course at the Asheville development if Woods hadn’t agreed to design it. After Woods announced his intentions to design his first course, at a resort in Dubai, Anthony reached out to him through Beau Welling, who built two courses at the Cliffs for Fazio and was the lead designer for Tiger Woods Design. “I said, ‘Let’s get Tiger,’ ” Anthony says. “He knew what an incredible property it was. Beau said he’d try to set up a meeting with Tiger.”

Even Daniel Brazinski, the burly vice president of golf course construction for the Cliffs, gushes about meeting Woods. “I was tongue-tied the first time we met,” he says. “After an hour, he realized that and just gave me a hard time about it. Now we get along great.”

For his part, Woods and his advisers know that it’s critical to the golfer’s business reputation that these deals work. “We don’t sign contracts right away,” Woods says. “We’re in this together, through thick and thin.”

At age 33, Tiger Woods is the biggest sports star on the planet, eclipsing even David Beckham in global renown. Like Barack Obama or Madonna, he is one of the few people who are recognized anywhere. His time is doled out as deliberately as dollops of beluga caviar. Woods’ golf course backers know this, and they are hoping that his iconic power will boost club memberships and home sales. In short, they are hoping that Woods can do for them what he did for Nike.

When the sporting-goods company signed Woods in 1996, it didn’t even make golf clubs or golf balls. Still, Woods earned $40 million. Two years later, Nike started a golf-equipment division. Then, in 2000, the company introduced a golf ball that Woods was willing to use full-time in competition. He was rewarded for his support with a reported $100 million for an additional five years—a record-setting endorsement deal for Nike.

With Woods’ help, Nike’s golf division has gone from zero to an estimated $600 million in annual sales for 2007, ranked fourth behind Acushnet (the parent of Titleist), TaylorMade-Adidas, and Callaway Golf. Unlike most of the other athletes Nike has signed, Woods receives a percentage of sales, so his interests are aligned with the company’s. “I’ve not gone necessarily into endorsements per se but into building a brand and having ownership in some of them,” Woods tells me.

That, however, is not the way he has structured his golf-course-design deals. Woods is earning a flat fee to design and promote the courses. That money will be paid regardless of whether the associated real estate deals survive the economic downturn.

The setup is remarkably risky for investors, given that Woods has never completed a course design and that all the projects have built-in knocks—from out-of-the-way locations to high costs. But Woods shows no signs that he’s daunted. “I’ve learned so much in these few months,” he says. “The amount of meetings I’ve been in—you’d be shocked by the number of meetings I’ve been in, but that’s how you gain the knowledge: being in the meetings and participating. You learn and you grow.”

The two-year-old company Woods has created is run by people loyal to him. Its president, Bryon Bell, is one of Woods’ oldest friends. The pair have known each other since seventh grade. Woods hired Bell as operations director at his foundation seven years ago and put him in charge of the design company when it launched in November 2006. “My job is to help Tiger execute his vision,” Bell says. “We probably get 20 to 30 legitimate opportunities each month. I spend a lot of time going to these sites and finding the right owner.”