The third course, near Asheville, N.C., is perhaps the most ambitious. Woods was reportedly paid millions of dollars to design The Cliffs at High Carolina, a 7,300-yard course nearly 4,000 feet above sea level with 50-mile views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Around the course, there are plans for up to 1,200 homes, a spa and other amenities.

But like the work at so many real estate developments in the last few years, construction at the Cliffs has fallen behind schedule, hampered by weak sales. The course is now expected to open in the spring of 2012 instead of the fall of 2011. Fewer than 40 lots — at least one for $3 million — have been sold, and only a few homes have been built.

The developers plan to borrow up to $100 million from the residents at the Cliffs at High Carolina and seven other communities near the Cliffs to help finish the construction of various amenities.

Woods, of course, did not cause the recession that has slowed the project. But the scandal that forced him off golf courses and into hiding did not help promote the high-end community, where his course is the main draw.

The intense scrutiny of Woods, and his desire for privacy, may also make it difficult for him to play a major role in promoting the course once it is finished, particularly if he struggles to regain his top-ranked form as a player.

Despite the hit to Woods's reputation, the developers and residents of the Cliffs are sanguine about the development's possibilities. Woods, they say, remains an iconic figure in the golf world, and living near his only course in the United States is seen as a shrewd investment. In fact, his recent troubles mean that the Cliffs at High Carolina could remain the only Woods-designed course in the United States for some time, adding to its cachet.

"He's an extraordinary athlete and can design a beautiful course and he hasn't done any other courses in the U.S. and probably won't for a while," said Kathryn Levy, who with her husband, Jay, bought a 0.63-acre lot at the Cliffs at High Carolina for $550,000. "That's where my interest ended in Tiger Woods. End of story. I don't think I'm going to run into him and ask him for a cup of sugar."

This month, the Levys were so confident about the value of their investment that they traded in their lot and paid an additional amount for one of the few completed homes on the property.

It will be a while, though, before the Levys tee off there. Jim Anthony, the founder and chief executive of Cliffs Communities, said that about three-quarters of the timber had been removed from the course, although the stumps remain in most places. The company is seeking permits to allow grading and to build on a wetlands area.

Anthony said Woods had visited the site of the course more than a half-dozen times and had fine-tuned the design more than two dozen times. Woods has insisted that each hole include risks and rewards for players regardless of their ability, and that the course incorporate the scenery nearby.

"This guy has walked this land more than any architect," said Anthony, who attended the news conference last month in Ponte Vedra, Fla., at which Woods apologized for his extramarital affairs. "He's done more than the contract has called for."

Anthony declined to discuss how much Woods was paid, and calls and e-mail messages to Tiger Woods Design were not returned. But an article in The Charlotte Observer said that Woods had received a $10 million fee. Woods does not have a stake in the course or the development, Anthony said. Now that construction of the course is under way, there is less need for Woods to be there.

Meanwhile, sales at the eight Cliffs communities, including The Cliffs at High Carolina, have started to pick up, despite full golf memberships that cost $150,000. In the last two weeks, 8 sales were completed and 170 tours were booked, Anthony said.

But work remains. The courses, clubhouses and wellness centers at High Carolina and Mountain Park, another Cliffs community, are not finished. Wellness centers at two other communities are also under construction, along with a variety of smaller projects.

With sales slowed by the recession, Anthony and his group asked the 2,400 members in the various Cliffs communities for money to help finish common-area projects. The members agreed, partly because the terms were favorable and partly to keep Anthony from seeking an outside investor who might not have the communities' best interests in mind.

Anyone who participates must lend a minimum of $100,000 to Club Company, a Cliffs subsidiary. The seven-year notes, which pay 12 percent interest annually, are in $50,000 and $100,000 denominations. To protect their investment, the members will elect two representatives to the six-member board of Club Company.

"I can't find 12 percent guaranteed income in any other thing these days," said Don Tucker, a resident at the Cliffs at Glassy who is on the finance advisory committee there. "It also provides me with an insurance policy that I will not all of a sudden be placed in a position where the country club is managed by some capitalist vulture who washes out my equity."