After seeing it appear on GolfWeek's top 50 muni list, I recently played the Gold Course at Soldier Hollow to give it a look. Its located in the Heber valley about 45 minutes from downtown Salt Lake City, UT. The 36 hole facility is adjacent to the cross-country skiing venue used in the 2002 Olympics and the Gold and Silver courses were opened in 2004, designed by Gene Bates Design. The complex is set in a gorgeous mountain locale at the base of the east bench of the Wasactch Mountain range. Great views are had on every hole of the course and Mt.Timpanagos, (elev. 11,700 feet), is used as a backdrop for several holes. While the Silver Course is mostly flat, the Gold course uses more of the mountainside terrain and provides terrific vistas of the Deer Creek Reservoir and Heber Valley.
The Gold Course is very much a tale of two nines. The front 9 starts out on gently rolling pieces of the property and eventually works its way back to the clubhouse introducing some of the mountain slope along the way. Conversly, the back 9 is an up and down roller coaster that showcases the most dramatic holes on the course. While there are a few interesting holes to be found on the front 9, the back 9 is where the real fun starts as the 5 hole stretch from # 10-14 is simply terrific.
The course was in good confition even though it did play slow due to no fault of its own. NY isn't the only place that's been wet lately as here in Northern Utah we've seen 3.5 straights week of rain and are nearly 400% of normal for the month of June. While the greens were in great shape, it was a letdown that they were mostly flat with little internal contouring. The undulating fairways were configured nicely and 3 of the 4 par 5s presented some interesting choices on either the tee shot and/or approach. A missed opportunity was a handful of par 4s that while on the short side, were still too long to reach even for longer hitters, so they never tempted one to have a go at the green.
I thought an excellent job was done with integrating the tee boxes into the natural terrain as it was often hard to discern where you just teed off from when looking back. Additionally, Dr. MacK's disappearing bunker act was used extensivly as just about every bunker vanished from sight when looking back from the green...and there was no shortage of bunkering on the course.
The one massive blight on the course was the 9th hole as its easily one of the worst 5 holes I've ever seen. (Even the pic shown later doesn't do justice to how bad it was...more on this to come). Additionally, while the bunkering wasn't bad, to me it was very templatized and repetive although I really liked the one on the the 6th hole.
Overall, the course is a great value at only $40 and one of Gene Bates better efforts of his courses I've seen. The routing was good and I'm guessing with the severity of the back 9, it likely wasn't a very ideal site to begin with. While its certainly one of the best munis in Northern Utah, I have a hard time thinking it belonged on the top 50 muni list for the US. I would give the course a Doak 5 rating because while its good, its nothing special to seek out.
With that said, here is a pictoral review of the course.
Hole 1 - Par 4 - This is a fairly gentle downhill opener, but the native can immediately be seen. Thankfully it wasn't too thick in most spots and you could usually play from it.
The approach in from the fairway to a bunkerless green.
Looking back up the hole from behind the green.
Hole 2 - Par 5 - The tee shot gives you a nice choice with a safe shot out to the left or gamble by going over the tree and bunkers to cut off some major distance and get home in 2.
A look in from the fairway.
Looking back from behind the green and seeing the "disappearing bunkers".
Hole 3 - Par 3 - This is a shortish little par 3 which gives the player a great chance for birdie or better.
A look back reveals how the tee melts away into it surroundings.
Hole 4 - Par 4 - The 1st of a missed oppotunity. With the bunkering being where it is and the length of the hole, it just didn't make any sense to challenge them. So I teed off with a 3w just to get it in play.
The approach in from wedge distance.
Hole 5 - Par 4 - The routing turns around and starts heading back to the clubhouse. I missed the tee shot due to another group letting me play thru.
The approach in to a well protected green complex.
A closer look at the green with Timp in the background.
Hole 6 - Par 4 - Another lost opportunity with being a shortish par 4, yet way out of reach as its uphill. You can see the green side bunker, and I'm kicking myself because I forgot to take a closer pic, because I was too busy checking it out....but this bunker was really done well. It was set on a diagonal to the line of play and really gave the player fits in determing just where the blind green was and what the best angle of attack was.
Hole 7 - Par 5 - The action starts to heat up with this par 5 that requires a well hit tee shot.
If you hit it well enough, you can consider going home in 2, but there is a lot of bunkering to contend with.
More Mack-style disappearing bunkers...this is from behind the green looking back.
Hole 8 - Par 3 - This lengthy dropshot par 3 provides a fantastic view and keeps you holding your breath to see if you picked the right club.
A look from the left hand bunker where i deposited my tee shot.
Hole 9 - Par 4 - I mentioned this in my intro but this hole was just plain awful. 400+ yards into the previaling wing with a OB left, a large pond to the right. Then there is a creek at the start of the fairway as well as just in front of the green. If that wasn't enough they decided to stick a large fairway bunker right in the middle of the landing area as well as another one next to the poind. Luckily I made the fairway after just barely carrying the middle bunker. (Use the scroll bar to go side to side to take it all in!)
I was still left with this long approach in to a shallow elevated green with a creek and bunker in front of the green. And they used whiter than white sand for that bunker, just on this hole.
Looking back....what an awful hole!!
Back 9 to come soon....