The Gold Course at Soldier Hollow, with pics!

[Jon Nolan]

Kalen, we're in Kona through July 7th.  Maybe the following weekend.  Will catch up later.  Net availability is hit and miss.

Slán.

[Matt_Ward]

Kalen:

You'll have plenty of top tier public courses to play in the St. George area -- no doubt Sand Hollow leads the way ... Coral Canyon is right next door to it so doing 36 in one day is definitely doable. Sand Hollow gets plenty of attention -- quite rightly -- for the cliff holes but the front as a few holes of note that are quite good -- even exceptional in spots.

Jon N:

I agree -- play Coral Canyon again ... Keith Foster does a fine job in the public arena and Coral Canyon is quite good. But it's still behind the likes of TP for me.

When you say "zero thought" regarding the uphill par-4 12th you'll need to explain that to me. Did you play the tips? Was the win coming from the prevailing direction? The solitary fairway bunker is well done there and it forces the stronger player to give pause before pulling the trigger. Ditto the neat uphill approach that obscures all pin locations.

Jon, the back at SH is the better of the two nines. Better terrain, overall routing and sheer diversity of holes.

In regards to TP -- I like the back better than the front -- again, I'm speaking about the sheer diversity and challenge aspect of the different holes.

You also mentioned the Links Nine at Sand Hollow and I like those holes as well -- the lone issue for me this past May was that the tees and fairway areas needed a bit of tender loving care ... the shape and challenge of the putting greens was exceptional.

The Championship course was packed and the Links course was completely dead.  Shame, makes me worry for it's health although I understand the entire development was put together without any ongoing debt service.  Any Soldier Hollow (Gold) is not "must play" from a national perspective in my mind. As I said before for the Joe and Jane Sixpacks of the greater Utah area it would be something for them to enjoy again and again because of its mountain location away from the heat and for the modest prices charged.

One last thing -- a new course is set to open next year in Mesquite and it's immediately adjacent to Falcon Ridge. I can post more on a separate thread.

[Jon Nolan]

Jon N:

When you say "zero thought" regarding the uphill par-4 12th you'll need to explain that to me. Did you play the tips? Was the win coming from the prevailing direction? The solitary fairway bunker is well done there and it forces the stronger player to give pause before pulling the trigger. Ditto the neat uphill approach that obscures all pin locations.

Hi Matt,

Sorry to neglect responding.  I've been out of town and disconnected.

We didn't play the tips.  We played the up tees to accommodate an older member in our group.  I remember noting that it is two different holes from either side of the ravine in the teeing areas.  I'm not sure what the prevailing wind direction is but we had a 1.5-2 club chasing wind on that hole.  Maybe I'm thick but I don't remember a fairway bunker.  There's a bunker short of the green on the left but it's only in play if you're going for the green - right?

Even with a two club wind I can't near reach 372 yards uphill.  Let's call that bunker 300+.  Still a big ask.  As a 14 'capper I'm not even tempted to go with driver.  That just brings the cliff left into play.  Not much better is the junk on the right.  For me it was a no-brainer decision to play it safe 225-250 up the middle.  Same for the 7-index in our group. 

I do like the approach but it doesn't blow my socks off at all.

Jon, the back at SH is the better of the two nines. Better terrain, overall routing and sheer diversity of holes.

I'll give diversity for sure.  Better terrain and routing - not so much.  I can see how others see it differently though.  It is a breathtaking site to be sure.

In regards to TP -- I like the back better than the front -- again, I'm speaking about the sheer diversity and challenge aspect of the different holes.

I like TP's front for the layups, angles, ground game and distance control.  The back is certainly nice enough but I absolutely prefer the front. 

So... what's different about me compared to you?  Am I flat out wrong (is there a consensus opinion?) or does it come down to different people valuing different attributes of the same course?