Entrada at Snow Canyon golf course in St. George finding success after major renovation
For the past year and a half, the Entrada golf course at Snow Canyon has undergone a massive change.
“What’s taken place since this project began, it’s a total transformation,” said Michael Rushing. “The creativity involved in taking an overall fairly flat piece of ground except for the lava holes, and then transition it into this sweeping, moving golf course that shows so much energy, it makes it interesting to play.”
The new golf course plays to a par 71 and measures 7,065 yards from the tips, an increase of 20 yards from the previous design.
The design incorporates contours, slopes, "kickers and bounces", which gives players with slower swing speeds increased odds to score well if they can read the new contours and hit good shots.
“What I saw here at Entrada was opportunity,” said course designer David McLay Kidd. “All you have to do is look at the views here. Golf at its very best is played through a beautiful landscape. There are no great golf courses that aren’t played through beautiful, enthralling, enticing, adventurous landscapes. And, here when I first visited Southern Utah and Entrada, I found just that.”
After opening in 1996, the prior course had begun to get rough around the edges. Putting surfaces started to firm up, and on two or three holes, greens were unreceptive and unfair to players on the course.
The course was originally designed to be a championship-style golf course.
“It had greens that unless you hit it with perfect green and perfect spin, they wouldn’t be as receptive. If you hit it near the edges, they would essentially feed it into the lava or feed it into a deadened space and that’s what was called for," McLay Kidd said. "It worked for the style of golf course that was being built in those days.”
More challenging golf courses were the norm in the 90s, and Entrada was no different. It was believed that a harder course gained respect.
Recently, there has been a shift away from the difficult courses, and more of a focus on making courses enjoyable to play. Rules and courses have both changed to be more relaxed.
“Rather than a golf course designed for literally the 1%, this is designed for the 99%,” said Rushing. “How can most all of our members come and enjoy the course?”
With the project taking a year and a half to complete, there was no golf at Entrada last summer.
The city of St. George opened up its public courses to Entrada’s members to allow them to stay sharp.
Early feedback on the new course has been relatively positive, according to Rushing.
“First, [players are] hitting a heck of a lot more fairways than they used to,” said Rushing. “Second, they are trying to figure out the routes to the greens. This is a firm, fast golf course now, and they’re going to adjust to that. They’re hitting maybe a couple more greens around regulation, but they are finding the greens very challenging… It’s kind of a great journey these members are on.”
Sean Ellertson is a sports reporter for the St. George Spectrum & Daily News. To continue to support his work, please subscribe to The Spectrum. Follow Sean on Twitter @SeanEllertson.
This article originally appeared on St. George Spectrum & Daily News: Entrada at Snow Canyon ready to go after a lengthy renovation
