St. George golf just gets better

ST. GEORGE — Golf in this desert wonderland just took a step up by adding a caste system, if you will.

The new Ledges in Snow Canyon opened more than a month ago, and its $3 million clubhouse is sleek and beautiful. Already selling memberships, the Ledges is headed toward privatization some day, so the pass for public use is right now.

Entrada, site of the women's Mountain West Conference championships this weekend, is by far the best manicured course in southern Utah since Troon management took over three years ago. It will absolutely be private in six months.

After Oct. 1, 2006, the only way to play Entrada is if you are a member, a guest of a member who is playing in your foursome, or if you buy a golf package that is part of the resort offering linked to staying at the Inns at Entrada, also under Troon management.

There is talk of adding another 18-hole course, possibly a Fazio design, right next to Entrada, as that property is headed for exclusivity and a destination golf atmosphere similar to stops in Scottsdale, Ariz. The $9 million clubhouse at Entrada is one of the classiest in the state. It oozes the look of money, big money.

The net result in St. George will be club atmospheres added to Bloomington Country Club, where golf has been locked out from outsiders. And, gulp, it will be expensive.

Why?

Because there is a market in this burgeoning community for a private golf club experience, now that closed-gate communities are popping up like jackrabbits. Upscale houses approaching a million dollars or more are being erected as fast as land is available in St. George, part of the migration from California through Las Vegas to the Beehive State. Most of the land is gone and now the property rush is headed up Snow Canyon and into Washington and Hurricane.

Joe Morris, manager of the Inns at Entrada, estimates the lavish cottages that line the No. 9 fairway will be filled with the elite top 5 to 10 percent of Entrada regulars who are sold on the atmosphere and golf.

Troon has poured money and time into Entrada. During wintertime, this is more than evident when compared to other Dixie courses. It isn't even close.

"There are plans for even more construction around the property, and we haven't even begun to market what we offer," Morris said.

Troon wouldn't sink the dough into Entrada at this rate unless there was a payoff coming, and population growth figures, mixed with projected economic indicators of who those new move-ins are and what they have to spend, clearly leads the way.