Orem's Sleepy Ridge offers much for the many

If you golf, Utah is second to none in value. Yet courses are struggling financially while wrestling with costs to keep prices low.

Then comes Sleepy Ridge, an 18-hole links course west of Geneva Road in Orem, a public course built for the masses, the so-called unwashed who can't afford a country club membership. This place just opened a mammoth, luxurious clubhouse, all privately financed.

Sleepy bucks the trend of negative headlines we read regularly across the state and region. For the same green fees as any place in Utah County, this place sugars it up real good for the buck. The business model may also be the trend of the future for courses that cannot make it without real estate sales or government subsidy.

The 40,000-square foot clubhouse and reception center are skirted with bushes, flowers, trees and a 120-foot gurgling brook and waterfall.

The course has greeters, like steroid smiler Kent Belcher, to glad-hand and welcome the average duffer. You get courtesy range balls, golf carts with GPS, free use of a cart cover if it rains, an accessible WiFi hotspot if you need to check your e-mail, a player's lounge and giant flat-screen TVs from one end of the building to the other.

Unheard of.

Folks will tell you the course is aesthetically friendly, with concrete paths, rock fences, plush fairways and greens, a Matt Dye layout designed not to cause a heart attack yet make you sweat shots. He made it for the 90 percent, the majority.

It's a contradiction to our times. The clubhouse, which opened just over a week ago, is a palace, dressed up like temple grounds or something from King Louis' Versailles.

The past 11 days, golfers who were used to checking in at a trailer are seen peeking around the clubhouse, wondering if they're trespassing on sacred ground.

"We're working on a sign that says 'Players' Lounge, Everyone Welcome,'" said Golden Holt, co-owner and operator. "Just so they know."

Sleepy Ridge is owned by Orem City but leased for 40 years by Holt and partner Keith Holdaway, who put up half the money for the clubhouse. The clubhouse triples as a golf facility, office building and wedding and reception hall.

"The three-pronged business approach is what we believe will make this successful," said Holdaway, who once farmed the land in Vineyard, part of a four-generation homestead his family has managed since settlers first came to Utah County.

Open four years, Sleepy Ridge is averaging 30,000 rounds a year, 60 percent of them nine-hole rounds. It's operating budget is about $1 million with revenues on the plus side – about $1.2 million. Many courses in Utah bring in about $600,000 to $750,000 and hope to keep out of the red.