15 must-play public golf courses in Utah

you nailed it

Glad you didn't put Soldier Hollow Silver course on there, it would have invalidated this list. One glaring omission is Gladstan has become easily one of the best since they revamped it, unreal back nine.

Birch Creek in Smithfield.

Fox Hollow is a goat track.. Not sure how that made it on the list.

I agree, dump Fox Hollow. Gladstan is a much better course in Utah County.

Not sure how South Mountain made this list, for the most part though it's pretty accurate. In my opinion I'd swap out South Mountain and put it Talons Cove. Also, Bountiful Ridge is questionable, I'd replace it with Davis Park.

Palisades is very underrated because it is in the middle of nowhere. It would make the list if it was closer to Salt Lake.

Birch Creek in Smithfield was the No. 4 public course in the entire nation about 15 years ago, according to Golf Digest. I wouldn't rate it that highly, but it's a great course because almost every hole is unique, three of the four three pars are long, and the greens are tough, especially on dry, hot summer days.

I gotta agree with McDiggity. Palisade is one of the hidden gems. It is up there with all of these courses.

As an avid golfer I have to disagree with 3 of these selections. Fox Hollow is goofy with trees in the middle of the fairway. South Mountain is unfair with its moguled fairways. Kokopelli is not worth the drive and the greens are spongy. Missing from this list is Birch Creek.

My top 15 would have included:

Millsite Golf Course: Although they are just now expanding from 9 to 18 holes, this course has some of the coolest holes in golf. Holes 2, 3 and 7 at Millsite are amazing.

Logan River Golf Course: If you haven't played it, you really, really need to. Go when the new club house is complete later this year.

Purple Sage Golf Course: Although Purple Sage is located 3 miles outside of Utah (which the locals appreciate) all Utah golfers should put this on their "play list".

Moab's newer nine put it on my must play list. The original nine are straight and short with few hazards. The new nine (ok, new in about 1989) are picturesque and a decent challenge.

And I agree with why Fox Hollow on this list? I grew up playing Tri-City and it was a long, narrow, miserable challenge of a course. Since then the trees have thinned and not much else has changed. The best part of each round was walking the creekbed finding lost balls...

too bad nine hole courses were ignored---coral cliffs in kanab is also a good play---easy to walk and scenic with shot difficulty highly variable in the undulating fairways---a couple of interesting shot choices are presented as well---

I don't know how many times the writer has played Hobble Creek, but no water hazards? You must cross the river at least 10 times in the round and I have seen a lot of balls in there. Great course.

I liked Entrada. Suprised it didn't make the list.

Entrada is a spectacular course - but it's now private.