Sky Mountain is a public 18-hole golf course owned and operated by the City of Hurricane. However, it’s far from what you’d expect for a city-owned course. It’s more like a scenic, challenging, and high-priced resort course! There is attention to detail on every hole, from the impressive driving range views surrounded by Zion National Park and the Pine Mountain range to elevated holes that will take your breath away. This 6,383-yard, par 72 course is well worth checking out if you’ve never played it and definitely on my regular play list. Sky Mountain Golf Course prides itself on keeping rates low with a concept that isn’t always about the bottom line. It’s all about making friends, playing a beautiful course, and being able to afford to play it often. It offers loyalty programs, coupons, and prolific men’s and women’s leagues.
I had the opportunity to interview their head pro, Kent Abegglen, who has a history of his own as being the Utah Junior Golfer of the Year in 1979 and tying for first place at the Utah Open in 2004. He’s working hard on his junior golf program this year to get players 6–8 years old in team competition at junior events in Utah. Most of these kids never experience competitive golf until high school. These types of programs can really help maintain an interest in golf for life and assist in acquiring college scholarships. The junior programs take place April, May, September, and October. Plus, they can also participate in junior summer camps. Just a $3 fee for nine holes makes it very affordable for the parents. Carts are available to rent with an adult when needed.
The other big news this year is the new water feature being built on holes 11 and 12. If you recall, 11 is a par 4 with that large pond on the left, and 12 is the par 3 heading back. That pond rarely had water in it due to lava tubes below the surface where the water would continuously drain out. The solution was to make the pond smaller away from the lava tubes and create a stream with a water feature and a rock wall. It should be a welcome change to an already beautiful start to your back nine. All of these changes, like last year’s new green on hole No. 4 happened with existing maintenance personnel. Keeping these types of major improvements in-house is one of the reasons Sky Mountain maintains its affordable rate structure. Improvements like these are no easy task. Like so many other courses in southern Utah, it’s blessed and cursed with lava fields. It takes an enormous amount of blasting and fill dirt to cover these lava fields. In fact, it took two years of hauling sand from surrounding areas to create the spacious fairways and lush greens you see at Sky Mountain.
This course is one of my favorite courses to play in southern Utah. Whenever I have guests come and stay with me in Mesquite, Sky Mountain is on our list. With few exceptions, my out-of-town guests say they enjoyed Sky Mountain the most, especially thanks to the rates but mostly because of the conditions and scenery. It seems to get better every year with new improvements and additions. Southern Utah and Mesquite provide some of the most scenic and well manicured golf courses in the world. What a great place to live or visit! Make sure you include Sky Mountain in your list of must-play courses for your guests or next weekend’s golf destination. You’ll be surrounded by exquisite scenery, desert warmth, friendly staff, and great food at the turn. I’ve never seen an unhappy face there yet. See ya on the links at Sky Mountain.
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