Entrada At Snow Canyon Unveils New David McLay Kidd-Designed Golf Course By Brian Weis

Entrada At Snow Canyon Unveils New David McLay Kidd-Designed Golf Course

By Brian Weis

Entrada at Snow Canyon Country Club recently unveiled its new David McLay Kidd-designed golf course to members and dignitaries. During the 17-month renovation project, McLay Kidd redesigned the club's former Johnny Miller and Fred Bliss-designed course, which opened for play in 1996.

McLay Kidd, whose course designs include Bandon Dunes in Bandon, Ore., Gamble Sands in Brewster, Wash., and Mammoth Dunes at Sand Valley Golf Resort in Nekoosa, Wisc., was assisted on the Entranda project by Troon's Design, Development and Agronomy team. Enhancements included all new irrigation and drainage systems, as well as relined and renovated irrigation lakes. All greens were redesigned and resurfaced with state-of-the-art Bentgrass, fairways were re-contoured, tees were relocated and/or renovated; and every bunker on the golf course was reimagined. The entire golf course, including tees, fairways and roughs, has been re-grassed with improved cultivars of Perennial Ryegrass and Kentucky Bluegrass. Entrada's practice facility was also renovated.

"What I saw here at Entrada was opportunity," said 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."

The new golf course plays to a par of 71 and measures 7,065 yards from the tips, an increase of 20 yards from the previous design. McLay Kidd's design incorporates contours, slopes, 'kickers and bounces' giving members and guests with slower swing speeds the opportunity to score well if they can read the contours and execute the shots.

"It's definitely a desert course, you're out here in Southern Utah, but I want to have that links experience. I want it to be the ground game. So many courses in America call themselves links, but you can't run the ball anywhere. This golf course is made entirely for that. From the way the design is, to the way the grasses are maintained, it's all about being able to run the ball along the ground and use it to your advantage. So, I would ask all the members and their guests to think about hitting a chipping 7-iron then a lofted wedge. Because I guarantee, the percentages will be in your favor with that 7-iron."

As part of the course's reopening ceremonies on Thursday, March 31, McLay Kidd led members on a back nine walkabout presenting his vision and tips on how to play the new golf course. On Friday, April 1st, Entrada Club President Joe Lyon and McLay Kidd took part in a ribbon cutting ceremony, with ceremonial first tee shots hit by McLay Kidd, Lyon and members Jim Behnke, Lynn Hales and Philip George.

"With the golf course renovation created by David McLay Kidd, it has provided our Club members a very challenging and interesting golf course that encourages creativity throughout the round. Most importantly, our members are having FUN playing their golf course," said Entrada at Snow Canyon Country Club General Manager Michael Rushing.

For more information on Entrada at Snow Canyon, visit www.golfentrada.com or call 435.986.2200.

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Revised: 04/12/2022 - Article Viewed 9,246 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.