September 2024 – Our annual guys’ trip took us to St. George, UT – a burgeoning golf mecca located almost two hours northeast of Las Vegas in the southern Utah desert near Zion. If you’re unfamiliar then you’re likely from the east coast and certainly not alone. I got mostly blank stares from others when I told them the group was going there. However, this will start to change as Black Desert emerges as a likely top 100 contender in the upcoming years and the PGA rolls into town in mid-October 2024.
To get here, your best bet is to fly into Vegas and drive after a few nights of Vegas-style dining and entertainment. If you do that then I recommend Wolf Creek in Mesquite on the way out to St. George. Alas, it was closed for maintenance on our trip so be careful when you book. I don’t usually use package folks for our trips but used https://www.stgeorgeutahgolf.com/ to book and they built a great itinerary and helped us to pivot after hearing Wolf Creek was closed. Our rota included Coyote Springs instead (northeast of Vegas), Black Desert Resort, Entrada and Sand Hollow.
In all, this was certainly the best bang for the buck of our recent guys’ trips for the quality of courses and accommodations. It was like $1,700 per man + flights, eats and booze. Now we could have cheaped out on the food and gotten away with a sub $3,000 week as you could have just eaten in the cottage/casita every night. As it was, we did just that one night but hit the wallet pretty hard on Vegas dining before and after and dinner one night in Utah.
So Entrada is a private course and most recently ranked as the 9th best in Utah by Golf Digest after going through a complete redo by David McClay Kidd a few years ago. You can get on only by staying at Entrada so that is what we did. Unlike most accommodations on these 8-man trips, we all got our own rooms between two cottages and the rooms had great living spaces where we watched Thursday night football and hung out. Couple of quick photos below,
So that got us on Entrada which was the middle course we played and ranked three of three among the golfers. Conditioning was good save the first four/five holes where they must’ve lost the fairways and overwatered and kept us on the path. They also started us on 10 – I guess to avoid the first holes until later in the round and it was a CF when we made the turn as they put a single then another group of members out between us – though we did fly back to the cottage to get some beers as they had no Miller Lite on the course. Also if you do the same rota, play here first as we were underwhelmed by the three lava rock holes as we just played 18 of the same next door at Black Desert. If we played here first, that would’ve been much more of a tease for BDR. I’ll do a separate review of Black Desert and link it here but will include Sand Hollow photos herein. Sand Hollow could’ve been a couple of the guys’ favorites but the tee boxes had a worm problem and were in really bad shape.
All that said, by the time you read this and plan your trip they should fix the first few holes and the stay here was great, so that’s my recommendation.
To the area, as I said above you could definitely cheap out and just buy stuff for food for the cottage, but if you do go out, St. George is a cool little town. The Grille at Entrada was closed so the first night we just stopped at a little sports bar for grub – Guru’s. Be careful for times though. Remember that St. George is on Mountain Time so if you’re leaving Vegas or Mesquite after golf (like we left at 5 PM PDT) thinking we’d make it to St. George by like 6:30. But it was 7:30 and by the time we checked in and got to Guru’s, we just made it for dinner as shit closes early in Utah. Also there are fucked up booze rules which I will discuss more in my BDR write-up.
For our dine-in night, we picked up Pica Rica BBQ ribs – a Mexican rib joint in St. George. Good ribs, awesome smoked turkey and decent sides. Then on our dine out night, we did Wood Ash Rye. Really good though some in the group thought service was lacking and our waiter (wait-person) didn’t afford us the attention we deserved. To the course.
This is from my approach on one. We played the II/III combo tees which play to 6,200 yards and slope to a 133 so no slouch. I shot my best round of the week here – an 88. From the III tee, one played to 387 yards. Again, we played the back first and had to rush through the drives as the starter put a threesome on the box as we made the turn to one and we thought our other pair had already hit. You can see how bad the fairway is and the green is hidden by the hill – kind of a silly design for a first hole. We had to stay on the cart path as well. So besides the really bad condition on the first four or five holes, we had to stay on the path through those holes and the paths veered a huge distance from the fairways. Then we felt super rushed through the first few holes as well. This really killed the whole vibe and pushed Entrada way down in our opinion. In fact, my buddy Dave is an official Golf Digest course rater and took a lot of points off Entrada for conditioning. In our Ryder Cup match, our opponent Jeff (a 22 handicap) shoots a 43 on our first nine (the back nine) and trounces us on that match winning the first five holes and we are 5 and 4 losers. But on the second nine, which is the front, we salvaged the match with a +2 win. We pushed this hole with me and Jeff both getting a stroke (5/4) and my partner Dave parring.
Two is the number one handicap and played 420 yards from the II tees. See the cart path way right and the fairway way left. Yup, stupid. The hole took forever to play and again we had the threesome up our asses so felt rushed. The play off the drive is cutting off as much water as you can, setting up a shorter approach. I put it on the fairway but then you need to clear pond with water left just off the green. I did it and parred net three to win the hole, but not a fan of the hole overall. Again, though, that may be more because of feeling rushed than an honest assessment.
The third is 328 yards from the III’s. Very pretty hole and the green is tucked behind another hill. I nailed my drive and put my approach into birdie range but missed. The par putt netted me three and we went up two after three.
The 4th is 400 yards from the II tees. The backdrop here is truly spectacular and while we were still on the cart path only here, conditioning started getting better. I doubled here.
The 143-yard par three. Parred here but so did opponent.
Six ix just shy of 400 yards from the III tees. tight fairway but in theory a shot right should come back down the hill but I launched it too far right and couldn’t find it for another double and now we were at only +1.
Seven is a short 350-yard par 4 from the II’s but tight. It’s the 15 handicap because of its length but you better not hook it. Two of our guys did. I got on in regulation but a three putt 5. Luckily my partner found his ball shy of the water and got a par to stay 1 up.
Eight is a tough par three (9 handicap) and they had the flag way left. I missed just left and in the bunker. Very tough bunkers when you only have a few feet to play with. Barely got out and bad chip led to another double. My partner just missed a 50-foot putt and tapped in to halve the hole.
And finally nine, the only par 5 on the front. 525 yards from the III tees. I went into the waste area off the tee and burned a shot getting out. But finished nice and partner parred and we won +2 and won the overall Ryder march (eight 9-hole rounds better ball and 4 rounds of best of 1, then 2, then 3, and we were going to do 4 of 4 but didn’t want to slow down play so went back to best two of four and won 12.5 to 11.5).
Ten was the first hole we played. This was a tough hole (2nd handicap), played to 400 yards, and both my partner and buddy Rob pulled it left. My double netted down to a bogey but Jeff bogeyed net par for the win.
Eleven is a 543-yard par five playing from the II’s. Long hole but a lot of room right. Didn’t play it too bad but my net 5 lost again to Jeff who parred net birdie. We got pretty sick of saying that on the front for him.
Looking back up the fairway on 11.
Twelve features a Biarritz green. Thought I hit a great shot but long and couldn’t get through the gully on the green for a 4/3 losing again to Jeff with a 3/2.
After the Biarritz you get a classic cape hole. Bite off as much as you want. I hit an awesome shot but right into the bunkers and had to burn a shot to get out. While the par train finally ended for Jeff, my five couldn’t beat Rob’s 4 as no pops on this 332 yard hole from the II tees.
Back-to-back short par fours. Only 288 yards from the II tees. I bogeyed and everyone else parred including Jeff for a net birdie and they stymied us 5/4!
Fifteen is a 170-yard par three where you’re finally into the lava rocks. Again, if we didn’t play Black Desert the day before, we would’ve been blown away. Again I implore you to play here first. I just missed a hole-in-one here and a tap in birdie for nothing as we were already closed out.
Kind of a blind drive on 16. The hole goes left but the rock keeps jutting out so it’s tough to outdrive it. I played smart and right but topped a shot and took a double.
The approach on 16.
Seventeen would be so unique if we didn’t play Black Desert. Either way, this is a great dogleg left with lots of room right.
And 18 is another great hole transitioning out of the lava rock and spectacular. More room left than appears. Again, Entrada is a great course. With some TLC on the first few holes (and if BDR didn’t exist), this could’ve been top 100 for me. As is, it’s no slouch and a fun play.
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