Summary: Value Rating = A+

The course offers a great golf experience in terms of playability and challenge for the average recreational golfer. I would definitely play this course again.

The course is well designed, nicely laid out, and one of its most spectacular qualities is the scenery and setting – a great course to play and enjoy the surrounding views and vistas.

The A+ rating is based upon using the sunset rate ($50 US when I played the course – in 2008 the sunset rate was $60 and regular rates were in the $100 range). My value rating would be B for the full up green fees.

You will have to hit over desert waste areas to reach most of the fairways. The fairways are generous off the tee for the most part. The greens can be tricky in some areas – I did find them difficult to read during my round as I ended up with a few surprise breaks when putting.

Refer to the website for additional details regarding the course – www.coralcanyongolf.com.

Play and Value Evaluation Rating Table

Refer to my evaluation criteria – www.lifepast50.ca/topic-list/golf/reviewcriteria

Some Details:

Coral Canyon is located in Washington, Utah which is just north of St. George, Utah.  It is very close to the Interstate (I 15) and is easy to get to.

It is close to Zion National Park as well which is another spot in this part of Utah that is worth visiting – some beautiful landscapes in this Park and an enjoyable drive through the park.

We played this course on March 22, 2005 with an after 2 pm tee time.  We were able to play all 18 holes before darkness fell and thoroughly enjoyed the course and the pace of play.  The course wasn’t very busy and we did spend time on each tee admiring the views.

The setting and scenery provides Coral Canyon with lots of personality – lots of great vistas pretty much everywhere you look.  The natural land formations with the red rock, desert areas and black lava rock make this a truly unique spot.

The practice green and tees were well maintained.  The practice green did give us a glimpse of what to expect on the course – same feel as we encountered on the course.

We played the black tees (middle) and it did offer us lots of challenge.  You do have to hit over desert waste areas on most holes but they aren’t a problem as long a you get the ball in the air.  The landing areas for the tee shots are generous.  You will use all the clubs in your bag.

The elevated tee on 10 gives you a great view of the area and you get the enjoyment of watching your ball fly through the air on its way down to the fairway.  We did have time to hit a drive from the championship tees for fun on this hole.  Great to see the ball fly out into the distance with such beautiful scenery.

The par 3 6th hole is a quite scenic although short – you do have to hit an accurate wedge to make sure you score well here.  Some ravines come into play here depending on your tee choice.

Pretty much the only water that comes into play on this course is at the 9th – a lake runs up the right side of the fairway at the dogleg and goes all the way to the green.  A controlled 2nd shot (no slice for the right-hand players) is needed.

The back 9 has an equal number of par 3s, 4s and 5s which is a bit different that what you usually encounter on most courses.  Hole # 12 does have a waste area that is in range so your best drive off the tee might get you in trouble.  On # 14 the waste area comes into play on your 2nd shot so you can decide if you want to play over or lay up.

When we played the course in 2005, there weren’t many houses around the course.  There are plans to develop a community around the area so at some point in the future more homes will be seen from the course.  The course is set is a very quiet area – very peaceful to go along with the beautiful scenery.

I shot 91 with a couple of errant shots into the desert areas that I had to hit back onto the fairway.  The desert area ground is very hard so you must be careful how you play your shot.  I did find simply playing the ball to the nearest open spot of the fairway served me well.

There are some rocky areas where you won’t be able to play your ball or sometimes even find it.

I have to say that the course the day we played was is superb shape and is obviously extremely well maintained – immaculate is a word that comes to mind.  One of the best conditioned courses my buddies and I have played.

My Evaluation Details:

Scenery – Just a beautiful setting with great scenery.

Mix of holes – The course has a great mix of long and short holes with many left and right dog legs.  You will use all the clubs in your bag playing from the middle tees.

Consistency and condition – The course was in tremendous shape.  Some of the best course conditions we have played in.

Character – combine the scenery, the layout and the golf challenge and you can’t beat Coral Canyon.  There is nothing like standing over a shot in beautiful surroundings.

Golf Challenge – the course did offer a good blend of decision making places…..

• tee shots – the course is very fair off the tee with generous landing areas so you can spray the ball around a bit as you hit over the waste areas.
• fairway shots – almost all the lies in the fairway were great.  There are some very gentle undulations to deal with.
• pin placements – the greens are a good size and offer many pin placement options.  Pin placement along the edges of the green can be tricky because a long or wide shot can end up in the desert areas.
• putting – the putting was very consistent across all the greens.  We did find some tricky spots that were difficult to read – we were surprised by some of the breaks.
• greens – the condition of the greens was just excellent across the whole course.
• a chance to recover – best to play your shots that end up off the fairway/rough back onto the nearest part of the fairway you can easily see.  The ground can be hard and there is lots of scrub brush that you may have to play around.  The rough was very fair and we didn’t encounter any huge difficulties playing from the edges of the course.

Other Observations

The course was in fantastic shape and the scenery was just beautiful (I know I’ve said that a few times in this review but the area is really, really spectacular) as I hope my photo’s show.

View of Mountains

View From the Tee

Another View From the Tee

View From The Tees On Hole 10

View of the Coral Canyon Area

Reach me at Lane@lifepast50.ca