Right off the bat let me say I hesitate to give the Glenmoor Golf Course a glowing review. With all the overcrowded golf courses around, Glenmoor remains a relatively undiscovered secret out in the southwest part of the Salt Lake Valley.
Despite the golf boom of recent years, Glenmoor hasn't become one of those bursting-at-the-seams courses. Although it's not quite like a decade ago when you could drive up on a Saturday afternoon and get on, there are often times on weekday mornings and early afternoons when it's not very busy.The course opened in 1968 as a nine-hole country club called Westland Hills. In the early 1970s it changed owners and was renamed Valair Country Club.
In 1977, it became Glenmoor, and the present back nine was added. When owner Grant Affleck lost the course, Cecil Bohn took over as the principal owner. He has kept the course on solid footing ever since by putting revenue back into the course for improvements. For instance, 5,000 new trees have been planted in the last four years.
"Private enterprise is the better way to run a golf course if it's done right," said Ken Clark, who has been the head pro for more than a decade.
Glenmoor is about a half hour from Salt Lake. To get there, exit at 90th South off I-15 and travel to 40th West, where you turn left and go until you see Glenmoor Village on the right. Follow a winding road through a housing development until you get to the clubhouse.
The best three-hole stretch of the course comes early, at Nos. 2, 3 and 4. Actually they may be the best three holes on the course.
No. 2 is a 361-yard slight dogleg right that requires a tee shot over the edge of a ravine and an approach shot that must deal again with the ravine when it juts out right by the green. The nearby Bingham copper mine provides a striking backdrop for the hole.
No. 3 is a fun little 147-yard downhill par-3, while No. 4 is a 367-yard par 4 cut around the bottom of the ravine. You have plenty of fairway to work with on the drive, but you'd better keep it left to set up your next shot over a narrow neck of fairway leading to the green.
The best two holes on the back nine may be the two par-3s. No. 13 is very similar to No. 3, downhill, facing north. No. 16 is an uphill, 157-yarder with a blind green.
What may keep some folks from playing here often is the relative difficulty of the course. It's not a difficult course in the sense that it has a lot of lakes or sand traps or trickiness.
But what it does feature is length - 6,400 yards from the whites and nearly 6,800 from the blues. However most of the fairways are fairly wide open and most greens are large, making for good targets.
So if you want a fun, challenging layout that is less crowded than your average course, head out to South Jordan to Glenmoor. Just don't tell anyone else about it.
*****
(Additional information)
Glenmoor Golf Course
Hole Par Yards*
1 5 532
2 4 361
3 3 147
4 4 367
5 5 473
6 4 438
7 3 148
8 4 383
9 4 386
___ ___ _____
OUT 36 3235
10 4 360
11 4 365
12 4 365
13 3 139
14 4 407
15 5 541
16 3 157
17 4 373
18 5 486
___ ___ ____
IN 36 3235
___ ___ ____
TOTAL 72 6428
*Middle tees
Difficulty: ***
Layout/Scenery: ***
Enjoyability index: ****
(5=Highest rating, 0=lowest)
Location: 9800 S. 4800 West, South Jordan
Head Professional: Ken Clark
Designer/Yr. opened: Bill Neff/Mark Ballif, 1968
Cost: $6/12, $7/14 carts, $1.50/$3 range
Reservations: 255-1742, Mon for Tues-Wed, Wed for Thu-Fri, Thu for Sat-sun-Mon
Easiest time to get one: Monday or Weekday mornings
Course record: Milan Swilor 65, competitive