IT'S TIME FOR another Deseret News golf survey.

Our initial survey three years ago elicited a nice response with more than 100 readers giving their opinions on everything from favorite golf courses to favorite golf balls to least favorite golfer to the worst thing about golf in Utah.Since then there have been several new courses built, many new golfers on the scene and perhaps a lot of new opinions about golf.

So please take a few minutes today and give us your opinions about golf. We'll publish the results along with some of you comments next month.

READERS E-MAIL: It's nice to know that some readers have noticed those little e-mail blurbs at the bottom of our columns and have taken the time to send e-mail messages.

Sorry to say, I haven't been prompt in answering or acknowledging your messages. So here goes.

Sterling Larson is the only reader so far who has met the challenge of playing all of Utah's golf courses, although he admits not playing the Green River and Sun Hills courses that opened last year. I'll give him a couple of months to catch up.

But Larson puts me to shame when it comes to number of courses played. While I can lay claim to playing the 100 or so courses in Utah, as well as another 50 or so around the country, Larson has more than doubled my output with an astonishing 355 courses played around the world. He and I would like to know - is there anyone out there who has played more than that?

Reader David Zolman and his friend Todd Christensen set out to play all of Utah's golf courses in 1994 and by the end of the year had played 82 of Utah's 87 courses. By the following summer they had all but Dugway, that remote course in the desert that I had such a hard time getting to play. Zolman wrote "Our experience was generally postive, but our wives missed us and called golf our mistress. Business was great that year, hasn't been that good since, so it must be that we are not golfing enough."

Michael Benson tells an amazing story about golf fees when he was attending Oxford University in England several years ago.

"Students at Oxford could join the Oxford Golf Club for 70 pounds sterling a year - that's right, about $110 flat rate. No greens fees. No checking in with the starter. No waiting on the first tee. It was heaven. I lived three minutes from the course and would play at least four or five times a week. I've got some great stories of playing with stodgy ol' British gentlemen bedecked in knickers, french cuffs, and bow ties. Sometimes I felt like I was in a time warp." Finally Reed Pew had a different perspective on the inexpensive prices in Utah compared to the outrageous prices at resort courses. He says he's "spent a fortune" at several nice courses that charged over $100 per round and could see a big difference in the quality of the courses.

"Though golf in Utah is still very cheap, one cannot begin to compare any Utah course with those I've played that cost so much. The design and maintenance of the out-of-state expensive courses is far superior to Utah's courses. So our courses should be less costly, because they're not as good."

View Comments

COUGS COUP: The BYU men's golf team will be in San Diego for the NCAA regionals this weekend trying to advance to the NCAA tournament for first time in four years. In fact, after making it to every NCAA tournament between 1969 and 1987, the Cougars have only been three times in the past decade.

That trend could all change beginning next year.

Coach Bruce Brockbank and assistant Brent Wade have a dynamite recruiting class that includes Manuel Marizalde, the top-ranked player in Colombia and two highly recruited golfers from Las Vegas - Billy Harvey and Scott Piercy.

Put those guys with young players on this year's team such as freshman Andy Miller (who won the WAC individual title last month), sophomore Michael Henderson (who was once national junior player of the year ahead of Tiger Woods) and freshman Jose Garrido (a four-time national champion in Colombia) and you have the makings of a another perennial top-10 national contender.

Join the Conversation
Looking for comments?
Find comments in their new home! Click the buttons at the top or within the article to view them — or use the button below for quick access.