By Scott Buehler, Southern Utah localSky Mountain: Hurricane's own course, with the view
In Hurricane, up on the bench · Municipal · Year round Directions
Sky Mountain is Hurricane's own course, run by the city, and it is where locals play most because the value is hard to argue with. It sits up on the bench on the northwest edge of town, Pine Valley Mountain filling the horizon to the west and northwest and the red rock of the Hurricane Cliffs rising to the east, and it plays with enough elevation change to stay interesting without wearing you out.
It is the answer I give first when someone asks where to play their first round in town. Municipal means the green fees stay the friendliest of the three and the tee sheet is open to anyone. Book early in the warm months and mid morning in winter, when a frost delay is a real thing even in Hurricane.
Sand Hollow Resort: the Championship and the Links
West shore of the reservoir · Public tee times · Book ahead in season Directions
The Championship Course at Sand Hollow Resort is the headline. It sits on the reservoir's west shore, in the red rock country that gives this corner its look, and plays out through sandstone ridges and arroyos with elevated tees and a stretch of rim holes that shows up in every photo anyone takes here. It opened in 2008, runs to roughly 7,300 yards from the back tees, and has spent years on lists of the best courses in Utah. Both layouts are open to the public, so a tee time is yours whether or not you are staying at the resort.
Alongside the Championship is a shorter Links nine, more open and easier to walk, a good warm up or an afternoon round when you do not have four hours. Cool season tee times are the ones that go first, and they go early, so between November and April book further out than you think you need to.
Copper Rock: the newer one that tests you
In Hurricane, south side · Public · Year round Directions
Copper Rock is the newest of the three. It opened in 2020 on the south side of town and plays as a public championship course, a par 72 that runs to roughly 7,200 yards from the back tees and drops through red rock outcrops, washes and ledges rather than sitting on flat ground. It has hosted the LPGA Epson Tour's Copper Rock Championship, which tells you the test is real.
It is public through and through, so the tee sheet is open to anyone and no membership is required. For a visitor with two days, the honest pairing is Sand Hollow for the spectacle and Copper Rock for the round you will still be arguing about on the drive home.
Why January is the whole point
November through April is prime · Summer is a dawn sport
At about 3,250 feet in the warm southwest corner of the state, the Hurricane golf year runs upside down compared with most of the country. From November through April the weather is close to ideal: highs commonly in the 50s and 60s, sun most days, and snow that almost never sticks on the valley floor. The courses are busy in those months precisely because most of the map north of here is closed.
Summer is when the local rhythm changes. July and August rounds get played at dawn or in the last hours of light, and midday tee times run cheaper for a reason. Fall and spring are the quiet best of both, warm enough to be comfortable and mild enough to play at a normal hour.
If golf is a real part of how you spend your week, that reversal is worth more than any single course on the list.
More within half an hour
Washington and the St. George area · 15 to 30 minutes
The Hurricane courses are not the end of it. Coral Canyon, a public course in Washington, sits about 15 minutes southwest (Directions), and the greater St. George area adds a genuine cluster of public and resort golf inside a half hour drive. That density is a large part of why this corner of the state has the golf reputation it does.
Practically, it means you can play a different course every weekend for a couple of months without repeating and without leaving the valley, which is unusual for a town of this size. If a course view or a fairway lot is part of the plan, Hurricane golf course homes is the search to start with.
Three notes on playing here
- Book the cool months early. November through April is peak season in reverse, and the good morning times at the resort courses are spoken for well in advance.
- Frost delays happen. Clear desert nights in December and January can put frost on the grass even when the afternoon hits 60, so a late morning tee time is often the smart one.
- The desert sun is the same in February as it is in June. Sunscreen and water are not summer equipment here, they are equipment.