Canyons Golf Course

Gene and Casey Bates built Canyons Golf in 2014 directly on the ski runs of Park City Mountain Resort, an extraordinary site constraint that produced a course whose holes literally share footprint with the mountain's winter lifts and runs. The 18-hole par-70 routing covers just 97 acres, tiny by modern standards, and delivers more vertical per yard than almost any public course in the country. The elevation is the defining feature. The par-4 10th drops 297 feet from tee to green, one of the most dramatic elevation changes in US public golf. Total elevation change across the round exceeds 550 feet. The par-3 18th is the signature water hole: an island green wrapped by Willow Draw Stream, and the architects' signature bunkering shows up most clearly on the par-4 13th. A trophy round on any Park City or Wasatch itinerary and one of the most unusual mountain courses anywhere. Reviews divide over the blind shots and tight corridors, but everyone agrees on the views out over the Wasatch and Uinta ranges.