Sand Hollow Resort (Championship)

Overview: The Championship Course at Sand Hollow Resort is a public desert layout in Hurricane, Utah, where red sandstone, open sand and green playing corridors create one of the most distinctive settings in the state. John Fought and Andy Staples shaped the 18-hole course around the existing dune contours rather than flattening the site. The front nine moves through a more open desert landscape, while the back nine climbs and runs along a ridge above a red-rock canyon. From the longest markers it plays to 7,315 yards, but the visual drama is not the whole challenge: exposed wind, elevation changes, bold bunkering and large targets require a clear plan from the tee through the approach.

History: Sand Hollow was developed as a destination resort in Southern Utah, with the Championship Course opening in 2008. Staples Golf Design describes it as the firm's first major new-course project and notes that the design team worked with natural sand, minimal earthwork and a gravity-fed irrigation system. The collaboration between Staples and Fought carried the project from its initial routing into the finished course. The resort later added a separate nine-hole Links Course and a Wee Course, but the Championship layout remains the property’s signature test, especially on the ridge-line holes that reveal the surrounding canyon country.

Did You Know? The Championship Course was built with sustainability in mind: its design uses the natural dune contours, natural agronomy and gravity-fed irrigation rather than relying on a heavily reshaped site. The course also sits near a protected desert-tortoise area, a reminder that the red-rock landscape is an ecological setting as well as a dramatic golf canvas.