At the end of last season my dad and I played the Mountain nine at Hidden Valley Country Club in Sandy, Utah for the last time the 9th hole would be in its old iteration. The club is in the process of putting in a swimming pool and the par-3 hole would have to be moved and altered. It was cool to play the hole the last time it was open.
Today was the debut of the new hole and we were there for that as well, which is kind of neat. The new version is much different. The elevation change is less and the angle different. The green almost seems to slant away from the tee although the shot is slightly uphill. I airmailed the green having kept the old elevation change in my mind, but did manage a solid up and down for par. I’m even on the new version in my career of one time playing it.
New Mountain Nine par-3 9th hole design, May 2015
There were a couple of other changes to the Mountain nine. The two front-left greenside bunkers on the par-3 4th where changed to one bigger bunker. Photo below.
Par-3 4th bunker change, Mountain nine May 2015
The bunkers short right of the par-4 5th were changed to one bigger bunker and made visible from the fairway below. Previously the old bunkers were not visible. Photo below:
New, bigger single bunker on the par-4 5th, Mountain Nine.
I’m not necessarily one who believes the player needs to see everything, but aesthetically that change looks “nice.” The new bunker is much flatter and less deep, with hardly any lip. The old ones were very deep and penal. Very tough.
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