Bonneville Golf Course — Local services in Salt Lake City

I'm torn on Bonny. It's obviously a venerable mainstay of the valley, and is nearly always kept in good condition (although I don't love the new watering patterns and preferred the old routing). The comments of other reviewers about the somewhat intimidating atmosphere are accurate...it's always had sort of an air of being the municipal course for insiders, almost like it's a private club posing as a public course. Honestly though, that's part of its mystique to a degree and it's always had that for the thirty odd years I've played it, and is arguably better now than in years gone by.

There are some fantastic players who chose it as their home course, and some serious money has changed hands out there over the years! And there are a few holes here that really stand out, including one of the best par 3s you'll ever face at 9. The opening tee shot is also a winner, facing that uphill shot in front of the clubhouse is a knee knocker on mornings you're not quite feeling it. And the par 5 fifth is a very good hole, begging to you go for it in two with your blind second, but with the trouble both right and long making it a questionable decision requiring you to really think about how you've been hitting it on the first four. 10 has the carry, 18 is just fun to play...these are the holes you'll replay when you look back in the round because they made you think.

But the bulk of the course is a bit dull in design in comparison, and all kind of runs together in a back and forth, straight, parallel fashion that can become boring and lull you out of your focus. You can't help but feel a more inventive use of hazards and even routing was possible in that beautiful setting. William Bell Sr did some fantastic work nationally, but much of the round at Bonneville feels very uninspired, just one straight fairway after another, with very little strategy involved on most of it. The small old school round greens really define the course on these holes, and can definitely be tricky and fun to putt. But the shots require little thought other than "straight." Even Glendale (interestingly, a project which believe Bell's son, William F was involved in along with William Neff) is architecturally a bit more interesting with higher shot values IMO.

So on the one hand it's a cool course with great history and some memorable holes, but much of it is just an average, straight municipal course with kind of an odd culture surrounding it. That said it's probably a must-play due to its traditions and importance to salt lake city golf. 4 stars feels right, but I could just as...

Not for beginners This course is not friendly for beginners. They call your T - time on a intercom and really rush you to T-off then all the sudden, no more than 10 minutes later the next group is up. The whole time we felt rushed and under pressure . We even got more than one group asking to play through. Maybe we went at too busy of a time for our group of beginner golfers, and we were on the slow side so I don’t blame others for wanting to go ahead. It would have been nice if people were more courteous. We always felt like we had to look behind us because we were worried about being hit from a ball from another group. Next time - if there is one, we’ll go at a different time or not on a Saturday. The course was beautiful and I would like to play at a...

Absolutely disgusting by my round today. I took my 4 year old son not knowing that they have a rule not allowing a certain age group to be on the course. Well after paying at the pro shop with my son and getting charged on the first hole I was stopped by the course Marshall and said he was not allowed to be on the course. That I was not allowed to play. I explained to him that I checked in at the club house and they saw my son and never asked any questions. He proceeded to say that my son was a liability and if he gets hurt that I will sue the city. Complete nonsense. The Marshalls attitude was uncalled for and I will not be playing this course again. I hope he gets an...