Park Meadows

The Park Meadows Country Club was built with championship golf on its mind. As soon as it opened in the eastern suburbs of Salt Lake City, it opened its doors to members of the PGA Champions Tour for the next decade. The course took an extended closure during 2009 so that Jack Nicklaus could return and renovate. The course now measures more than 7,400 yards and features sand hazards almost as big as the course’s yardage.

The signature “stretch” might be that of nos. 2 and 8, which share a putting surface. The former is a stiff par four, at 460 yards, but the latter is an even more stiff par five, measuring more than 600 yards. Both feature a number of enormous fairway traps, but the bigger challenge will be navigating the ring of eight bunkers that ring the green.

No. 8 is a much shorter par five, offering players a chance at the green...if they’re willing to contend with a “Channel”-style gauntlet to get there. A rightward fairway is surrounded by a wide creek, and a second lengthy carry will need to be made over a pond to a green that sits up against the water.