Several interested persons have recently asked the Ogden Sierra Club for a map of the city administration's proposed redesign of the Mt. Ogden Golf Course. The map shown here was generated by overlaying the city's design (obtained directly from the Ogden City GIS department on 21 April 2006) on the USGS 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle map. The contour interval of the map is 40 feet.
According to this plan, the first nine holes of the redesigned course would wrap around the site of the existing course, with a large space in the middle where a housing development would be built. The last nine holes would then be relocated to the much steeper area east and south of the existing course, again leaving space between the fairways for housing developments. Most of the fairways for these holes are on slopes steeper than 30%, with elevation differences of as much as 200 feet between tee and green.
To see another representation of the topography of this area, click here.
Although the Sierra Club has little expertise in the art of golf course design, common sense would suggest that playing golf on such steep slopes might be difficult. City officials whom we've talked to seem to be aware of this problem, but sound confident that it can somehow be fixed in a future revision to the design. Given the topography, however, we're not convinced that a significantly better design is possible.
Meanwhile, we wonder whether this design is the basis for Mayor Godfrey's claim that the golf course would be "greatly improved." Does he have some other design in mind that he has not yet shared with the public? Or could he be using these words in some new sense that is unfamiliar to us?
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Last modified 29 April 2006