Red Ledges, Heber Valley

I have been visiting the Heber Valley for 50 years. Heber is about 14 miles from Park City, Utah. The valley is a green haven surrounded by mountains and hills. The views of the back side of Mt. Timpanogos and the Sun Dance ski resort are incredible. The valley borders the Deer Creek Reservoir and the Jordanelle Reservoir. Rivers and streams meander throughout the valley, with fishermen standing serenely in the flowing water trying to outsmart a trout.

Main Street Heber has a charming Mayberry look and as you drive through town, you almost look for Sherriff Andy Taylor walking down the sidewalk.

The valley has great golf courses, cross country skiing and is nearby to the Deer Valley and Park City Ski Resort. In short, it is a little slice of heaven.

Yesterday, my wife, the Lovely Sharon, and I played the recently opened Red Ledges Golf Course. This Nicklaus designed gem is the center piece of the Red Ledges real estate project located just a few miles from Heber’s main street. Despite all of my visits to Heber, I was more than a little surprised to find red rock formations on the golf course.

The course is routed over, around and through the red rocks, ridges, valleys and hill sides. It has a southern Utah red rock feel about it. The terrain is absolutely beautiful. Hawks were flying over us during the round.

The course is tough. Some holes are straight downhill and others straight uphill. The yardage for a hole can be irrelevant as the downhill holes play significant shorter than the card and the uphill holes are 1 to 2 clubs longer than the card. There are at least four tee options on each hole so you can figured what is best for you. The Lovely Sharon, whose handicap varies from 3 to 6, played the middle tees and shot an 82 with a couple of lost balls. I played the member tees and shot an 88 with a bunch of lost balls. I felt we both played the tees that we were comfortable with.

The course is the type that you need to play a couple of times to fully understand where to hit the ball. The practice facility was terrific and there will be a Jim Mclean golf school on site.

Apparently, the project has sold numerous lots, which is fantastic in this economy.

We had a wonderful time on the course and were happy that we had the chance to play it.

I was very impressed with Red Ledges, the golf course and the project. If you are looking for a second home or even a first home, you might take a look at Red Ledges.