Walking Golf in St. George, Utah: Which Courses Let You Walk, What It Saves and How Hilly Each One Is

Walking golf in St. George, Utah is easiest at the four City of St. George courses. Southgate, St. George Golf Club, Sunbrook and Dixie Red Hills all publish walking rates, and a cart adds $20 for 18. The flattest walk in town is St. George Golf Club, with only about 42 feet of tee-to-green climb over 18 holes, while several canyon and resort courses in Washington, Hurricane, Ivins and Mesquite are effectively cart-only.

This guide ranks every course for walking golf in St. George and Mesquite, using each course's walking policy, its published walking rate and the climb we measured from USGS terrain data for each hole on the map.

How we measured "walkable"

For each hole, our map records how far the green sits above or below the tee. Adding up every uphill hole gives a course's total climb, and adding up every downhill hole its total descent. Two cautions:

• These are tee-to-green numbers only. They don't include the walk from a green to the next tee, which on canyon courses can include steep climbs back up to an elevated tee.
• A course that descends much more than it climbs (Wolf Creek drops 631 feet and climbs 211, tee to green) makes up the difference between holes.

So a low climb number is a good sign, and a big gap between climb and descent is a warning.

The walkability scorecard

Rates change. Confirm before you go.

Walking golf around St. George, by area

Where you stay decides which walkable courses are close. Drive times are from downtown St. George on our map.

The pattern is simple. The cheap, walkable golf is in the middle of St. George, on the valley floor. The farther you go toward the canyons of Washington, the Snow Canyon side or the mesas of Hurricane, the more the courses climb and the more the cart becomes part of the price. For the east side in detail, see Washington, Utah golf, and for the Zion side, Hurricane and Sand Hollow golf.

The best walking golf in St. George

St. George Golf Club: the flattest 18

St. George Golf Club is a traditional desert-valley municipal course that winds through Fort Pearce Wash. Its biggest single tee-to-green drop is 25 feet and its biggest climb 15. It's the area's only par 73 and plays 7,271 yards from the Golds, so it's a long walk in distance if not in hills. The Blue tees (6,673 yards, 71.1 / 124) are the sweet spot for most visitors.

There's no driving range, so warm up at Southgate first. The course is about 10 minutes from downtown.

Southgate: walk the front, ride the back if you like

The city calls Southgate "walkable", and it's the best walk in the city system. But the two nines are very different:

• Front nine: flat and wet, crisscrossing the Santa Clara River, with water on 8 of the first 9 holes. Total tee-to-green climb: 17 feet.
• Back nine: climbs into the Tonaquint foothills. The 10th rises 57 feet and the 13th 45 feet, for 148 feet of climb on the nine.

If you only play nine, the front is the easy walk. Southgate is cart-path-only for two to three weeks after its late-September overseed, so October is a good month to just walk it. It's also the shortest city 18 (6,218 yards from the tips) and about 8 minutes from downtown.

Dixie Red Hills: short, but not flat

This city nine is 2,738 yards and listed as very walkable, with the cart optional at $10. Just know it isn't flat: the first hole climbs 57 feet to the green and the 5th and 7th drop 65 and 55 feet. Short holes make it manageable, and at $27 for nine in season it's a good late-afternoon walk about 7 minutes from downtown. See the Dixie Red Hills course guide.

Sunbrook: walkable, with one hilly nine

Sunbrook publishes walking rates, and its new lithium cart fleet is an extra $20. The Deseret News advises riding on The Pointe nine because of its elevation changes. The tee sheet shows which of the three pairings you get, and Woodbridge/Blackrock is the one that skips The Pointe. Our Sunbrook Golf Club guide compares the rotations.

Sand Hollow Links: the walking nine in Hurricane

At Sand Hollow, about 32 minutes east of St. George in Hurricane, the Links nine is the walker's course. Online times are sold without a cart, and walking is encouraged. It's wide, treeless and firm, with hand-built stone walls, and the resort claims Utah's largest greens and fairways. Prices ran from $50 for a January weekday to $105 on spring Saturdays when we checked. See the Sand Hollow Links course page.

The Championship course next door includes a cart in its all-in rate, and its 13th fairway is cart-free. The Sand Hollow Wee pitch-and-putt is a walking course too.

Courses where walking is unclear

• SunRiver is the flattest 18 in our data (26 feet of climb over 18) on the Virgin River valley floor. But its rate sheet lists a rider cart fee, suggesting the cart is in the green fee, and no walking rate is published. Ask the shop.
• The Ledges shows the cart as not mandatory in its online tee-sheet settings, but the club states no walking policy. The back nine runs along the Snow Canyon rim.
• Green Spring in Washington reportedly allows walking, but every published rate includes a cart, and the canyon holes add up to 246 feet of climb.
• Sky Mountain in Hurricane allows walking, but its rates include a cart.
• Coral Canyon in Washington states no walking policy, includes a half cart with every tee time, and its first hole drops about 100 feet from the tee.
• Copper Rock: one newsletter says a cart is required. We couldn't verify it.
• Black Desert in Ivins includes a GPS cart and forecaddie in every green fee; no walking option is published.

Mesquite: few published walking options

Few Mesquite courses publish a walking policy. Wolf Creek is cart-only in practice, with ridge-top tees and 631 feet of tee-to-green descent. The options worth asking about:

• Coyote Willows: a flat river-bottom nine (24 feet of climb on seven mapped holes). A walking rate was offered in 2017; ask whether it still is.
• Falcon Ridge: GolfPass and Golf Advisor listings say walking is allowed. Confirm with the shop, because the plateau tees add 343 feet of climb tee to green.
• CasaBlanca: flat (90 feet of climb), though no walking policy is published and the cart is included.
• Beaver Dam Lodge: a nine-hole par-3 course where walking is allowed and pull carts are listed.

For the drive down I-15, see Mesquite, Nevada golf.

When to walk

For walking golf in St. George, the weather decides more than the course does. Average highs, NOAA 1991-2020 normals for St. George:

Summer is also when walking is cheapest: $30 for 18 at St. George Golf Club and Southgate, and $34 at Sunbrook, June to September. Our summer golf in St. George guide covers dawn tee times, and cheap golf in St. George and the city golf courses guide have every rate.

Plan it on the map

The 3D map of St. George golf shows each course's total climb in the course list and every hole's rise or fall in the hole-by-hole table. Compare the flattest courses near your hotel and you'll know before you book whether to bring a push cart or rent a ride.