Utah golf course that had dangerous sinkhole is back open, with some workarounds

The area has been reinforced and a workaround has been put into place.

Everything is back to normal at a Utah golf course that had a sinkhole open up earlier this month, as the area has been reinforced and a workaround has been put into place.

Those playing at Fox Hollow Golf Club in American Fork, Utah, got quite a scare when the sinkhole forced the back nine to be closed for a stretch. Significant winter snows in the neighboring Wasatch Mountains have sent record water levels rushing through the area and a log got caught in the river that flows through the course.

But with just a few small workarounds, the course is back open for 18 holes of action.

The course’s 10th hole, which had played as a par 5, has been reconfigured and is now a par 4, while the 14th hole has been shortened from a 180-yard par-3 to one that plays around 80 yards.

“It just became too overwhelming that it gave way,” Susan Goebel, the American Fork public works director, told a local TV station. “We have it stabilized. We did bring in some rock and riprap to help stabilize the walls.

“We’ll have to restore that culvert, bringing another culvert in, bringing in some more backfill, and doing some grading.”

The course was designed by Joe Williams and opened for play in 1975.