A Sweet, Sweet Victory at Victory Ranch

A warm summer twilight. Wispy fescue grasses blowing gracefully back and forth in your peripheral sight, a shimmering display of golden browns and strips of deep green framed by native sagebrush. Rugged granite outcroppings dotted with bright white sand, blue skies and cool breezes. This is Victory Ranch golf.

Massive sweeping views of the Wasatch Mountains and the surrounding farmland are there from the first tee shot to the very last putt. You are engaged, excited and overjoyed to play the next shot. Each new hole keeps getting better through the routing, and it is perhaps one of the most playable modern golf designs I have played to date.

Why? Victory Ranch offers numerous yardage options, with at least seven tee boxes per hole and in some cases up to twelve. Just about anyone can find a yardage and a challenge level they can play from with that many options.

One of the more unique golf real estate developments in the Park City area offers a Rees Jones design that is jaw-droppingly good. Jones kept the golf compact and in the valley so that very few of the upcoming homes would encroach on the golf holes and their beauty. Great care and thoughtful design went into the plan on a hidden piece of ground, out of sight from virtually any road or other homes. In our book, Jones hit this one out of the park.

Arguably the finishing stretch is the highlight of the round. It starts at the 16th, which plays along a ridgeline overlooking the Jordanelle Reservoir and the upper Provo River, and it features some of the best golf holes in the state — including the par-3 17th, with twelve tee boxes to play from, producing numerous different looks into a jaw-dropping green perched atop a stunning clifftop.

If you want to play the best of the best in Park City, you need to see Victory Ranch in August. You will fall in love with this one.