Nibley Park

I usually try to have a catchy title-as the least it’s catchy to me- for my post, or a title that may not make sense at first glance, but it reveals itself at some point in the story.  For example,  “Baskin in the Sun”, it doesn’t quite make sense until you learn about the “shark like focus” inside joke.  Or “The Hills of Iowa”. I know when I hear “Iowa” I don’t think of hills, I think, miles and miles of flat land filled with corn stalks. That was until I met Waveland Golf Course. There will be no inside joke’s today, and it didn’t take but a second to come up with today's title, it was easy, I just really like saying the name of the golf course, it makes me smile.

Nibley Park.

Nibley Park Golf Course is a 9 hole city owed course located just outside of downtown Salt Lake City, Utah.  I have always wanted to visit this area because I have been very curious about the Great Salt Lake.  It's one of those things you learn about in grade school and kind of think it’s not real, I body of water so salty you can’t sink, that's impossable.  It’s a wonder of the world, and I was going to see it first hand, but first I did come out here to play golf.

In 1854 the area the course sits on now started as the Calder Amusement Resort, which took advantage of a natural spring to create a lake for swimming and boating.  Besides swimming and boating thousands of people would come here to watch motorcycle racing and baseball.  Charles Nibely bought the resort and presented the golf course to the city in 1921, making it the first public golf course in Utah.

Location Scout

Once I checked into my hotel it was still early enough to go out to Nibley Park to get the lay of the land before my round the next day. 

As I walked to the pro shop I was imimeatily impressed with the condition of the course, it was very lush and green, with lots of trees, for some reason I was expecting a more dry and open open landscape. 

Now standing slightly right of the first tee box the second thing I noticed was the long driving range net and the very large poles holding the net up.  This wall of net ran along the left side

of the first hole’s fairway.  I mean from tee box to about 200 yards out there was a large net with huge poles spaced apart about every 30 yards.  And from that moment on all I was thinking about was “Tomorrow morning, do not pull your drive into that net!”

The crack of a well struck drive snapped me out of my deep contaplation. Once the foursome left to play their second shots I jumped up to the first tee box and looked for and found an aiming point for tomorrow, which, of course, was on the right side of the fairway. I thought about that spot all night.

Game time

I arrived at the course about an hour before my tee time, a little groggy from a shallow nights sleep, I think I had two dreams/"nightmares" about the Net Wall. In one I cleared the Net Wall cleanly and the ball landed center fairway, clearly a dream. In the other one the Net Wall swallowed me whole before I even hit my tee shot.

At the range I was having success with my “just keep the ball to the right” swing.  All was going well, and with my focus and determination cemented in my mind I headed to the first tee to begin my round.

I had seen the tee sheet when I checked in and I was paired with a twosome, but at about 5 minutes to the tee time no one was here yet.  It was pretty quiet at the course so I was wondering if I was heading out on a solo mission today.  At some point the threesome gathering behind me asked if they could join me, and I said sure thing.  We started to introduce ourselves, we did the tee toss to set the playing order for the first hole. We had just finished, I had honors, and I was heading to the tee when I heard some noise out near the parking lot. A moment later a golf cart came storming into the tee box parking area with shouts of, “we are the 10:30 twosome”. Out jumped Jodie and Marline.  Beers in hand and ready to go.

I bid farewell to my new threesome, introduced myself to my new twosome, declined their offer, and turned my attention to the task at hand. The Net Wall.  This will be easy, I found my aiming point from yesterday, I have my well practiced swing from the range.  Settle in and commit to the swing, and did I ever commit. 

I hit a pure drive, everything was good to go, except…I pulled the ball slightly left.  I located my ball in fight and thought, “no problem, I usually have a slight fade on my ball.” It’s not fading, but it’s not in danger, yet.  It’s flying straight, it could miss the poles, it’s close, just a few more poles and I'm clear, two more to go, BANG!

As well as I hit my drive the pole hit it just as pure right back at me.  The ball hit the top third of what I think was a 300 foot pole-I told you I hit the drive well- and carried 100 yards in reverse, then rolled another 25 yards backwards,  and settled down just a few feet off the right side of the fairway.  Making it a net 35 yard drive.  Now let’s apply the art of turning a negative into a positive and go with, that had to be one of the most exciting lay ups ever.

Just Right

The rest of the round was less eventful, and I’m not saying it was boring.  I’m saying the views Nibley Park offered, and the course itself were enough to hold your attention.  It was a very peaceful round.  Jodie and Marline where in no hurry like me, and they were playing a loose form of a scramble. Marline was a bit less skilled than Jodie, and when shots started to get away from her she would pick up her ball and play near her playing partner.  I love this relaxed playing style because it's a great way to remove any pressure and stress from folks who are beginners, less skilled than others, or just don’t play very often throughout the year.

The round was moving along and the course was preseting well.  We found our way to the fourth or fifth fairway, Marline worked her way up the center of the fairway and was looking at about a 160 yard shot to the green.  No hazards protected the green and nothing was dangerous on either side of the fairway.  She look over to us and Jodie and I both nodded, and pointed to the green.  Yup, we gave here the universal sign for “go for it”. Out came the 3 wood and she took a swing as mighty as that choice was.  She hit the ball well, but…much like my tee shot - but in a smaller scale - she hit somethng. She hit the 150 marker square in the middle and her ball fired back at her, ricocheting off the golf cart and bouncing forward a few yards past Marline. 

When the dust settled from the chaos Jodie and I were trying to conceal our laughter, Marline just dropped her head to cover her laughter, she walked over and picked up the ball, and drove to Jodie and placed her ball down next to Jodies ball.  It took a little while to re-gain our composure and to wipe tears from our eyes. 

As the laughter died down I flashed back to when I first started playing golf. My friends always let me play a scramble format, I would even tee my ball up in the fairways, and no one cared, it was more important that we were out there playing and not stressing about scores and rules for that matter.  No stress plus no pressure, equals more laughs.

Great Briny Lake

One of the many things I like about these golf adventures is I can sometimes check off a view things off my bucket list.  In St. Louis I got to go to a Cardinals baseball game, Island Day Trip got me to Catalina Island.  Nibley Park got me to the Great Salt Lake.  And I also learn things on these trips and every so often, what do people say, never meet your hero’s, and in this case it might be said “even though you have heard, seen pictures, and videos of this natural wonder, sometimes you might want to modify your expectations”

I got to the Great Salt Lake State Park and bounced out of my car and headed to a pier off in the distance, my goal, taste the water. I grew up swimming in salt water so I have unintentionally gulped down my share of salty water.  I wanted to compare Long Island salt water to historic levels of salty water.  I found my way to the front of the pier looking out on the lake, and man, it's very large, I would even say Great.  Sorry about that...but it is very impressive.

There were a few points of interest posters to read; the great lake is the remains of the huge prehistoric Lake Bonniville.  To say this lake was large is a gross understatement. You can see water lines on the surrounding mountains miles away..  I kept reading and learned that the spot I was standing at reading about Lake Bonniville would have been under 1000 feet of water.  I suddenly had some trouble breathing.  I also learned that nothing lives in the lake except Brine Shrimp and Brine Flys.

I moved to get closer to the water, which was not easy, there where no beaches.  The terrain sort of went from soft mushy ground straight into the water.  And guess what, there weree tons of flys on the ground and in the water.  I was not going to get close enough to the water to taste it, and I don’t think I would have been able to clear a space to even scoop up a sip of water. 

After pondering a bit, do I take the risk and take a sip of the water, or do I just take a picture…well see for yourself. 

Once I started back to the visitor center I noticed something.  The Great Salt Lake smells. Bad. But not like a bam-in your face smell-it’s more subtle.  It builds up over time. It wasn’t a low-tide smell, it was a little more penetrating, but I couldn’t pin point where it was coming from. I found my answer when I got into the visitor center, the very first thing you learn, it’s right in front for all to see when you walk through the door.  The Great Salt Lake smells.  They presented this poster almost as a source of pride, and it makes sense, I mean you can’t ignore it so you might as well shout it out loud. And what is the source of this smell, yup, decomposing Brine Shrimp and Flys.  That might sound awful, and I sure it is for the Shrimp and Flys, but when you come and see the lake for yourself you will understand. There are millions and millions of Brine life out there in the lake, it all makes sense.

Please go to the lake, it’s quite something to see.  Come to grips that nothing lives in the lake except our Brine friends, and they are thriving there. It’s also the last reminding “puddle” that was once a lake that pretty much covered all of Utah, and parts Idaho and Nevada.  Just don’t plan to spend anymore than 20 minutes gazing at this marvel, and be prepare, the aroma will creep up and get you.

What’s Next

The 2026 schedule is coming together. I'm making this year a little bit of a family adventure. I plan to be in Monterey with my Caddie (Laura) again. It's my bi-annual trip to Del Monte Golf Course and the Shag Bag Radio Show. It's fun to catch up with everyone there, and you can't beat playing one the oldest golf courses west of the Mississippi.

I'll be headed out to Kentucky to play Middlesboro Country Club with my Son. We joined forces at Van Courtlandt Park in the Bronx New York and in St. Louis for three rounds of golf. Beside Middlesboro beinging one of the oldest course in the US, and I just learned this, the course and the entire town in sitting inside a meteor crater. Yeah, that's a must do.

In October I will be bringing my Daughter out for a round of golf with me for the first time. We will be heading to Austin Texas to play Handcock Golf Course. She is more interested in seeing the Bats fly out from the Congress Avenue Bridge. I'm hoping she will pick up her clubs over the next few months and head to the range to get comfortable enough with her swing to play an 18 hole scramble round with me. I'll keep you posted!

Happy New Year and I'll see you out on the course!