Kokopelli Golf Club is a public 18-hole golf course located in Apple Valley, Utah, about 30 miles east of St. George.
The course first opened for play in 2009. BYU legend Bruce Summerhays designed the course.
At 7,600 yards it is the longest, and most challenging, course in Utah. Each hole is framed by bunkers and desert or lava rock. The terrain is more high desert than traditional desert and with a mixture of juniper trees, sagebrush, and lava rock that isn't as common below in the St. George valley. The sand at Kokopelli doesn't have the strong orange tint that is found in much of southern Utah and the surrounding vistas have a different flavor as well. The front nine climbs up to a high point midway through the opening holes before cascading back towards the clubhouse. The back nine plays along the lava rock beds and features significant elevation changes on the 10th and 18th holes and soft terrain slopes on the others.
Kokopelli Golf Course closed operations in 2012. The course opened in 2009 with much praise for its routing and beauty. While the routing was great, the timing was terrible, the country was in a recession.
Kokopelli sat at an elevation of 4500 feet, which is too high for snowbirds who come to St. George in the winter, but was expected to attract St. George golfers during the hotter summer months.
The closing was not a surprise to close observers of golf in the area. The few golfers who played the course had high praise, but they didn't return very often, and the recession killed any prospects of any real estate development happening any time soon.