Copper Rock sits south of Sand Hollow Reservoir on the Hurricane bench, in a section of high desert where the basalt-and-sandstone alternation runs out toward Sand Mountain. The course opened for public play in February 2020 — the newest of the major Washington County layouts at that point, before Black Desert arrived two years later — and Dale Beddo routed the eighteen with the kind of dramatic elevation changes that define new-build desert courses.
Beddo's Routing in the Black-Rock Country
Dale Beddo, working with a design team that included input from veteran routing specialists, laid out the course across ground that drops several hundred feet between the high tees and the lower fairways. The fairways are wide where they need to be — the natural topography handles the difficulty without the routing needing to add tightness — and the green complexes are large enough to receive the longer approaches that the elevation produces. From the championship tees the course stretches to 7,227 yards at par 72.
The Epson Tour Course in Hurricane
Copper Rock has hosted the LPGA Epson Tour's Copper Rock Championship — formerly the Symetra Tour, the LPGA's official developmental circuit — since shortly after the course opened. The tournament is the highest-level women's professional event in Washington County and brings field-level pros to Hurricane every spring. The exposure has been part of how the course has built its reputation in the four years since opening.
A Newer Course in the Hurricane Lineup
Hurricane's golf inventory has expanded across two decades — Sky Mountain (1994, the Hurricane City municipal), Sand Hollow (2008, the resort destination on the rim), and Copper Rock (2020). The three together cover most price points and most playing styles. Copper Rock is the newest, the second-newest in all of Washington County after Black Desert, and the one that competes most directly with Sand Hollow Championship for destination-golf attention.
For visitors stitching together a multi-day Washington County card, Copper Rock pairs naturally with Sand Hollow — both are within five minutes of each other, both are public-access, both run on rim-and-cliff terrain. Locals add Sky Mountain to the loop for the affordable third round. Three Hurricane courses in two days, with a stop for lunch on the way back to St. George.