By David Buer
Seven Peaks Golf Course could soon be BYU property if university administrators get their way.
The deal would involve a land swap exchanging unspecified BYU property for the course.
BYU”s men”s golf coach Bruce Brockbank said the course would provide practice facilities for intramurals, classes, intercollegiate golf and a nine-hole course open to the public.
Although BYU does have access to golf courses at Thanksgiving Point, East Bay and other facilities, Brockbank said a university-owned course would be an asset to the golf program.
“It would be a serious facelift. We”ve got to recruit young kids to come to BYU and you have to have a place for them to practice and feel like they can call home,” he said.
Carri Jenkins, assistant to the president over University Communications, said this process requires time and patience.
“Right now, this is just a preliminary idea. It”s all in an investigative stage,” Jenkins said.
PGA Hall-of-Famer and BYU alumnus Johnny Miller said he is donating his skills to develop the “world-class” driving range, practice facility and nine-hole course.
Miller has designed tournament championship courses in England, Japan and throughout the U.S., according to his business” website.
Miller said he worked with Brockbank and other BYU officials on an informal, general layout after an on-sight analysis at the closed Seven Peaks course.
In a decision that may make the land swap more difficult, the City Council voted in April to rezone the property to R-110 status, according to Provo City senior planner Jim Bryan.
Bryan said R-110 zoning is for single family, low-density housing.
Despite the rezoning, David Gardner, a consultant for Seven Peaks course, owner Gary Briton, said the “doors aren”t closed” to a land swap with BYU.
Gardner said he favors the deal and said it would be a great benefit to the university and the city.
But Gardner said he is unsure what will happen because he is waiting for the City Council to decide on the proposal.
Presently, Gardner continues to move forward with the 140-unit subdivision plan, a process he said will take up to nine months before it is taken to the City Council.
Councilman Mark Hathaway said a land swap between BYU and Seven Peaks would be a “win-win” situation for everyone.
Hathaway said he felt the overall impression of the City Council was positive as well, but emphasized, “I can”t speak for them and I don”t pretend to.”
Councilman Stan Lockhart also thinks the deal could be a win-win situation but fears an area of high-density housing around the golf course would be created as a result of the land swap.
Lockhart”s major concern is the “possibility of one neighborhood suffering while another neighborhood would benefit by having the golf course,” he said.
City Councilman Greg Hudnall said Provo has a need for middle-income housing that the new subdivision would provide.
Hudnall said residents would stay in Provo if they could find housing between the lower and upper-income housing that dominates the city.
Hudnall said residents fear BYU would eventually build on the Seven Peaks property, not maintaining the green space the golf course provides.
In an effort to maintain green space in the neighborhood, Hudnall said the subdivision developer has agreed to build a 49-acre park in the area.
Despite the challenges, BYU golfers and students support the administration”s efforts to acquire the course.
BYU golfer Carrie Summerhays, a senior from Heber City, Utah, majoring in community health, said the proposed course would enhance the golf program and her own game.
The 20-year-old said the course would have a great short game area that would make her a more versatile player.
Students like the idea, too. Dan Graham, 25, a graduate student in athletic training from Glendora, California, said an affordable, accessible course is very appealing to students.
