Day 2 - Sunday, August 21 - Wyoming << Index

Anticipated: Play Purple Sage Golf Club in Evanston, WY.

Travel:   Itinerary: Depart Salt Lake City at 10:30 in rental car to Evanston, WY. After golf drive back to SLC for motel near the airport and next day's golf course. casino

Web: Purple Sage Golf Course - Evanston, WY

Actual: (Photos and text)

Click on the photos below to enlarge Miles Law (assistant pro), Pat and Jim Pat standing near the Purple Sage brush Pat after hitting in the fairway with the sage in the background View of a hole with the sage on the hill. Most of the holes were bordered with sage. The sage eventually become tumblin’ tumble weeds

We were listed on the 12:50AM flight from Anchorage to Salt Lake City; however, they only took two “standbys”, so we and about 30 others were left hoping that we could catch the 2:40AM plane (the “red-red-eye”). Fortunately, we made it along with the others on the standby list. We each were able to catch about two hours sleep on the plane. We had another lucky break in that the Sleep Inn motel in Salt Lake City let us check in early, so we were able to get another two hours of sleep prior to leaving for Purple Sage Golf Course in Evanston, Wyoming. Miles Law, the assistant professional was kind enough to let us change our tee time from 10:30 AM to 3:00 PM. Evanston is a small town about 3 miles across the Wyoming border and 85 miles east of Salt Lake City on I-80. We arrived at the course at 3:00 PM and finished the 18 holes at 6:30. The course is quite beautiful in a mountain setting, and it was very enjoyable to play. It was quite hilly and it would be difficult to walk the full 18 holes (especially with only 4 hours sleep). The course is set at an elevation of 6995 feet above sea level and it was great to see the additional yardage that we were able to get on our shots because of the thin air. The weather was in the mid-seventies with partly cloudy skies. There were a few thunderheads off in the distance with some lightning, which had us concerned, but they were far enough away to be harmless. After golf we had a very scenic drive down through the Wasatch Mountains as we returned to Salt Lake City and our motel. Being rather tired from our travels, we had a quick supper, sent some emails and were quickly sound asleep. If anyone reading this is ever traveling in western Wyoming on I-80 and wishes to play a great golf course, we strongly recommend Purple Sage. It is very beautiful and a tremendous layout. The 18th hole is very interesting. It is a long par 5 with a split fairway—the left branch has many perils for the golfer such as water and deep Sage brush, however a reasonably long hitter can reach the green in with 2 great shots. I (Jim) took the more reasonable right branch and was just to the right of the green (over 600 yards) with three decent wood shots. However, my typically inept short game still left me with a double bogie. We would like to thank the assistant pro (Miles Law), for his hospitality and the head pro Scott Ehlers for his invitation to us to play Purple Sage at a reduced rate. Unfortunately, Scott had the day off, and we were unable to meet him.