By Travis Barton | [email protected]

As of Labor Day, Herriman city officials have closed the Rosecrest Disc Golf Course. 

The 18-hole course, set up along what was initially intended as trails for people to use, branches through various neighborhoods. Resulting damage to adjacent resident properties, such as broken fences from golfers climbing or forcibly adjusting them to retrieve their discs, caused the city council—with recommendations from city staff—to permanently close the location. 

“This was an amenity that’s causing problems for the people in the area instead of enhancing their area then why do we have it,” said Councilwoman Sherrie Ohrn during an August work meeting. 

It’s an issue that has lingered for some time, according to city officials. Similar complaints were brought to the council a few years ago. Solutions at the time were to place hole locations further away from neighboring houses and put up no trespassing signs. 

“Honestly, those don’t deter anybody,” Councilman Clint Smith said of the trespassing signs. 

Smith lives next to the now-defunct course. His backyard bordered the fairway of hole four. He said he once arrived home to find a gentleman walking into his backyard. 

“Our backyards are our sacred space,” Smith said. “I have my playground for my children, and I’ve come home many times to see our back gate left open. I want to be able to send, like any neighbor, their kids into their backyard to play there without worrying about somebody intruding into their space, a stranger.” 

Some golfers have left notes on Smith’s fence, and he said he then contacts them and leaves the disc on his porch. But others completely ignore the signage. 

“Unfortunately it is the few that ruin this for everybody,” Smith said. 

The “sacred space” of a backyard is also what concerned Mayor David Watts. 

“The issue and concern is the safety of the children because if we are getting to a point where we are comfortable with people hopping other people’s fences we have an issue,” he said. 

Watts was also concerned about the safety of the trespassing person, whether falling and injuring themselves or a homeowner pulling a gun on that person. 

“I don’t want to be the city that’s on the news because a disc golfer hopped the fence and got shot,” he said. 

But Watts wasn’t completely in favor of shutting down the entire course, wishing instead to close only the problem areas, notably holes 1–5. 

“Removing a section of it might give a wake up call to some of our residents,” Watts said. “If you can’t use this responsibly, then we can’t justify continuing to provide this service.” 

But city staff and other councilmembers said if they only closed part of the course, then neighbors of other holes would increase their complaints. 

“The impact that some of the residents have experienced with it, I don’t think it’s fair to continue to put that on them,” Smith said. 

Smith also added, “I would like to keep this amenity in the city, (but) I think you have to design that into a space right from the get go with that as the purpose in mind.” 

City officials’ plans are to do just that. The baskets (holes) will be stored until another course can be incorporated into the plans of a future park, according to an announcement on the city’s twitter page.