AMERICAN FORK, Utah — Golfers at Fox Hollow Golf Club in American Fork are having to deal with a different kind of obstacle after a massive sinkhole formed on the course on Saturday.
Jaxson Taylor, the head golf professional at Fox Hollow Golf Club, said they received a tip about the sinkhole around 1 p.m. on Saturday.
Taylor contacted their superintendent and American Fork Mayor Brad Frost, who he says worked to get a crew to come out almost immediately to assess the situation.
"They had a big track here and they got cleared out and got some big rocks here to fill up the banks and got it to where it's contained, but it's a lot better now than what it was to start," said Taylor.
Taylor says they aren't exactly sure what caused the sinkhole to form yet.
"This pipe has been in there for over 30 years. We're thinking that maybe ... a big log got jammed in there and just kind of started coming throughout the ground," said Taylor.
Some of that pipe where it was exposed due to the sinkhole has been removed.
Here is a look at a pretty big sinkhole at Fox Hollow Golf Club in American Fork.@fox13 pic.twitter.com/iyxTHmY3mr
— Chris Arnold (@ChrisArnoldTV) May 21, 2023
FOX 13 News asked Taylor if there was any way they could have prepared for something like this to happen.
"I think it's more of just Mother Nature just spit out a bunch of water. I've never seen this much water," said Taylor.
George Shoell has played golf at Fox Hollow Golf Club for 50 years.
"Probably since '72, '73," said Shoell.
While he plays three to four times a week, Sunday was a day off on the course for Shoell. However, that didn't stop him from driving from Pleasant Grove to check out the damage that was caused by the sinkhole.
Shoell says he played the course on Saturday and was in the area of the 14th hole where this happened at around 10:30 a.m.
"Unreal how much water was coming down, you know? Obviously there was, you know, flood issue, you know, but you're not thinking that it's going to wipe out the fairway or the culvert," said Shoell. "A tremendous amount of snow melt that is coming down all at once."
Shoell says he was happy to know people were willing to get on it right away before more damage could be done.
"What I'm thankful for is nobody got hurt, you know, because it could have been really serious, obviously, you know, the way it started caving in," said Shoell.
Taylor says public works crews were out at the club on Sunday and are expected to be back out again on Monday. A big priority moving forward, Taylor says, is to make something like this doesn't happen again.
As for the impact on golfers, Taylor says instead of having 18 holes available to play, it is more like 16 and a half currently as they work to find a more permanent solution to the sinkhole.
