Customer loyalty and dedication can be displayed in a variety of ways. Some may try to rack up reward points with a business, while others may get on a first name basis with staff members. For West Bountiful’s Lakeside golf course, patrons showcased their love of the destination by golfing in January.

“There is something in the atmosphere there that makes it very, very special,” said Dallas Green, director of golf at Lakeside. “I joke that it’s the people’s country club, or the Cheers of golf, that everyone knows everyone’s name. There’s a pretty cool camaraderie there.”

During a city council meeting on Jan. 7, Green and superintendent Josh Virostko delivered a report on the state of the golf course – which discussed growth, improvements and changes for 2025.

According to Green, Lakeside set a record for the amount of rounds played this year, almost reaching 58,000 9-hole rounds. While the golf course regularly sets new annual records for 9-hole rounds, it wasn’t until the turn of the decade that they began passing the 50,000 threshold. Green says that this growth was caused by a rise in the sport’s popularity during the pandemic.

“COVID has been a God-send to golf because it was one of the few sports, one of the outdoors activities you could do,” said Green. “It’s boomed since then, and so before that I wouldn’t have ever dreamed of having that many rounds.”

In addition to setting rounds-played records, Lakeside also increased their men, women and junior league sizes as well as their gross revenue, according to Green. 

With the course experiencing success, both Green and Virostko addressed some of the improvements being made to Lakeside during their report – with a high amount of focus dedicated to their tee boxes. According to Green, who’s been with the course since 2012, complaints have been made about tee boxes for as long as he’s known the destination.

“We’ve really invested a lot of time and energy and resources into trying to level them,” said Green. “When [Virostko] got there, we didn’t have a lot of flat surfaces on our tee boxes. We’ve definitely made it an emphasis to grow some of our tee boxes and make them bigger.”

According to Green, the goal when improving a tee box is to make the surface as flat as possible. For Lakeside, this is done by stripping the area to its soil, improving irrigation, putting sand in to level the box and growing grass. A long process, Green says that the course typically fixes two holes per year – a total of four boxes per hole.

Along with tee box repairs, Lakeside also plans to invest in their driving range. During 2025, the course will explore purchasing a new safety net, and will be adding artificial hitting surfaces to their range. The switch from grass to the new surfaces, according to Green, is being implemented due to changes in demand, especially during the winter months.

“It is not easy on the golf course to have play, especially busy playing in January, December, November,” said Green about maintaining grass during winter. “Really, there’s not a lot we can do other than what we do.”

Outside of the needs on the course, Lakeside will be searching for a new assistant professional to work alongside Green as well as a new individual to run their cafe – job searches that are ongoing as of Jan. 22. According to Green, Virostko’s team, which primarily oversees course maintenance, has roughly 15-20 seasonal employees while Green has about 30-40. The ages of staff members range from young students to older retirees.

A par 71 course that opened in 1966, West Bountiful owns Lakeside. According to Green, this dynamic has led to the creation of a helpful and beneficial relationship between course leaders and city council members.

“They trust what we do and we’ve shown that we can do good things here,” said Green about the differences between running a public and private course. “They let us do what we are hired to do, and I don’t think that happens very often.”

As growth occurs at the course, Green says Lakeside will look to expand its demographic, and put a larger emphasis on ladies and junior league programs. A course “devoted to being the best value in golf” according to its mission statement, Green hopes that it will leave a lasting impact on patrons.

“I think that’s the key, 10 years down the road that you get a 13-year-old kid hooked on it, they can go to college and come back, and they come back and live in Davis County, they’re like ‘oh man, I remember all those good times at Lakeside golf course. Let’s go play there,’” said Green. “We’re seeing the benefits of that from when we were focusing on that 15 years ago.” λ