The Corporate Classic: Team Building on Red Rock Fairways

Why Golf Instead of a Conference Room

Every year, our VP of Sales books a two-day offsite. Every year, it's a hotel conference room in Park City with a motivational speaker, breakout sessions, and a dinner where everyone talks about work because there's nothing else to talk about. People tolerate it. Nobody looks forward to it.

This year, our VP — who golfs — tried something different. Instead of a retreat about team building, he booked an experience that actually builds teams. Four hours on a golf course together does what no icebreaker exercise can: it reveals character. You see how people handle frustration, how they encourage each other, who takes risks, who plays it safe. And you have real conversations because you're walking side by side for four hours with nowhere else to be.

Not everyone on the team golfs. Of our 16 people, 8 were regular golfers, 4 were occasional, and 4 had never held a club. That's normal for a corporate group — and it's actually better than an all-golfer outing because the experienced players get to mentor the beginners, which is its own form of team building.

Day 1 Morning: Entrada at Snow Canyon — The Wow Factor

We started with Entrada because first impressions matter. When you're trying to convince 16 people — half of whom are skeptical about a golf retreat — that this was a good idea, you need the opening experience to be undeniable. Entrada delivered.

Entrada is a private Johnny Miller design that winds through Snow Canyon State Park. The white Navajo sandstone cliffs, the red rock formations, the desert wildflowers — it looks like a National Geographic spread. Our four non-golfers were taking photos before they hit their first shot. One of them said, "I don't care if I never hit the ball, this is the best offsite we've ever done." That was on the second hole.

We played a scramble format — four teams of four, best ball. This is the only format that works for corporate groups with mixed abilities. The beginners contribute on at least a few holes (everyone can get lucky with a putt or a chip), the experienced players carry the scoring, and nobody feels like they're slowing the group down. Our four teams shot between 62 and 71, and every team had moments where the newest golfer hit the shot they used.

Trident arranged access to Entrada as part of our package. This is a private club — you can't just book it online. Having a trip planner with course relationships is the difference between playing Entrada and playing a municipal course.

Day 1 Afternoon: The Dinner That Wasn't a Dinner

After Entrada, we had a three-hour gap before dinner. Trident suggested we skip the typical restaurant booking and instead do a catered BBQ at Snow Canyon State Park — 10 minutes from the course. They coordinated with a local catering company that set up at the Whiptail Trail pavilion: brisket, ribs, sides, coolers of beer, and a firepit.

This was the decision that transformed the trip from "good" to "unforgettable." Sitting around a firepit in a state park, watching the sunset paint the sandstone orange and red, with brisket and cold beer — that's when the real conversations happened. Not about Q2 targets or pipeline metrics. About families, ambitions, the stuff that makes you actually know the person you sit next to every day.

Our VP gave a brief toast — maybe 90 seconds — about the year ahead and what the team had accomplished. No slides. No agenda. Just genuine appreciation in an extraordinary setting. Three people told me afterward it was the best work event they'd ever attended.

Day 2 Morning: Sand Hollow — The Desert Spectacle

Day 2 was Sand Hollow in the morning and Sunbrook in the afternoon. Sand Hollow is the course that photographs the best — lava fields, red sandstone, fairways that look carved from another planet. For a corporate group, this is the course that generates the LinkedIn posts and the Instagram stories that make everyone back at the office jealous.

We switched up the teams from Day 1 — different foursomes, different pairings. This is critical for corporate groups. The whole point is cross-team bonding, so you don't want the same four people together both days. Our VP assigned the groups deliberately: each foursome had one person from each of the four regional teams. By the third hole, people who'd only ever interacted on Zoom were sharing swing tips and making side bets.

The scramble format continued. The team that won at Entrada was trailing after the front nine — the competitive energy was exactly what a sales team feeds on. The winning team celebrated like they'd closed a million-dollar deal, which, knowing this group, was probably good practice.

Day 2 Afternoon: Sunbrook — The Relaxed Closer

Sunbrook is St. George's original championship golf club — 27 holes across three distinct nines. We played 18 (the Pointe and Black Rock nines) which gave us a mix of canyon golf and open desert views. After the intensity of Entrada and Sand Hollow, Sunbrook was exactly the right tempo for a final round.

The course is wider and more forgiving than Entrada or Sand Hollow, which was a gift for our beginners by Day 2. The four non-golfers who'd been terrified 36 hours earlier were now making real contact, keeping score, and — in one case — legitimately parring a hole. The progression from "I've never held a club" to "I just made par" in two days is the kind of personal win that sticks with people far longer than any conference room exercise.

We ran the final scramble here with a twist: the VP assigned the teams but each team had to elect a captain who'd never golfed before Day 1. Watching a beginner call the shots — which drive to use, which putt to trust — while three experienced golfers deferred was exactly the leadership exercise our retreat was supposed to be. Just without the PowerPoint.

Where We Stayed: Hilton Garden Inn St. George

Sixteen rooms at the Hilton Garden Inn. For a corporate group, this was the right call over a vacation rental. Everyone gets their own room (important when mixing managers and reports), breakfast is included (no coordinating 16 people for a morning meal), and the lobby bar serves as a natural gathering spot without forcing togetherness.

The hotel is central to everything — 15 minutes to Sand Hollow and Sunbrook, 20 minutes to Entrada. The corporate rate came in at $149/night, and the front desk coordinated early checkout for our departure day without hassle.

What worked for corporate: Individual rooms with privacy, included breakfast, central location, lobby bar for evening meetups, professional front desk, reliable WiFi for anyone checking email.

What didn't matter: Pool (nobody used it), restaurant quality (we ate off-site), resort amenities (we were never at the hotel long enough to care).

The Numbers

Under $800/person for a two-night corporate retreat with three rounds at world-class courses, a catered outdoor dinner, and lodging. Compare that to a Park City conference room rental ($5,000+), a motivational speaker ($3,000-$10,000), catered lunches ($50/person × 2 days), and a forgettable team dinner ($80/person). The golf retreat costs less and delivers more.

What Made This Work as a Corporate Event

The Aftermath

Three months later, our VP ran an anonymous survey about the retreat. The results: 94% rated it the best offsite they'd attended at the company. 100% said they'd do it again. The four non-golfers all said they planned to take up golf. Cross-team collaboration scores in the following quarter were the highest we'd measured.

The conference room retreats are done. Next year it's St. George again — same format, but we're adding Black Desert to the rotation and looking at vacation rentals instead of the hotel since the team is pushing for a more communal experience.

If your company is still doing trust falls and breakout sessions, do your team a favor. Book a golf trip. You'll spend less, bond more, and nobody will fake a smile during a PowerPoint about "synergy."