FARMINGTON — Bruce Summerhays had been a PGA and Champions tour member for the better part of 40 years.

While never winning on the regular tour, he amassed three wins on the Champions tour and also won the 2008 Utah Open.

But that aside, Summerhays is also an entrepreneur around golf.

Recently the Homestead Resort in Midway celebrated its 20 year anniversary with the highlight of Summerhays – including his son, daughter, and sports journalist Mike Runge – playing nine holes of golf at the course that Summerhays built.

“It was a fun day altogether,” he said. “A lot of people showed up to watch us play, but it was mostly about the free day of golf and the celebrating of the anniversary.”

The Homestead Resort has a history that dates back to the early 1800s, when a Swiss immigrant named Simon Schneitter settled into Heber Valley.

Schneitter eventually turned the area in to a resort, naming it “Schneitter’s Hot Pots,” but it was later named the Homestead in 1986, three years before the golf course was to be built.

“They came to me around that time and asked me if I wanted to help build a golf course there,” said Summerhays. “So I made a few calls and got the right people together to get it done.”

Summerhays said the best part about building the course at that location was the isolation of the resort as a whole.

“There are few distractions,” he said. “It isn’t near a freeway, so inadvertent noise is minimal.”

The signature hole, according to Summerhays, is the last hole. A par four that “dog legs” (curves) to the right was designed around Snake Creek, a natural creek that was originally part of the “Hot Pots”.

“It’s a downhill drive with an uphill approach,” he said of the hole. “But the important thing was keeping the creek in as part of the course.

“We tried to stress the ‘keeping of nature’ aspect when we designed and eventually built the course.”

But that isn’t the only course he’s had a part in building either. Sun Hills Golf Course, located in Layton, was also partially designed by Summerhays.

He also has a part in building another golf course in southern Utah, which is yet to be named.

“We’re hopeful to get the course open in the fall,” he said. “After that there isn’t that much in the works as far as building another course somewhere.

“The economy in golf is down some 30 percent at the moment and we’ll have to see what plans may be ahead.”

For now, the “retired” Summerhays enjoys playing a few rounds here and there at Oakridge Country Club in Farmington, where he also resides.

“When you’re ‘retired’ in golf, you’re still allowed to play up to 11 events,” he said. “So a golfer is never really retired from the game like other sports; they’re still able to play.”

The Homestead Resort Golf Course is located at 700 North Homestead Drive in Midway.

“It seems like only yesterday that the course was finished,” Summerhays said. “I had a great time piecing it together and a more enjoyable time playing it.”

sgillet@davisclipper.com