Her Redness was a professor for some years at UNLV, so I played quite a bit down there. Putting aside Shadow Creek, my favorite is Boulder Creek (the original 18) in Boulder City. It reminds me of The Duke at Rancho Eldorado outside of Phoenix, where some guy you never heard of put his heart, blood and guts into creating something of real merit - including all sorts of intricate strategies and little details that make the difference between good and really special.
Paiute is also worth the drive - I put it in 3rd place on my list of personal favorites down there. Royal Links is a lot of fun - although it does not really and truly play like a “links course.” I enjoyed it in the same way it is fun to hear tribute bands like the Dark Star Orchestra. Not real, but amusing for what it is.
Bali Hai is ridiculously expensive but convenient as already noted. However, it is also the quintessential golfing articulation of the Vegas ethos. Overblown, contrived and without a micron of restraint or taste. In fact, nothing on the property even bothers to make a pretense of sincerity beyond being a tongue-in-cheek mock-up of a mediocre movie where the punchline is $350 to sniff jet exhaust - playing a par-3 facing directly into the nose of a 737 at takeoff less than 300 yards from the edge of the runway.
Rio Secco and Cascata are strategically vacant, piles of Rees Jones dogshit. Cascata is less than a mile from Boulder Creek, 3x the price for 1/10th of the intellectual content - unless the idea of driving 30 minutes to see a 300 foot waterfall attached to a mediocre golf course is appealing. Rio Secco was obviously routed on whatever land was left over and more expensive than a top notch Vegas hooker. My vote is the hottie, at least there is a happy ending involved.
Better yet, leave the sticks in the room and hang at the Mandalay Bay topless pool. I wandered in there once by actual mistake - I was lost and there was nobody manning the entrance desk - and decided to commandeer a chaise lounge and order a double margarita. I believe the Latin term for this phylum is titus maximus. Her Redness was not amused at my vector into a Hunter Thompson book and dragged me and my mirrored Vuarnets to a far less scenic location.
One recommendation I can make for sheer perversity is a quick trip to Boulder City GC - preferably after playing Boulder Creek right next door. Once you’ve driven all the way past Railroad Pass - home of the 99 cent casino breakfast and discount meth - you might as well go from sublime to ridiculous. I’ve opined before that Boulder City GC retired the trophy for bad remodels. As if John Waters reprised Pink Flamingos as a golf course, with Divine as the in-house architect. Honestly, if you’re a degenerate gambler who needs to stay clear of the tables for an afternoon, the entertainment value is well worth it.
Imagine tee areas directly behind a lake with a fountain blowing water in the air directly in the line of play. Lopsided putting surface remodels that look like Ron Freem or Algie Pulley on LSD. Kitschy with the volume turned up to 11 - because it is one more than 10 - complete with a chain smoking, 300 pound cart tart covered with Raider tattoos. Go from there to dinner at the Andiamo Steakhouse and you’ve got the entire spectrum covered in one day.