Vegas, Anyone?

[APBernstein]

I am headed to Vegas next week (the entire week, actually), and was wondering if 1) there were any personal recommendations on where to play; and 2) anyone interested in playing in a "dry heat"?

PS: I have already played Summerlin (not my idea).

PPS: Only made it a year and a half between posts this time.  I must be slipping...

[JSlonis]

Andrew,

You should check out the courses at Lake Las Vegas.  They're about 20-30 minutes from the Strip.  I played the Reflection Bay course this past Feb., and thought it was pretty good.  I also played the private course there, also designed by Nicklaus, but I didn't care for it much.

Here is a link:

http://www.lakelasvegas.com/golf.asp

[John Kavanaugh]

Andrew,

Is this a 21st birthday trip...Doesn't playing Shadow Creek go without saying...How many days will you be in town.

[JR Potts]

Not sure about the good tracks, but DO NOT pay to play Stallion Mountain, Desert Pines or Bali Hai.  

[Jason Topp]

Andrew - here are a couple of threads addressing most of the options:

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forums2/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=16875;start=msg294781#msg294781

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forums2/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=19869;start=0

[APBernstein]

John:

21 is a not so distant memory to me these days.  24, actually.  And its even better than a birthday trip: bachelor party.  And no, not my own.

[Doug Sobieski]

John:

21 is a not so distant memory to me these days.  24, actually.  And its even better than a birthday trip: bachelor party.  And no, not my own.

Andrew:

Thanks for the perspective on how long most of us have been around here! I remember when you were in high school, getting ready to head off to college (did you graduate in 2000?). You've been supplanted by Jordan Wall and Tim Gavrich as the young, impressionable minds studying golf course architecture. Circle of life.

Where have all the years gone  

Sorry I don't have any insight on Vegas, but have fun!!!

All the best,

Sobe

[rjsimper]

It's a bachelor party and you're planning on being awake during enough daylight hours to play golf?

[APBernstein]

Doug:

Graduated high school in 2000, college (West Virginia) in 2004, and will have my law degree next spring.  You don't have to tell me how the years fly by, considering I will have to now find a job.  Yuck.

Ryan:

Just wanted to see if anything was worth hauling my clubs out there.  I have the entire week, so I figured four hours one afternoon wouldn't be too tough to find.  Right now it looks like Shadow Creek or bust.

[jg7236]

Lake Las Vegas
Rio Secco
Revere
Pauite
Bear's Best

It is going to be damn hot, go early in the morning.

[grandwazo]

Spent 4 days there at the end of March....played Southern Highlands, Shadow Creek and Cascata.  Had a perfect day at Shadow, and if you have never played it, it's worth doing at least once.  I also enjoyed Southern Highlands, my second time there, liked it better this time around, including the new green on #9.  I was unimpressed with Cascata, went there expecting a lot and was particularly disapointed.  
I agree that the courses at Reflection Bay are pretty nice, if you can get out on Southshore it's definitely one of the better Nicklaus courses I have played.  The Falls is okay, not great, but does have some nice holes as you move to the back.

[Allan Hutton]

What's the protocol for getting on Shadow Creek?

I'm planning on Vegas in October/November.  Does one book the hotel in advance then inquire re: the golf, or both at the same time?  

How hard are tee times to get?

[jg7236]

 grandwazo, you played some great courses here in the valley.  Not all can get on Southern Highlands or the private course at Lake Las Vegas, or wants to pay $250-$500 to play Cascata or Shadow Creek.  There are other great golf courses out here that cost far less than the ones you mentioned.

[Ryan Farrow]

Am I loosing my hearing or maybe my reading comprehension skills but Shadow Creek at 500 bills is sounding like a resonable price tag in this thread.

 

[rjsimper]

Am I loosing my hearing or maybe my reading comprehension skills but Shadow Creek at 500 bills is sounding like a resonable price tag in this thread.

 

To be precise, it's 5 bills, not 500 bills. Let's not mix up our street-talk lest we misquote by a factor of 100

I've not played enough in Vegas to qualify myself to give recommendations, but from my mental list to prioritize, the only ones that really interest me are Shadow Creek at the upper level, the Wynn out of sheer curiosity, and Reflection Bay.  

If you'll be playing with friends who are strip-centric, it probably pays off to look into options more nearby than Henderson or Primm, though both of those locales have better options by some accounts.

[John Kavanaugh]

Oh come on...nobody pays to play golf in Vegas..Any guesses on what percentage of rounds played at Shadow Creek involve a green fee.  I'm guessing 5% of the general public and 2% of this board.

[grandwazo]

Sorry for not prefacing my post with "If money is no object, or "If you are being comped"....I have been very fortunate on my trips to Vegas to play the more "expensive" courses, and have the casino's pay my green fees through their selfless generousity by providing me with large quanities of chips at the blackjack tables after I leverage a relatively small amount of my own money into a large amount of theirs, some of which I then hand back to them to enjoy what Vegas has to offer.
 
For me, a trip to Vegas goes hand in hand with a suspension of the rules of time and space and you just can't try to apply what any of us would call normal logic.  I do have a friend who has a friend, who has a friend who makes it easy to play the courses I have played, but we do always pay once we show up.

All of the above being said, IMO, if you are going to Vegas to play golf, you are going for the wrong reasons.  

[Michael Moore]

Frankly, partner, you need to step up to the plate, put the wheat to the road, sniff the glue, drink the kool-aid, put down the advertorials, separate the rubber from the chaff, and frankly, join Joe Sixpack, Mary Jane Wineglass and "Crack" the caddie on the wrong tees at Wolf Creek.

That's still funny the fourth time around!

. . . but seriously, it sounds like a good place for a good player like yourself.

Welcome back!

[Ryan Farrow]

Ryan, I was talking about 500  one dollar bills!

[rjsimper]

Ryan, I was talking about 500  one dollar bills!

Understood, but there is only one type of place in Las Vegas where a one dollar bill is of any use to Mr. Bernstein

[Voytek Wilczak]

Ryan, I was talking about 500  one dollar bills!

Understood, but there is only one type of place in Las Vegas where a one dollar bill is of any use to Mr. Bernstein

Launderette?

Uh, never mind...

[Mark Leo]

Andrew,
Sorry I didn't see this earlier.
On the public side of things, Summer here in Vegas is a good time for reduced green fees, but you have to play early, (108 degrees today !)  Lake Las Vegas and Pauite are good, although good is relative to where you'll be staying.  You can't miss with Shadow Creek.  I don't know what you're gambling plans are, but 500/1000 a game for a couple of days will get you on this time of year.  You may just want to pay the 500.00 fee.  You mentioned you played Summerlin before, but there are about a dozen courses in Summerlin and I'm not sure which you played.  What are exact dates you're here and how many are in your party? You can IM me if you want.

[Andrew Balakshin]

Too bad you aren’t a junior anymore, one of the best deals in golf I have ever found was $5 (that’s right, just $5) for TPC Canyons. It was their junior rate in the afternoon. Oh how I miss those junior rates…

[Jonathan Cummings]

Andrew - I've lived in Vegas and have played them all a number of times, including Wynn.  I pretty much agree with Grandwazo although I enjoyed Cascata more than he.  I would add - skip the TPCs, skip Rio Secco - consider driving to Mesquete (1 hr) to play Wolf Creek and/or drive to Jackpot (45 min) to play the Primm Valley courses.

I remember being introduced to you by Jimmy Lewis when you were a yound caddie at Pinehurst.  Do you still communicate with Jim??

JC

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