Golf Vacations - Three Las Vegas Must Plays

June 9th, 2008 by Sean - NWA WorldVacations

With 20 new courses since 1988 and 50 courses over all, Las Vegas is quickly becoming one of the best golf vacation destinations.  And to steal a line from Vince Vaughn, it is the perfect “Mancation”.  You wouldn’t think that Vegas is the best spot to be building golf courses with the lack of water, climate and the desert, but as Raymond Floyd said “I think a golf course is kind of like a fine wine.  The best come from the toughest pieces of ground”.  With the beauty of the mountains in the background and the vibrant green fairways contrasting with the desert sand, these courses might be the perfect cure for the casino blues…and a chance to win your money back!

Here is my list of 3 courses you have to play in Las Vegas:

Bear’s Best – Jack Nicklaus has designed, or helped design, 250 courses and he has picked 18 of his most memorable desert/mountain holes to build Bear’s Best Las Vegas.  If you read my last post on Los Cabos golf vacations and don’t have the chance to go down to Mexico, you can experience some holes from Cabo Real, Palmilla and Cabo Del Sol on Jack’s Bear’s Best.  Your group is given a forecaddie that wears a white jumpsuit (just like at Augusta) so you can just sit back and enjoy the course while the caddy finds your ball for you.  With the immaculately manicured grounds and some of Jack’s finest designed holes, this is a course you can’t pass up.

Badlands – Despite having an ominous name, this is a great course. Maybe they should call it Goodlands…ok, maybe not!  Built in 1995 and managed by Troon this course has received numerous accolades one of which was “The Best Desert Course in Vegas” in 2006 by Vegas Golf Magazine.  Badlands is designed by Johnny Miller and Chi Chi Rodriguez, and if you know anything about their games you know that this is going to be target golf.  Playing less than 7,000 yards from the back tees, this is a course that you don’t need to hit the big drives to succeed.  This is all about playing fairways and greens.  Fifty percent of the course is fairway and the other fifty is natural terrain,  which gives you an idea of how important the fairway is on this course.  There are 27 holes surrounded by Red Rock Canyons broken up into three nines: Diablo, Desperado and Outlaw.  Diablo and Desperado are the desert target golf, whereas the Outlaw (the newest nine) has wider fairways that funnel towards the middle of the hole.  So sit back in your air-conditioned cart and play this one of a kind desert course.

Royal Links – This is not your typical Las Vegas desert course.  The slogan of Royal Links is “The Soul of Scotland.  The Adventure of Las Vegas”.  This course is 18 holes of famous courses where the British Open has been held.  So if you have never been across the pond to play St. Andrews, Carnousite or Muirfield, this is your chance to get the closest thing to it.  You will play the famous “Road Hole” of St. Andrews, “Postage Stamp” of Royal Troon and 108 pot bunkers.   With the spirit of Las Vegas, Royal Links offers a “Beat the Pro” contest where you compete with the golf course pros in a closest to the pin competition on the par threes to win golf shop credit.  If you are feeling lucky, you can try to beat the course record of 67 held by some guy named Tiger Woods!  Consistently ranked in all the magazines for best courses in America, this is a must play when traveling to Las Vegas.

The best part about playing golf in Las Vegas is that if you have a bad round no one needs to know because “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!”

If you have been lucky enough to play any of these courses, or any course in Las Vegas, please share your experience with us.  Stay tuned next week when I will post my thoughts on a golf vacation recommended by you the readers.   So please comment with suggestions, I want to hear from you.

Wishing you fairways and greens!

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