Golf in Las Vegas Superthread
10-15-2019
, 11:52 AM
11-18-2019
, 12:24 PM
Played Wolf Creek Saturday and Shadow Creek Sunday.
Wolf Creek was visually mesmerizing and definitely worth making the hour+ drive from Vegas to see/play. For me it's a one-and-done experience as wild, desert, target-golf isn't my preferred style of golf.
This time of year the rack rate is $190 and they were hopping on a Saturday morning. In fact with the shorter days they split the tees and send everyone out. Decent clubhouse/restaurant. The range is irons only and then we started on 10 and it's a big uphill tee shot with like 220+ carry or something.
Conditions were good; very lush. Greens were okay, they get a lot of play so they had a lot of marks and weren't the most consistent with regard to speed. But overall a fine course and certainly spectacular to look at.
Shadow Creek is as amazing, and ridiculous, as its reputation. We got picked up from Aria at 7am in a limo; it's true they don't have a parking lot for guests so you need to be picked up and dropped off. The road from the front gate winds through the property but except for the par-3 5th hole you don't see any of the course as you drive up. Just a bunch of pine trees and other bushes they are totally foreign.
When the limo pulls up to the clubhouse a host and your caddie for the day is waiting to unload bags etc. and make the introduction show you where to go. They take you inside and point you toward the restaurant (seemingly all the food and booze you want is included; outside of pro shop stuff we weren't charged additional for anything all day), pro shop and locker room. The locker room doesn't knock your socks off; it's very nice, and it's huge with big lockers with a ton of famous golfer and celebrity names on them.
After checking in and looking at some stuff at the pro shop we put on our shoes and headed to the range to warm up. We teed off around 8:30 and couldn't have had a better weather day. About 65 to start, warming to 75; not a cloud in the sky and you never more than a breathe of wind.
The course is tough; there is room to spray it around but it will require a chip or punch out if you're way out of position and there is a lot of water on the course, too. Greens were pretty severe; lots of break and undulation. They were fast, but not out of control and they were very smooth and pure.
The rough was thick, not crazy long but I had a few that sat down and were tough to advance. The routing is very cool; each hole really is separate from every other hole. Lots of variety in hole length, shape and design. Really cool and fun experience; definitely worth doing as a bucket-list day and I'm going to try to make it something I do every couple of years.
Highlight for me was holes 10 and 11. I hit it in a fairway bunker on 10 and caught my approach heavy and had a wedge left in, but got it up and down hitting it inside a foot. Then 11 is a short par-4 265 to the flag yesterday and my drive ended up in the front bunker; it's about 8 feet deep and I was kind of short sided - could only see the top of the flag but I splashed it well and it went in for the 2. I couldn't see it but it's always good when the caddie and playing partners start going wild.
And our caddie, John, was great. With 3 of us (two carts, then) he had to work hard to help us find balls, get yardages, read putts, etc. but he made it look easy and kept us moving but never rushed us. His goal for the day was definitely to make sure we had everything we wanted and had fun.
As we were playing 18 John asked if you're going to stick around and have lunch, etc. or get-going as the cars come from the strip, so if you want to leave immediately they call for your ride in advance. I was driving back to Colorado after and one in our group was flying out late afternoon so we finished up only hung out longer enough to get some stuff in the pro shop and change our shoes, etc.
Amazing experience and certainly not over-hyped. It's a fun, challenging course and the service and attention to detail is unrivaled. I did not have to pay, so I also go to enjoy the experience without swiping my card for $500 - but I'd gladly pony-up based on this experience and can't wait to go back.
#9
#18
Wolf Creek was visually mesmerizing and definitely worth making the hour+ drive from Vegas to see/play. For me it's a one-and-done experience as wild, desert, target-golf isn't my preferred style of golf.
This time of year the rack rate is $190 and they were hopping on a Saturday morning. In fact with the shorter days they split the tees and send everyone out. Decent clubhouse/restaurant. The range is irons only and then we started on 10 and it's a big uphill tee shot with like 220+ carry or something.
Conditions were good; very lush. Greens were okay, they get a lot of play so they had a lot of marks and weren't the most consistent with regard to speed. But overall a fine course and certainly spectacular to look at.
Shadow Creek is as amazing, and ridiculous, as its reputation. We got picked up from Aria at 7am in a limo; it's true they don't have a parking lot for guests so you need to be picked up and dropped off. The road from the front gate winds through the property but except for the par-3 5th hole you don't see any of the course as you drive up. Just a bunch of pine trees and other bushes they are totally foreign.
When the limo pulls up to the clubhouse a host and your caddie for the day is waiting to unload bags etc. and make the introduction show you where to go. They take you inside and point you toward the restaurant (seemingly all the food and booze you want is included; outside of pro shop stuff we weren't charged additional for anything all day), pro shop and locker room. The locker room doesn't knock your socks off; it's very nice, and it's huge with big lockers with a ton of famous golfer and celebrity names on them.
After checking in and looking at some stuff at the pro shop we put on our shoes and headed to the range to warm up. We teed off around 8:30 and couldn't have had a better weather day. About 65 to start, warming to 75; not a cloud in the sky and you never more than a breathe of wind.
The course is tough; there is room to spray it around but it will require a chip or punch out if you're way out of position and there is a lot of water on the course, too. Greens were pretty severe; lots of break and undulation. They were fast, but not out of control and they were very smooth and pure.
The rough was thick, not crazy long but I had a few that sat down and were tough to advance. The routing is very cool; each hole really is separate from every other hole. Lots of variety in hole length, shape and design. Really cool and fun experience; definitely worth doing as a bucket-list day and I'm going to try to make it something I do every couple of years.
Highlight for me was holes 10 and 11. I hit it in a fairway bunker on 10 and caught my approach heavy and had a wedge left in, but got it up and down hitting it inside a foot. Then 11 is a short par-4 265 to the flag yesterday and my drive ended up in the front bunker; it's about 8 feet deep and I was kind of short sided - could only see the top of the flag but I splashed it well and it went in for the 2. I couldn't see it but it's always good when the caddie and playing partners start going wild.
And our caddie, John, was great. With 3 of us (two carts, then) he had to work hard to help us find balls, get yardages, read putts, etc. but he made it look easy and kept us moving but never rushed us. His goal for the day was definitely to make sure we had everything we wanted and had fun.
As we were playing 18 John asked if you're going to stick around and have lunch, etc. or get-going as the cars come from the strip, so if you want to leave immediately they call for your ride in advance. I was driving back to Colorado after and one in our group was flying out late afternoon so we finished up only hung out longer enough to get some stuff in the pro shop and change our shoes, etc.
Amazing experience and certainly not over-hyped. It's a fun, challenging course and the service and attention to detail is unrivaled. I did not have to pay, so I also go to enjoy the experience without swiping my card for $500 - but I'd gladly pony-up based on this experience and can't wait to go back.
#9
#18
Last edited by KingJames; 11-18-2019 at 12:43 PM.
that's an impressive 2 days of golf
11-19-2019
, 11:43 AM
Agreed Wolf Creek was on of the nicest courses I have ever played. The back 9 of Entrada in Mesquite with the lava fields was also a spectacular visual.
Just cant justify $500 for a round. How much do you tip a caddy out there?