Vegas: All In

By Ted Johnson

Out of the blue it hits you—a Las Vegas Moment. It’s not the Strip with its large boxes called hotels baking in the sun. It’s not the nightly frenzy of neon, each electronic billboard screaming for attention. No, Vegas Moments are personal; you know that what you just saw or did in Vegas only happens in Vegas.

Such as:

Showing up at the Rio Secco Golf Club to find out the starter is running 30 minutes late, and that’s a worry because there’s another course to be played later in the day. As a single, you ask to be put with any opening, which is a stroke of luck because a threesome two groups up includes Gino Torretta, the 1992 Heisman Trophy winner from the University of Miami. That alone could be the Vegas Moment. But no. After the 18th, we cart back to the staging area and find a pair of showgirl-quality tan legs in a miniskirt and heels underneath a healthy chest and a nice smile cleaning your clubs. Her name is Beth, and she’s ready to serve.

That’s a Vegas Moment.

Long one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States with a metro population of more than 1.6 million, Las Vegas by 2010 likely will move up 10 spots to become the country’s 20th largest city. Its long-time nickname has been Sin City, but it’s really America’s Playground. Its industries are gaming, entertainment and service. It’s also where the American Dream is played out every day in a million different ways. Example:
Six years ago, brothers Jesse and Cy Waits worked at Mandalay Bay, one as a valet attendant, the other as a bartender. Now they are knocking down about $500,000 a year apiece as co-owners of Tryst, a trendy nightclub in the town’s latest, greatest hotel, Wynn Las Vegas. At Tryst, the cover is $30, “bottle service” is expected (750 ml of Absolut for just $200), and you find yourself standing in line on the weekends.

The current rage in gambling is Texas Hold ’Em, a poker game now shown regularly on cable that has developed its own stars like Phil Hellmuth, Howard Lederer and Phil Ivey, each with multimillion-dollar incomes. They come to Vegas regularly to play in cash games. Past players included Andy Beal, a Texas mega-millionaire who likes to play the best and bet the most. The “blinds,” or antes, of these games were $50,000, the raises $100,000. Ivey once clipped Beal of $16 million.

In this environment, risk-reward is a way of life. And it carries over to the golf experience. For example, it’s risky to go in the fall because courses close for about a month at a time to “overseed,” meaning they tear out the Bermuda grass and plant rye, which takes the cooler winter temperatures better. That means no access, even if you’re Michael Jordan with a hay bale of Franklins (or a Colorado AvidGolfer contributing editor). That explains why the fabled Steve Wynn-Tom Fazio creation known as Shadow Creek Golf Course isn’t included in this article. It wasn’t an oversight; it was overseeding.

Like the $10 hot dog between nines, golf in Sin City ain’t cheap. So everyone is assessing here. Is it worth it? It’s the mantra heard every day: whether it’s deciding whether to go “all in” with a pair of aces or to lay out $300 or more for 18 holes. Here’s my rundown, Hold ’Em style, in alphabetical order.

Bali Hai Golf Club
balihaigolfclub.com; 888-427-6678
Location: South end of the Strip, about a drive and six iron from Mandalay Bay.
The Blind: $325
The Flop: The architect team of Lee Schmidt and Brian Curley turned a flat, nondescript layout into a treat. It’s short (under 6,700 yards for the gold tees) but fun, though some holes run side-by-side.
The Bet: You might not leave: Cili Restaurant, which serves as the 18th hole, has the best-looking bar next to a course in the United States.
The Beat: With Vegas personifying the American belief that time is money, proximity to the Strip—arguably some of the most expensive real estate in the world—means less time to get back to the tables…or the business meeting, or the wife.

 

Cascata
parkplace.com/cascata; 702-294-2000
Location: About 35 minutes southeast of the Strip near the junction of highways 215 and 95 in Boulder City.
The Blind: $500
The Flop: Rees Jones took advantage of 450 acres to place 18 holes amidst the rocks and ridges of the Black Mountains overlooking the El Dorado Valley. When it opened in 2000, only high rollers from Caesars Palace could play; now it’s open to anyone. Each hole is a separate experience, and Jones spared no expense in shaping, edifying and beautifying the landscape, as palm trees and running water (Cascata means waterfall in Italian) mark many holes. 
The Bet: Jones’ landscaping is breathtaking, the greens run 11, and the course condition is nothing short of immaculate. But it’s a long way from the Strip, and some of the traffic at the junction of 95 and 215 can be pretty thick.
The Beat: Need a three-hour round by yourself? Cascata can provide that. Want a leisurely stroll with friends while throwing money around on putts and drinks? Cascata does that, too, and you still might not see another foursome all day. Afterward, there’s the clubhouse with a mountain river running through it. And there are very few places where you see a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, one of 500 made a year, each with a base price of $450,000. Phil Ivey had his in front.

 

Desert Pines Golf Club
desertpines.com; 888-427-6678
Location: 15 minutes northeast of the Strip.
The Blind: $129
The Flop: This tight, 10-year-old Pete Dye design may be the best bargain in the Vegas vicinity.
The Bet: With its stands of imported pines, white-sand bunkers and puny putting surfaces, it’s a “poor man’s Pinehurst”—albeit one with more forgiving greens and those damn Dye railway ties everywhere. Water factors into half the holes, including the finisher.
The Beat: You’ll find more locals at Desert Pines than just about any other area course. The relatively low price (it drops as low as $50 off-season) coupled with a twin-tiered practice facility and a surprisingly good restaurant, could explain why.

 

Paiute Golf Resort
lvpaiutegolf.com; 800-711-2833
Location: 30 minutes northwest of the Strip on Highway 95.
The Blind: About $150 for Sun Mountain and Snow Mountain, $185 for Wolf.
The Flop: Pete Dye designed all three courses, with Snow Mountain and Sun Mountain meant for fair and fun times. But if you have limited time and don’t know when you’ll get back, go with the Wolf, if only for the unadulterated Dye experience.
The Bet: It’s off the Strip, located on an Indian Reservation and traffic is a concern. However, no area in the region, with the possible exception of Mesquite near Utah, has as many quality courses in one location.
The Beat: The Wolf contains Dye’s best tricks, namely lining fairway edges with sharply defined mounds and ridges, which always seem to block your sight line to the flag. What he wants you do to, however, is play away from the edges. Aim 20 yards away from that defined line, and you’ll find yourself in the middle of the fairway. Dye knows your eye always wants a target, and you’ll find yourself creeping ever closer to those edges. In short, he’s playing with your mind.

 

Reflection Bay Golf Club
lakelasvegas.com; 877-698-4653
Location: About 20 miles east in Henderson.
The Blind: $265 for non-hotel guests
The Flop: Jack Nicklaus’ first Signature design in Nevada serves as the centerpiece of a large development that is a world unto its own. It’s quiet—save for the earthmovers scraping more land for more homes—and scenic and remote. And it’s part of Lake Las Vegas Resort, a popular residential area, which could be called America’s Best Suburban Casino Development. There are four hotels, including a Ritz-Carlton and Hyatt Regency, as well as a gorgeous Tom Weiskopf public layout called The Falls.
The Bet: Though remote, it is the one place in the region where it would be OK to take the kids and make a family vacation that includes golf, swimming, leisure and spa time and gaming—all in an environment that would make J.R. Ewing proud.
The Beat: Nicklaus designed this little ditty with his usual flair for left-to-right approach shots, but his best design talents come out: wide fairways yielding varying risk-reward shots into greens guarded by dangerous bunkers. A forecaddie is included, which means a standard $20 tip per player afterward.

 

Rio Secco Golf Club
riosecco.net; 888-TO-SECCO
Location: Nine miles from the center of the Strip in a high-end real-estate development known as Seven Hills.
The Blind: $285 a round, including cart
The Flop: For another $200, your group can have a “T-Mate,” a young woman in a halter-topped jumpsuit who serves as a forecaddie. She’ll help you find your balls (a service, which when deployed by the lovely Leslie Silverman, makes you want to shank a few into the junk ), tell you the line on the putts, order beers from the cart girl and laugh at all your jokes. She even won’t mind your swearing.

The Bet: This dynamite Rees Jones layout is three distinct six-hole experiences: A half-dozen holes run through steep canyons, six more spread across a broad desert and another six perch on a plateau overlooking the city. Every putt seems to break to the Stratosphere Hotel on the Strip, which is seen in panoramic views from the plateau.

The Beat: It’s a pricey round, but the cost-benefit analysis suddenly makes sense when you hear Leslie telling you, “Everyone likes a piece of ass. No one likes a smart ass.” And at a lesser course, you’re not likely to play with the likes of Gino Torretta, much less glimpse the Butch Harmon School of Golf at the end of the driving range.

 

Royal Links Golf Club
royallinksgolfclub.com; 888-427-6678
Location: Seven miles east of the Strip.
The Blind: $195
The Flop: “Royal” refers to its theme; each hole is a replica of one found on a famous British Open course, some of which you haven’t heard of unless you’re a big fan of Royal Birkdale, Royal Lytham and Royal Cinque Ports.
The Bet: It’s on the east side of Las Vegas, so getting there means driving under huge power lines and through mobile home parks, but there isn’t any real estate on the course.
The Beat: If you don’t look up, a hole like No. 14, which copies Turnberry’s famed par-five fifth of 565 yards, provides plenty of challenge. The difference is there is no North Sea on the left. Still, it’s a fun round, resplendent in the Las Vegas theme that every place should have a theme.

 

Wynn Golf Club
wynnlasvegas.com; 877-321-WYNN
Location: Next to the Strip, behind the $2.3 billion Wynn Las Vegas resort.
The Blind: $500, but you have to be a hotel guest, with rooms starting at $400 a night.
The Flop: Tom Fazio came in and did to the old Desert Inn layout what Van Gogh did to art, transforming simple things into deeply personal expressions. Fazio moved 500,000 cubic yards of earth and planted more than 3,000 trees to create a course that plays as if it was in the sand hills of North Carolina, with swales and mounds amidst the pine trees, steep bunkers flaring off the mounds and the water features teasing the greens. A 37-foot waterfall dramatically stages the final hole. In short, Fazio did another Shadow Creek number for Steve Wynn, the owner.  
The Bet: If you want to play golf while leaving your significant other to explore the hotel’s Esplanada in which Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Cartier, Rolex and San Giorgio (where the Puma Black Fallon shoes run $275) all await, you might want to reconsider. Paying another $500 to have her play, too, might be more financially prudent.
The Beat: Wynn wants to bring intimacy to the Strip, which is odd because more than 15 years ago, his Mirage and Treasure Island began the trend of the mega-casino resorts so prevalent on the Strip. At Wynn, there are “locales” you can go to that are away from typical Las Vegas intrusions like noise and crowds. The dining area in the Country Club area, for example, looks like it belongs in New York’s tony Westchester County—all dark paneling and subdued lighting. On the course itself, you can’t ignore the presence of the large hotels and buildings. In the end, however, it’s a wonderful encapsulation of Las Vegas itself, where the magic of talent, imagination and money come together.