More than 60 Courses in the Las Vegas Area are Luring Visitors, Celebrities and Tournaments

There’s a lot of green in Las Vegas, and it’s not just the color of money. Throughout the area, including the Strip, the greens of golf courses are luring visitors.

In fact, Las Vegas recently was named the top emerging golf destination in the world by the International Association of Golf Tour Operators, and it is included in the list of reasons why the destination attracted 38.9 million visitors in 2006, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA).

Over the past 12 years, the Las Vegas area has grown, beginning with about a dozen “quality” courses, and now it is home to more than 60, according to Julian Dugas, the LVCVA’s director of sports marketing. Those include two 18-hole courses on the Strip: the Wynn Golf and Country Club at Wynn Las Vegas and the independently operated Bali Hai Golf Course, which GolfWeek named one of the “Top 40 Resort Courses in America.” (A third Strip course, the Callaway Golf Center, is a nine-hole executive course.)

Though the golf industry as a whole has been fairly flat since Sept. 11, mostly due to a falloff of corporate business, “we are seeing that avid golfers are still playing,” says Dugas. “I believe there has been growth in the Las Vegas market as the Vegas story gets out there. Now that we are beginning to educate the public that there is quality golf there, people are beginning to put Las Vegas on their must-play lists.”

Those include many famous professional and amateur golfers, including Tiger Woods, former President Bill Clinton and NBA legend Michael Jordan. In addition, Las Vegas hosts many nationally and internationally televised golf tournaments, including the PGA Tour’s Michelin Championships at Las Vegas, the LPGA Takefuji Classic and Wendy’s Three-Tour Challenge.

Renowned players and course architects have designed many of the links. For example, Tom Fazio collaborated with Wynn Las Vegas owner Steve Wynn on that hotel’s course and also designed Shadow Creek Golf Club in North Las Vegas, which is open to a limited number of MGM Mirage guests. Among other designers are Jack Nicklaus (Bear’s Best, Reflection Bay Golf Club), Tom Weiskopf (The Falls Golf Club) and Chi Chi Rodriguez (Badlands Golf Club). 

Several courses are affiliated with hotels and resorts.  In addition to the Wynn course, for example, there are the Reflection Bay Golf Club and The Falls Golf Club at Lake Las Vegas Resort in Henderson, a master-planned resort with three properties:  The Ritz-Carlton, Lake Las Vegas; Loews Lake Las Vegas Resort; and MonteLago Village Resort.  The Cascata in Boulder City and the Rio Secco Golf Club in Henderson are part of the Harrah’s empire.

Not surprisingly, many of the hotels offer room-and-golf packages. Among these are the hotels at Lake Las Vegas Resort, Harrah’s properties (including Harrah’s Las Vegas, Bally’s Las Vegas, Caesars Palace, The Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino, and the Flamingo Las Vegas), The Signature at MGM Grand and the JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort and Spa in Summerlin. The latter has an exclusive partnership with TPC (Tournament Players Club) and the Canyons, the only public PGA Tour golf course in Las Vegas. In some cases, the packages feature tee time not just at the hotels’ affiliated courses but also at other area links, and shuttle service is provided.

In addition, guests at most hotels in Las Vegas can book tee times at area courses, whether they’re affiliated or not. “All of the major hotels have relationships with independent courses.  It’s almost seamless,” Dugas says, adding that some have designated golf desks, and others offer golf bookings through their concierges. He adds that greens fees are competitive with those at other destinations: “You can get on a quality course for $100 to $250.”
 
An even greater value is that golf isn’t the only activity to keeps clients busy. "I like to say that not only are you getting great golf, you’re getting Las Vegas,” Dugas says. “That’s the beauty of it.”

“Most people can’t afford to [vacation solely to play golf] anymore, so they’re looking for other things to do,” he adds, noting that the destination also offers world-class spas, restaurants, shopping, entertainment and of course, gaming.