No Limits

Royal Flush–Wolf Creek Golf Club

Nevada’s toughest draw

Hitting a royal flush in five-card poker comes with odds of 1 in 649,740. Shooting your handicap at Mesquite’s Wolf Creek Golf Club is just as unlikely, especially in the afternoon, where high winds frequently blow scores into the stratosphere. The entire experience launches you on an exploration mission around one of the world’s toughest tracks (154 slope). Carved into an otherworldly moonscape of rugged box canyons, Wolf Creek’s 6,994 yards involve nerve-wracking blind tee shots and approaches, dizzying elevation changes, and dozens of sand and water hazards. Here’s a tip: Play the course virtually before taking on the real thing. Wolf Creek is one of the courses featured in EA Sports’ Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09.

Straight Flush–Walters Golf

One company, three fantasy courses

Like the Luxor, New York, New York and Paris hotels, each course in Walters Golf’s trio transports you to a faraway place. There’s Bali Hai Golf Club’s tropical paradise, complete with seven acres of water, beach-like expanses of white sand, 2,500 towering palms, and more than 100,000 tropical flowers and plants. For a Scottish sojourn, take on Royal Links, where holes modeled after Royal Troon, Carnoustie, St. Andrews, Turnberry and Muirfield accurately portray British Open sites but an oversized Claret Jug reminds you that you’re still in Vegas. Finally, there’s the Pete Dye-designed Desert Pines, where a 15-minute drive from the neon-laced Strip takes you to pine-lined fairways of North Carolina.

Four of a Kind–Mesquite’s Resort Golf Courses

A quartet of golf packed into one town

Few golf destinations (save for Myrtle Beach and perhaps Scottsdale) have as high a concentration of golf courses as Mesquite. Aside from Wolf Creek Golf Club (see High Card), there’s Falcon Ridge Golf Club, where sandstone-colored canyons provide both scenery and challenges, and Casablanca Golf Club, where you’ll encounter wetlands and lakes on 13 holes. Contrast is the keyword for Palms Golf Club, which features a relatively straightforward front nine and a dramatically intricate back nine. Finally, there’s the Oasis Golf Club, with the Arnold Palmer-designed Palmer course and Gary Player’s Canyons, which both meander through tight box canyons. The Canyons is Mesquite’s newest golf addition.

Full House–The Chase at Coyote Springs

Nevada’s burgeoning golf community

When it’s complete, Coyote Springs (located about 45 minutes northeast of Las Vegas) will be the largest planned city in Nevada, replete with schools, parks, offices, thousands of homes and a series of golf courses under the PGA Golf Club banner. The Chase at PGA Golf Club Coyote Springs, which opened last May, is the first installment. The 7,471-yard Jack Nicklaus design is an immaculately manicured combo of undulating greens, 11 water features and cavernous white-sand bunkers. The Chase has already garnered numerous awards and has quickly gained a reputation as one of the state’s best courses. On deck is a Jack Nicklaus and Pete Dye collaboration, which should open within the next few years.

Flush–Bear’s Best

18 inspired Jack Nicklaus replicas

With so many Jack Nicklaus course designs being private, it’s unlikely you’ll ever set foot on them all. Bear’s Best Golf Club is the next, well, best thing. Each hole on the 7,194-yard course is modeled after one of Nicklaus’ most famous creations, including PGA West, Desert Highlands, Las Campanas and Old Works. The par-five eighth suggests Castle Pines Golf Club’s 14th and even has evergreens to enhance the imitation.

Straight–OB Sports’ Courses

Las Vegas’ public-golf company

While Las Vegas in general specializes in over-the-top luxury and greens fees that exceed most hotel rates, OB Sports offers three more affordable options. With rates rarely topping the $150 mark, Angel Park, Aliante and The Legacy are perfect for the budget-minded traveler looking for a solid challenge. One of OB Sports’ newest amenities is complimentary transportation for groups of 16 or more, so bring your friends!

Three of a Kind–Paiute Golf Resort

Three courses cast by the same Dye

With a resume that includes Whistling Straits, TPC at Sawgrass (Stadium) and Harbour Town Golf Links, Pete Dye is arguably the world’s foremost living golf architect. Paiute Golf Resort is a convenient way to experience three of his finest desert designs–all in one weekend. First, take on Snow Mountain, Paiute’s original design, built in a progressive layout (no parallel fairways) with myriad water hazards and Dye’s trademark railroad ties. Next up: Sun Mountain. Considered the easiest of the three, the 7,112-yard course has rolling fairways that trek through Nevada’s stunning desert. Save the tenacious 7,604-yard Wolf for last. This beast can devour more than a couple of sleeves, but the five sets of tees curb the damage.

Two Pair–Siena and Arroyo Golf Clubs and Lake Las Vegas

Two locations, four courses

Siena and Arroyo are to Summerlin what The Falls and Reflection Bay are to Lake Las Vegas–the anchors of their respective communities. A half-hour west of the Strip, Siena and Arroyo golf clubs, which were designed respectively by Brian Curley/Lee Schmidt and Arnold Palmer, are great options for those staying in Las Vegas. Forty minutes east of downtown, the Jack Nicklaus-designed Reflection Bay at Lake Las Vegas stretches to 7,261 yards and provides awesome views of the lake. Its sister course, The Falls, offers similar scenery, but Tom Weiskopf incorporated far more elevation changes, especially on the back nine. Another similarity between the two locations is that they each have an adjoining private club–Red Rock Country Club (Summerlin) and SouthShore Golf Club (Lake Las Vegas).

One Pair–Rio Secco and Cascata

Harrah’s killer golf-course duo

Rio Secco Golf Club and Cascata, both owned by Harrah’s, are two of Las Vegas’s top daily-fee courses. Built in 1997 and designed by Rees Jones, Rio Secco offers two distinct nines. While the front is relatively tame, all of the back’s holes drop in and out of canyons and carry over vast desert washes. With a course rating of 75.7, you’ll be lucky to come within a dozen strokes of Tiger’s course-record 64, which the scorecard lists hole-by-hole. Also designed by Rees Jones, Cascata offers more of a private-club experience–from the 37,000 square-foot Tuscan-styled clubhouse to the $350-$500 green fees. The 7,137-yard layout zigzags around multiple lakes and streams, constantly presenting stunning views of Red Mountain.

High Card–Wynn Golf Club

The king of Vegas draws an ace

Wynn Golf Club, like Shadow Creek Golf Club before it, is proof that anything is possible in Las Vegas. To create a golf fantasy worthy of hotelier Steve Wynn’s vision—something he had already accomplished at Shadow Creek in 1989, when Wynn ran the Mirage—course architect Tom Fazio had to move more than 800,000 cubic yards of earth. He created dramatic elevation changes and added 100,000 shrubs and 4,800 new trees, 4,600 lineal feet of streams, and a 37-foot-tall waterfall. The course, located on the site of the former Desert Inn Golf Club, will set you back $500, and you must be a Wynn Las Vegas guest to get a tee time.

The Call

Wolf Creek Golf Club

403 Paradise Parkway, Mesquite

866-252-4653

golfwolfcreek.com

Walters Golf

888-427-6678

waltersgolf.com

Golf Mesquite, NV 

866-720-7111

golfmesquitenevada.com

The Chase at Coyote Springs