Silver State Playbook

Golf and gambling are as intertwined as the Cirque du Soleil performers in their latest Las Vegas Strip show. But golfers don’t have to drop one token in a slot to hit it big in Nevada. Just bring your game. The Sin City orbit boasts dozens of courses—among them the stunning Rees Jones layouts at Rio Secco and Cascata—worth checking off the bucket list. Due east, however, lies another golf jackpot known as Mesquite. Go this winter, or head there May 27–31, when as many as six courses—including Falcon Ridge, CasaBlanca and Coyote Springs—participate in the 17th Annual Mesquite Amateur, a five-day, 54-hole net stroke-play tournament with 20 flights for men and women. Highlighting the event is a round on the 7,232-yard Gary Panks–designed Conestoga Golf Club, which Golfweek rates among the top five public courses in Nevada—and as sure a bet as you can make. mesquiteamateur.com 

Hitch Up Your Team

Named for the wagons that once carried settlers westward, Conestoga Golf Club invites golf-car-riding pioneers to traverse the myriad washes, arroyos, ravines, bluffs and bunkers that marble its lush fairways. Golf and Golfweek rank the 7,232-yard Gary Panks layout—located in the community of Sun City Mesquite—among the top 10 public courses in Nevada. After 18 holes, hit the 1880 Grille, which takes its name from the year pioneers arrived via the Old Spanish Trail, and gives its name to the enormous signature 1880 wings and 1880 Burger. Wash it all down with private-label 1880 Ale, a red beer available only on tap. conestogagolf.com 

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Colorado AvidGolfer Magazine is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it, publishing eight issues annually and proudly delivering daily content via coloradoavidgolfer.com.

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