Opinions vary, of course, but the following are the picks of Ken Van Vechten, author of Neon Nuptials: The Complete Guide to Las Vegas Weddings, who has written a guide to golf in Las Vegas for us.
Shadow Creek Golf Course, MGM Mirage -- The most compelling public course in Vegas is only marginally public but you can still make it happen. Shadow Creek has been the "alpha male" golf course in southern Nevada since the day it opened in 1989. Perfect conditioning; blank-slate no-corners-cut routing by designer Tom Fazio; landscape palette that qualifies it as the Augusta National of the West; there’s no denying that Shadow Creek is an übercourse in every sense of the concept. If you’re bunking at the Mirage or a sister property, pull out five large, enjoy the comped limo ride to the course, and follow your caddy through 7,239 yards of pure unadulterated magic. By the way, the USGA has never been allowed in to rate it. Now that’s mystique. www.shadowcreek.com Tel: 888/778-3387
Wynn Las Vegas -- The brains behind Shadow Creek, Steve Wynn and Tom Fazio, are also responsible for completely renovating and upgrading the last playground remaining in the heart of the Strip. Though the 50-year-old Desert Inn links are literally underfoot, no expense was spared by Wynn and company on the $500-for-18 course behind Wynn Las Vegas. You’ll have to stay at WLV; add another $300+ to the cost of playing. www.wynnlasvegas.com Tel: 888/320-9966
Las Vegas Paiute Golf Resort -- The best golf courses in Vegas for mortals are run by the local tribe on reservation land north of town. The Sun Mountain and Snow Mountain courses are similar, designed in the mid-1990s by Pete Dye, so forget Sawgrass and think grace; the Wolf course is robust golf; hit it long and recover around the greens. You’ll drop $165-$200.www.lvpaiutegolf.com Tel: 866/284-2833
Reflection Bay Golf Club -- A challenging but playable Jack Nicklaus track with lakeside, plateau, and desert-canyon holes about equally mixed between wind-up-and-have-a-go and engage-the-brain. Current home to the Wendy’s Three-Tour Challenge. Prepare to shell out $270 a round. www.lakelasvegas.com Tel: 877/698-4653
The Falls Golf Club -- Tom Weiskopf’s The Falls is as Jekyll and Hyde as any course can be. The outward nine is prototypical Southwestern desert golf. The inward nine literally climbs up the side of a bighorn-inhabited mountain -- look for the stately sheep on 12 -- with several multiple-hundred-foot elevation changes from tees to greens and the best view from any course in town. www.lakelasvegas.com Tel: 702/740-5258
Bear’s Best Las Vegas -- This course is a patchwork of replicas from Nicklaus courses elsewhere -- the golf course equivalent of megaresorts on the Strip. At the hole-by-hole level, this could be Vegas’ strongest track. A bargain at $245 plus gratuity for the mandatory forecaddie. www.bearsbest.com Tel: 866/385-3800
