Conference 7.286::golf

    We were there last February, and played the Dunes, the Sahara, and
    the Desert Inn courses.  There are several other courses right
    there, too.  All were fun, FLAT and fairly expensive.  The Desert
    Inn is an exceptionally good course, and is in premier shape - try
    to play that one.  We played early in the morning, at which time
    we needed tee times.  But it appeared that anyone could have
    walked onto any course in the afternoon.  Of course, it can get
    rather hot in the afternoons ...
    
    steve
    

    PLAY THE DESERT INN.  It has been several years, but it is the best
    IMHO.  Get a start time, which is not too difficult with a telephone
    call.  I got a 7:30 start time, calling the day before.  If you can
    call earlier, it might be safer.  Afternoons, can be not only warm, 
    but windy - I drove the green on a 387yd four par, with a four wood, 
    and that is not because of my prowess with the woods. 
    
    Big Mac 

    Here's the rundown of courses in Las Vegas from ex-native.
    
    Desert Inn is one of the courses used for LV invitational and is
    highly recommended if you can play that is...they started to restrict
    tee times for non-hotel guests this summer and green fee is somewhere 
    around $150. 
    
    If you're staying at Las Vegas Hilton you can play at Las Vegas Country
    Club. This is also site of LV invitational (and final round site).
    This is private course but LV Hilton gets small time slots. (The course
    is right next to the hotel). There's another Hilton (Flamingo Hilton)
    but you can only get slot from LV Hilton.
    
    Sahara is very well designed course with lots of palm trees and lakes.
    This used be site of Sahara Invitational tournament. (tournament ended
    in late 70's) green fee is $45.00 for local and more for non-local.       
    This used to be Jerry Lewis' favorite course.
    Highly recommended.
    
    Painted Desert is one of the newer courses in Vegas. Originally built
    as private and opened as semi-private. Nice Driving range and course.
    well designed (and very challenging). Green fee is about $45.00 for
    local and more for non-local.
    Highly recommended...warning: if there's even a slight breeze in town,
    it's blowing like crazy out there and since it's at the base of range
    the wind is veeeery coooold.
    
    Angle Park is another new course. It's got more hills than most other
    courses. It's not long but if you stray off fairway, you're in the
    desert with rocks and yucca trees. I don't remember the green fee.
    This is a fun course.
    
    Showboat C.C. Beautiful and well kept course.  My dad just played there
    last week and he said it was in nice shape. It's long and narrow. this
    is in green valley area. (just SE of Vegas)
    Recommended.
    
    Dunes C.C. Used to be my home course. Long and narrow. was site of
    circuit. plays over 7200 yard from the blue tee. water, sand and palm
    trees. one par 4 (hole # 13) is approx. 470 yards long!! Green fee is
    around $80.
    Recommended.
    
    There's anoter course near showboat called Legacy. about 3 years old. 
    Semi-private. The course was in nice shape this summer.
    
    Tropicana. Short but hilly. Green fee is similar to Sahara.
    
    For more reasonable price there are:
    * Las Vegas Golf Club - municipal but veeeery crowded. this is where
      most of local hang out.  Lighted Driving range.
    * Desert Rose - another public...not recommended.
    * Black Mountain G.C. - this is in Henderson. Front nine is baaaad, 
      but the back nine is okay...not recommended.
    * Boulder City G.C. - used to be 9-hole but added second 9 several
      years ago...okay if you want to go see Hoover Dam after the
      round or something.
    
    If you're willing to drive there's Pahrump Golf Course 55 miles from
    Vegas.  Long and well maintained course. Worth it if you want to drive
    this much.
    
    Some courses will take tee times up to week in advance.
    If you're playing during the week you shouldn't have any trouble
    getting on these couses. If you're walk-up go there early in the
    morning and remember.....this is Las Vegas, TIPS talk. For Twosome at
    Hotel owned courses tips go between $10 to $15 to the starter. If he
    likes you, he may get you off on the back nine first in the morning.
    
    Important note: on all resort courses you must ride a cart and that's
    additional fee....golf is expensive....
    
    
    Have fun....
    
    P.S. If you want to know about restaurants let me know. There are over
    five hundred restaurants in Vegas and I can steer away from bad ones.
    
    
    P.P.S. This time of year it should be fairly warm but it will get
    pretty cold at evening/night.

    	thanks for all the help. the restaurant tips would also 
    be nice, if you could send me mail on them to aqua::stirling 
    i would appreciate it.
    
    				dan
    

    Re:               <<< Note 1105.3 by SCAACT::ONAKA "Born to Golf" >>>

>   Tropicana. Short but hilly. Green fee is similar to Sahara.

    This is  the  only  course  I've played in LV since I didn't have too
    much time and  I was staying in a motel close to the Tropicana GC.  I
    found it fun  to  play,  with nice layout, and as .-1 says hilly, but
    the fairways were in bad shape.
    
    As a coincidence, I played it last year after attending COMDEX, which
    is in two weeks and  I'll  be  there  again.    If  time allows I may
    squeeze one round, so the report in .-1 is welcomed.
    
    One last comment, I did try  to  get  on  the  Desert Inn, but it was
    restricted to guests.  LV during Comdex  is  VERY crowded, so I don't
    know if they are less restrictive other times.
    

    Dan, I sent you the list of restaurants via VAXmail. If you didn't get it 
    let me know and I'll send you another one.
    
    P.S. Just found your profile in the note 61.149...pretty impressive.
         With your handicap you should play Painted Desert and Sahara.
    	 If you can break 80 from the back tee you're good!!!!!!!
         my handicap was 9 at these two courses when I moved to Marlboro from 
         Vegas and when I played Wachusett C.C. I shot 74 and I know this
         course is NOT easy.
    	 

    thanks . i got your mail. i suppose i should update that registry too.
    my cap is 4 now, and i broke par for the first time this year.

    I'm glad you're improving...I got down to 2 about 3 years ago, but now I'm
    struggling around 7 to 10 now...what's your secret?
    
    You should be well-armed for your trip (for golf & restaurants),
    have a great time. Let me know how it went when you get back!
    
    P.S. I'm going to sends you another mail, look for it.

    Re:               <<< Note 1105.3 by SCAACT::ONAKA "Born to Golf" >>>


>   Angel Park is another new course. It's got more hills than most other
>   courses. It's not long but if you stray off fairway, you're in the
>   desert with rocks and yucca trees. I don't remember the green fee.
>   This is a fun course.
    
Well, I  did find some time away from COMDEX booth duty and floor walking
and called several places.   Desert Inn was restricted, Sahara was having
a tournament, Tropicana is closed,  etc, so ended at Angel Park, which is
still in LV but about a 20-30 minute ride from the strip.

Angel Park has two Arnold Palmer designed  courses,  the  palms  and  the
desert courses.  As .3 mentioned it's new  and  it shows, or maybe is the
way courses are build in the desert, but when walking on the  fairway,  I
could feel the gravel with my spikes and in some case I am sure the clubs
could also feel it.  I am happy they were  not my clubs, but rented ones!
Besides that the course is in great shape and very well  kept.  I enjoyed
it.

I  played  the  mountain course, called that way not because  is  in  the
mountain or  more hilly, but just because is closer to the mountain.  The
other course does have  palm  trees.    As  .3 mentioned it is relatively
short, about 6500/72 from the  back, but is definitely a lot of fun, well
designed to make it interesting.  Water in about 6 or 7 holes, but desert
all over.  You miss it and  it's not like in the northeast that you punch
it out of the woods but you have  to  take  a  drop  and a stroke penalty
since it almost imposible to hit it out  with  all  the  stones  and wiry
bushes.

The most impressive hole was a par 5 (about 550 yards) where  you have to
have  an  straight  long tee shot to place the ball  close  to  a  desert
gorge, then a long fairway wood or 1/2 iron to the  other  side  with  a
fairway  turn sharply to the  left  so there was very few fairway to land
the ball on and  then  still  a mid iron to the fairway.  I missed my tee
shot so had to  lay up in front of the valley, then barely made the other
side, a long iron in front of  the  green,  up and down for a bogey.  The
same gorge is used by a 165 par  3,  and  if  you  missed  a little short
you're sure to take at least a bogey. I got my only par in this hole.

In total I didn't play well and the desert  got  me,  blowing three holes
with triples, so I ended with a 49/50.

Green fees are $60, plus  $20 club rental, not cheap, but just OK for the
course.

BTW, it has an eighteen hole  putting course.  all real grass with traps,
etc. looked like a lot of fun, but I don't think my back will take it.

If nayone is interested I can bring in the score  card and enter the info
by hole.

Tavo

>                       <<< Note 1105.9 by JDUFFY::DIAZ >>>
>                             -< Angel Park at LV >-
>Angel Park has two Arnold Palmer designed  courses,  the  palms  and  the
>desert courses.  As .3 mentioned it's new  and  it shows, or maybe is the
>way courses are build in the desert, but when walking on the  fairway,  I
>could feel the gravel with my spikes and in some case I am sure the clubs
>could also feel it.  I am happy they were  not my clubs, but rented ones!
    
    I'm glad you had fun at Angel Park. As for the fairways it's because
    they're close to the mountain ranges. You've seen what the desert looks
    like in that area(rocks, rocks and more rocks) think how much
    bulldozing it required just to have smooth areas to lay holes. They
    then bring in good dirt, but they aren't cheap so they put just enough
    to seed.   It'll get better in about 5 years from turf build-up.

    What courses would you recommend to play in Las Vegas?
    
    Linda

    Amendment to .3:

    Tropicana G.C. is closed for good.  Seems some investors are planning
    to build some kind of a amusement park.

    Legacy is definitely one of the courses to play.

    Shadow Creek...don't expect to get on (see 1382.31)
    
    Two new courses opened last fall/winter timeframe:
    	Summerland (sp?) and TPC
    	Friend of mine has a membership to TPC and he says it's a great
    	course. (I'm looking forward to play there on my next trip)
    

    
    Desert Inn.
    
    Big Mac
    

    RE: .13
    
    Desert Inn is now 'Almost Private' status allowing very little tee
    times to 'non-hotel guest'. Besides, at $150+ green fee, it's not worth
    the price.
    
    Two courses, Painted Desert and Legacy are highly recommended. They are
    about $40 - $50.
    
    You can also try to get on the newly opened (last Nov) TPC. I'm told by
    my friend (who's a member) that it's the best in town.

    Well, just got back from a 10-day trip to my hometown Vegas and thought
    I'll update my earlier entry.

    Got to play several courses, with highlight being the new TPC at
    Summerlin.  As some of you know the Las Vegas Invitational started
    Today and this is one of the host site, so the course was in fantastic
    shape.  The green was just perfect...I hated to walk on it because it
    was soooo beautiful (Imagine walking on a sheet of paper. The holes
    made by your spikes looked sooo big).  They were also lightning fast.
    The pro said it was 10 on the stimpmeter.  

    But the most incredible thing about the TPC was the size of these
    greens.  The average depth of these greens are 50 yards and the
    18th is 60 yards deep with huge breaks!  On the sprinkler head, you'll
    find three yardage markers. One for the front of the green, middle and
    back of the green.

    I managed to shoot 83 from the blue tee which has slope rating of 129.
    (The TPC tee with slope rating of 131 was closed for the tournament) 

    The Legacy course is still in great shape.  I strongly recommend this
    course.  It is long (7233 from back tee) and the rough was at least 4
    inches deep, and you also have to tackle the desert canyon (if your
    ball go in there, don't even bother looking for it)
    
    The Angel Park Palm course was also in good shape.  The Mountain
    course's green was being worked on and is pretty bad shape, so stay
    away from it for a couple of month.
    
    If you do go play Angel Park, be sure to play the putting green.  It
    was featured in the recent Golf Digest.  It takes about 1 to 1-1/2
    hours to play and it is fun.  You'll have to deal with thick rough,
    sand traps and even lakes on several holes.  Highly recommended.
    
    The Tropicana was torn down and currently MGM is building a sort of
    hotel/theme park there.  It's scheduled for opening on Nov. 1993.
    
    Painted Desert is in same good shape, but they are really overbuilding
    houses/apartments to the point that on some holes it's just few feet
    from the tee to their yard.  They even had to build high fences around
    the tee grounds to prevent errant shots from flying into people's yard
    and it makes you feel like you're hitting in the in-door range.  It's
    really sad.
    
    Dunes is in great shape now, but Steve Wynn (owner of Golden Nuggets,
    Mirage Hotel and the famed Shadow Creek G.C.) just announced Monday
    that he is purchasing the Dunes hotel. Right now he's not sure at this
    time whether he will renovate the hotel or build a new one on that
    property.  So, if you want to play Dunes, play before the end of the
    year because that's when the sale will be final.
    
    Well, I've got a lot to catch up.  Haven't accessed this notesfile
    since last April.  If you noters out there want more info, send me Email
    to DLOPAS::DLO77::ONAKA.  But please don't expect quick response, I've
    been putting 50-60 hrs/week on a project since March and it doesn't
    look like it's going to let up until end of this year.
    
    Regards,
    Hideshi
    

    I am heading down to Las Vegas this summer for a week, and have always
    dreamed of playing Pebble Beach. Is it a long drive from Vegas to
    Pebble Beach ?? And I am not talking 1-Wood either !! I have seen the
    other notes on Pebble beach, and have some ideas of other courses I
    wouldn't mind trying either. Any recommendations on places to stay
    around there, for around $ 80 - $ 100/night ??
    
    Thanks in Advance
    Brian Clarke

    >dreamed of playing Pebble Beach. Is it a long drive from Vegas to
    >Pebble Beach ?? And I am not talking 1-Wood either !! I have seen the
    
    Well, let's see, Pebble Beach has to be about an 8 hour drive from Las
    Angeles which is another what, 3-4 hours from Vegas?  That's quite a
    car trip - almost 12 hours...  Reno would be closer.  That's only 4
    hours from San Francisco which is about an  hour or so from Pebble (so
    you are talking maybe a 5 or 6 hour ride).
    
    >other notes on Pebble beach, and have some ideas of other courses I
    >wouldn't mind trying either. Any recommendations on places to stay
    >around there, for around $ 80 - $ 100/night ??
    
    I think a round of golf at Pebble is cheaper (and easier to get?) if
    you stay right there at the Del Monte Lodge.  I don't have a number
    though.  Golf is not cheap there (something like $225 for 18 holes for
    non-guests of the lodge and $180 for Del Monte Lodge guests).
    
    You could probably find a place in nearby Carmel by the Sea (Clint's
    place) for the $80 to $100 per night depending on the time of year.
    
    Good luck!  I visited Pebble 2 years ago when I was in the area and
    enjoyed the scenary as well as the golf course (didn't play, just
    walked around it).  There aren't many courses I'd pay $225 for 18
    holes.  In fact, Augusta National is about the only one ;-).
    
    Mike

     It isn't necessary to go back to LA to get to Pebble from Lost Wages
but it is still an 8 - 10 hour drive. There are many hotel/motel opportunities
that are in the 80 -100 dollar range. There are some fine courses in the
Las Vegas though that would be worth checking out.
If you want, contact me at raybok::cooper or james cooper @ lvm or
dtn 570-3060

    It's been a long time since this note has had any activity!  I'm
    looking for updates on courses/conditions for the beginning of June.
    If at all possible, would someone have pro shop phone numbers for
    tee times?
    
    Linda