The Golf Greens of Las Vegas
Welcome to Las Vegas, the Entertainment Capital of the World, with its casinos, music acts and… golf? Oh yes, it’s true! Though well known for its fantastic casinos, Las Vegas also has great courses – heaven for the avid golfer.
Speaking of – hi, I’m the avid golfer. I had an unexpected windfall early last year that gave me enough money to take some time off. I didn’t take the whole year, but my wife and I run our own business providing fishing expeditions, so all I had to do was leave instructions with our manager.
My wife, who loves slot machines, wanted to go to a casino near our home – Missouri, where nothing ever happens. Instead, I surprised her with tickets to Las Vegas, where we spent four wonderful, fun-filled months. She played at the casinos of course, and I took the longest tour known to man of the greens. I didn’t even have to worry about the Las Vegas golf rates; for the first time in my life, money wasn’t an issue – besides, they really weren’t as expensive as I thought they’d be.
It was beautiful – nothing but the clubs, the green, the wind and me. I spent three days at a golf club that was more like a private club than anything else; the course was amazing. Designed by Palmer, it’s 6,857 yards, has large bunkers and sixty-eight greens. Okay, with the large landing zones and bailout areas, you have to aim at the hazards to hit them, but it was a great place to practice my shots.
One of the other places had three nine-hole layouts; it even had a 28th hole, which came in handy when I made a bet with a fellow player during the original game. Turns out this 28th hole is specifically for settling these types of wagers. When we walked into the clubhouse after the round, the guy at the counter just grinned and pointed.
This golf club was fantastic. It had Bob Cupp designs for mountains, valleys and deserts; the mountain area has a 653-yard third hole and ends with a 616-yard par 5. The third hole is where my opponent and I had our differences and made the bet. No, I won’t tell you what it was about – it’s embarrassing and only happened due to the heat of golfing battle.
After it was over, we both decided that perhaps we should make use of the on-site golf academy and driving range. In other words, we told each other that we weren’t as good as we thought we were – and proved it with the scorecards.
I think I played at over fifteen different clubs. I met five different guys who lived within one hundred miles of me; one just happened to be an instructor. He joked about offering me free golf lessons when we got back, but I’m going to remind him about it. To make the vacation perfect, my wife won enough money that we ended up coming home with more than we spent!