1911 East Desert Inn Road. Las Vegas, NV. 89169. (866) 695-1961
http://www.lasvegasnational.com
Tee Box Options: Professional=6725 Yards. Back=6272 Yards. Middle=5739 Yards. Forward=5155 Yards. Total Par=71.
Viva Las Vegas!!!! I drove to LV this weekend to meet with friends who were there on vacation. The drive from Phoenix to Las Vegas is easy and very scenic with beautiful mountains and a desert flooded with Joshua trees. It’s almost a straight shot from city to city and I enjoy that drive much more than driving to California (Los Angeles, mainly) due to far less traffic and congestion. I left Phoenix on Sunday morning around 4am and the drive is mapped as 4-4.5 hours but, I stopped a couple of times so the journey rounded out to about 5 hours total. While in Sin City, I had already planned on playing a round. I mentioned in an earlier blog that I was hoping to get some out of town entries in and here was my opportunity for my first. I also wanted to play the par 3 at the Las Vegas Golf Center, but I had a small emergency back home and I needed to return sooner than planned. Las Vegas has much to offer in golf. If you’re staying in the vicinity of the strip, there is the Golf Center, Bali Hai Golf, and LV National right there. North of Fremont Street there are many other courses ranging from municipal par 3s to big golf resorts.
As I’ve stated in previous blogs, I am cheap. I don’t like spending tons of money on golf, but if it’s a one-time deal, I will shell out some cash. LVNGC’s normal rate is $99. I found a hot deal of $80 on http://www.golfnow.com. I also had a $10 off a hot deal reward to use so my round was $70 and change. LVNGC is about a 3 miles off of the strip. If you are driving north on Las Vegas Boulevard, bang a right at the Encore Hotel (next to the Wynn) and go straight to LV National GC. A very nice cart guy met me in the parking lot to fetch my clubs. He directed me towards check in and already had a small bucket of balls for warm up. The clubhouse is very nice. They have everything for sale as other club houses and the next employee I met to check me in was extremely friendly. Two nice people in a row! Attached to the clubhouse is the Rat Pack bar and grille…..a nod to Deano, Frank, and Sammi. Las Vegas is a very interesting place with decades of history. Lots of good history and lots of the seedy underworld of the mafia. After check in, I was directed to my cart. Next to the clubhouse was a putting green and beyond that was the range. The range was like any other, yet it had a small shack where the starter resided. The shack also had toilets and a snack bar-which I believe was only open on the weekend. I hit a few balls on the range and putted for a bit on the green then it was time to play.
I was matched up with an older gentleman from Oklahoma and a guy from Edmonton that was younger than me. Both men were very nice and good golfers. I’d like to mention that my new Canadian friend was utilizing one of those nifty golf boards. It was his first time and he did well with it but said he was really tired by the end of the day. You use different muscles to control the thing. I don’t know if I could use one. My balance is horrible and I’d probably crash. I’ll stick with the golf cart or walking.
Someone had a metal dinosaur in thier backyard.
We tee’d off in the early afternoon and were on our way. The course was packed that day. The Canadian was in town for business, but said he visits a lot so he had played the course a few times before. The beer cart girl, Candice, knew him by name. She stopped for us at least 4 times. This is the most I’ve ever experienced on any course I have played in the last 3 years. The course is beautiful. The grass is very green and well maintained. I found no flaws in the tee boxes, fairways, or the greens. It is a wonderful municipal/public course. As I mentioned, Las Vegas is full of mafia history. There is a history marker at every tee. Each marker had a factoid about some mob member and which house they lived on or some incident that happened there. A small plane crashed on the first fairway which was recreated in the movie ‘Casino’. We played the first couple of holes as a threesome.
The third hole is a par 3 and we were waiting on a group who was waiting on a group which was waiting on a group….you get the picture. We had a single join up with us as he wasn’t going anywhere fast. He was a UNLV student who was studying Golf Course Management, which was pretty interesting given we were playing. We kept making jokes about he had the best homework ever. My round was going well for the first two holes but it then went right in the crapper starting with hole 3, which is a par 3 over water. I lost 2 balls on this hole, taking the first hit as a mulligan. The rest of my round went no better.
I couldn’t hit a good shot to save my life. I topped the ball. I hit behind the ball. I must have lipped at least 12 putts…..you know….where you putt it directly at the hole, it veers to one side slightly, and the ball ends up rounding the lip of the cup rolling away from the hole. That’s another stroke, people. I don’t play gimmes or ‘pick it up’. I keep an honest handicap (except for the previously mentioned rare mulligan). I had my second bad round in a row. I hit 103 for the day. I’m better than this, but I still enjoyed the course. The day was beautiful, sunny, and the temperature was around 75° at tee off. The course was very crowded that day, yet pace was fine and finished in 4:15 which was posted at the first hole. Since Las Vegas is such a short and easy drive from Phoenix, I plan on going back and getting more rounds in.
Dry Heat Hacker 