Only in Vegas

It was a cool October evening on Freemont Street in downtown Las Vegas, and I was enjoying an ever-so-tasty post round brew at a great outdoor pub, while quietly tallying up how many times I could exclaim “Only in Vegas!” in 10 minute span.

For those of you who don’t know, Freemont Street is arguably one of the most famous of locales in Vegas, better known as Glitter Gulch, or the nickname of old town, downtown Las Vegas. This one-of-a-kind street is widely known for its uncanny mass of light bulbs lining virtually five city blocks, and a portion of the street is completely enshrouded by Viva Vision, the world’s largest video screen, which spans over 500 yards, has more than 12 million LED light modules . To really get the Vegas party going a 500,000 watt sound system pumps out classic rock tunes complete with choreographed video shows, hands-down an “Only in Vegas” sight.

Glitter Gulch has been made famous by numerous movies, and stories and it’s an exciting place to hang out with over 15 casinos, a handful of restaurants and clubs all within an easy walk of each other. This wild street attracts people from all over the world, which makes it perhaps one of the finest people watching locales I have ever seen.  The night I enjoyed Glitter Gulch, it seemed especially interesting since it was near Halloween. In a very short time, my I counted a total of sixteen “Only in Vegas!” claims of various intriguing sights and I won’t go into specific detail, but they were downright eye-popping, and filed with oh-my’s and ya-gotta-be-kiddin’ me’s by the time my 10 minute test was complete.

Vegas’ is truly a one-of-a-kind city, and you can still find the 19.99 cheap hotel room and 2.99 all-you-can-eat buffets if you are daring enough to experience them. However, many of the bargain basement deals Vegas once advertised are now vastly overshadowed by some of the finest, most elaborate resort hotels in the entire world, complete with every imaginable amenity, culinary experience, and entertainment option you could possibly need all within one resort. With that said, one can draw comparison from the resort and entertainment side, to the massive menu of golf Las Vegas dishes up.

Golfers have a kaleidoscope of choices, and one could select from affordable, player friendly tracks, to ultra-lavish, over-the-top, fantasy themed courses, and for those willing to shell out the cash,  Vegas also has a few of finest golf experiences in the entire world, guaranteed to earn an “Only in Vegas” shout or two. Luckily, for those of us that do have budget constraints, currently there are there are enough quality and affordable options within thirty minutes of the strip to keep a golfer happy for weeks, and if you added in the course within an hour. You would be busy for months.

A Little Over-The-Top Please

In the late 80’s and 90’s, Vegas grew quickly and so did the number of golf courses. The hills around the city literally exploded with golf developments, and every major golf architect on the planet was crafting courses in the area. With the city of Las Vegas booming and gaming popular as ever, a fortunate scenario presented for one virtually bankrupt poker player from Kentucky named Billy Walters.

Walters came to Las Vegas basically broke, but used his best poker face and a keen business sense into becoming one of the most successful professional gamblers ever, and a true modern day Vegas icon, and did I mention he loved to play golf?

Walters took his personal flair and passion for the game of golf, and broke ground on Desert Pines Golf Club with a wild idea based around the theme of a course from the Carolina Sand Hills. It was a perfect “Only in Vegas” idea, especially since it was located on a barren 80 acre parcel only a mile from downtown Las Vegas.

In 1996, Desert Pines Golf Club opened to rave reviews, despite the extremely limited space they had to work with. A masterful job was done by the Dye Designs creating the Carolina Sand Hills look, and creating fun, interesting holes which flow nicely without feeling cramped. They used a combination of massive amounts of dirt to shape the holes, and planted thousands of tall pines to line each fairway, providing excellent separation from the other holes. Of course, the work also included a few railroad tie bunkers to put a signature Dye family stamp on the golf course.

Walters apparently was not finished with themed golf ideas for the Vegas golf scene. In 1997, construction began on Royal Links Golf Club, again with Dye Designs at the helm for the construction and design. This time however, the theme called for “Famous holes from British Open venues” to be created on another completely flat, barren piece of Vegas land. "Only in Vegas”, is what I can imagine the architects may have said, when Billy told him what he wanted to do with this time.

The links-style course features cool golf holes “inspired” by eleven different British Open rotation courses, including the “Road Hole” and famous features like “Hell Bunker” from the old course at St. Andrews. Once again, the talented sons of legendary architect Pete Dye were able to create phenomenal features and landforms reminiscent of those in the British Isles. One hole in particular is quite similar to the original, the simple 123 yard par 3 named “Postage Stamp” from Royal Troon, is complete with the 15 yard wide green you need to land on, and also the  5 coffin-like pot bunkers which been measured at almost 7 feet deep on the front left bunker. You go in that sucker, and you’re dead.

In 2000, Walters was back at it with yet another idea for a themed course, but this one was bigger and better of course, and this time brought in golf architects Lee Schmidt and Brian Curly to create a lavish top notch golf experience located right on the Strip themed like a South Pacific Resort, named after famous the Indonesian land of enchantment called Bali Hai. This is a perfect time for a “Only in Vegas” mention, as the incredibly lush grounds of the property include seven-acres of water features, a total of 4,000 trees including 2,500 towering palms and 100,000 tropical plants, and on top of all of that, the transition areas are accented with bright white sand and black volcanic rock outcroppings. 

The Cream of The Crop

One thing about Las Vegas is they sure have hyped up the VIP status in just about every aspect.  It’s a superb marketing strategy which has worked perfectly to create a sense of envy, coolness and exclusivity that Vegas’ has become in the eyes of the public. At one time in Vegas there were a couple golf courses that were ultra VIP, there was no membership, and no green fee, you just had to be “on the list” to play. In the past few years, two of what I think are arguably the best golf experiences in the country, if not the world, are now available for public play. 

Cascata is one course that truly epitomize the “Only in Vegas” exclamation, I could spend another 2000 words on each property and still not be able to convey what this special golf course can do to an avid golfer.