Play Date: 9/29/2020
Post Date: 10/2/2020
Las Vegas Paiute (The Wolf and Sun Mountain)
As part of a road trip from my home town of Jackson Hole, WY down to Sedona, AZ I stopped and met a friend who lives in St. George, UT. Because we have both played all the courses in St. George multiple times over the years we decided we would explore around a but and began deliberation on courses in Mesquite and Las Vegas.
Having already played the infamous Wolf Creek and some of the other courses in the area we expanded our borders a bit more and started looking at courses in Las Vegas. Neither of us particularly wanted to be close to the strip given the current COVID situation and rumors and videos of even more disorderly conduct in downtown Vegas (if that's even possible) than usual. As such, we decided to stay out of the fray and look for courses on the outskirts of town which is when we both noted we had head great things about the Las Vegas Paiute Golf Resort.
I called and made tee-times to play two-of-the-three courses on site and we elected to play The Wolf and Sun Mountain, as Snow Mountain was still closed for their annual over-seeding. While the course was not accepting any twilight tee-times (the last of the day is at 2:00pm) we were able to take advantage of their "Bounce Back" discount which gave us a 20% savings on the second round, which helped sweeten the offer a bit. We elected to play The Wolf on Tuesday evening and Sun Mountain on Wednesday morning and booked a hotel at the nearby Aliante Casino Resort.
We drove down Tuesday afternoon and went straight to the course with about two hours before our 1:57 time. We had heard that the course boasted the largest clubhouse in Nevada and it certainly lived up to that reputation. The golf shop was solid and had a fair amount of cool branded swag and the check-in process was very smooth and friendly.
Given that we had some time to kill I walked over to the large dining area which was directly across the lobby and had a beer and very tasty chicken sandwich, both of which were very reasonably priced. I grabbed two cigars on my way out, and we were off.
The driving range was very large and at first glance I was a bit concerned that the course was going to be very busy given how many people were out making swings. After some warmup and a couple putts we had burned through our extra time and we made our way back towards the clubhouse and in the direction of The Wolf.
We got paired with two older gentlemen, one who was the former Assistant Superintendent at TPC Las Vegas and another gentlemen who was quite friendly and originally from Hawaii. My friend and I (who are both about 12 handicaps) elected to play from the Black tees which played at about 7,000 total yards while our playing partners played up from the Yellow tees which were at about 6,600.
Distance was not and issue and most holes played quite fairly from our tee box. The first several holes were pretty standard desert golf but the course was in excellent condition and in typical Pete Dye fashion there were a fair amount of shots which gave limited views of the target area. While there was nothing wrong with the first set, the first real interesting hole was the Par-5 6th with a large waste area that ran through the fairway and gave me my first solid birdie look of the day.
Hole 8 was a great Par-3 which had a huge waste area off to the right (which I found). The shot from there was nearly 40 feet straight up and I was able to flop a full sand wedge which got me onto the green for a par-look, which I missed, but led to a somewhat fulfilling bogey given the difficulty of my shot off the tee.
Holes 9 and 10 were both solid and hole 11 was a cool par-4 which began a gradual uphill ascent to the following holes which were the most interesting on the course. Hole #12 was a great par-3 over water and with a large bunker on the front of the green and hole #14 was a great par-4 which forced a well-placed drive to avoid both water and a waste area close to the green.
The anticipation also began to build as we began getting a clearer sight on the Wolf's signature hole, the par-3 15th, which is an island green somewhat reminiscent of TPC Sawgrass, also designed by Dye. The hole itself plays fair and the contrast of water against the green grass, sloped green, and desert mountain backdrop gives reason to marvel for a minute on the tee, the approach, and walking to the green itself.
Just as impressive, is the following par-4 16th which uses the same water to create a challenging par-4 in which you must carry a decent ways to find the fairway. The hole works upwards and by the time you reach the green there are some great panoramic views of the undeveloped land leading up to the mountains in the distance.
17 is another fun par-4 which tempts you (successfully in my case) to hit a long and straight drive to carry the two waste areas that cut across the fairway.
18 is every bit as spectacular as any other hole on the course and given that the sun was setting right around this time, this also created the most photo worthy moments as the bright pink colors reflected off the dynamic levels of the mountain range in the distance (as seen in photo).
Overall score: 9.2/10
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Sun Mountain
Play Date: 9/30/2020
After a night of gambling at the casino we wondered if Sun Mountain would be able to hold up to our prior night's great experience and were quite pleased with this experience as well.
Having learned a few things from the prior day we decided to head to the course early to make sure we could ease the light hangover from the night before and knew that the dining and facilities would handle our needs. The pro-shop attendant remembered us from the day before which was a nice touch and without even asking he confirmed that we would be entitled to the "Bounce Back" discount which was appreciated.
I ordered a spicy Bloody Mary from the bar which was quite tasty and my friend and I headed back to the range to get a few swings in before going out. As we pulled up to the range, once again it was pretty busy and I worried a bit about whether the course would be playing slow. Nonetheless, I squeezed into one of the only open spots and as I walked up it was hard not to notice to the player who was hitting next to me who, based on appearance and stature, almost had to be a pro athlete. I hit a few shots and my friend followed over and we alternated taking turns with a few select clubs until we felt sufficiently warmed up and ready to hit the course for round two.
After speaking briefly with the Starter we were pleasantly surprised to find out that we would be playing with two other players, one of which was the suspected athlete from the range. We all introduced ourselves and everyone seemed very friendly and after hitting our drives we drove off the first tee box guessing what the dynamic was.
Everyone had their fair share of good shots and as we made our way through the first few holes everyone began opening up a bit. We came to find out that our playing partner had previously played in the NBA and was now a Las Vegas resident who sold real estate in his fittingly named hoopstohomes agency. Our fourth had recently relocated from the east coast and it became clear that it was going to be a pretty social and fun round of joking around and trash talking at least as much as focusing on playing well, as they had both played together in the past and had a friendly scoring competition going.
The first real interesting hole of the day was the par-3 4th which required a precise iron shot over water into an angled, and not so deep, green. The tee shot from #5 came back across the same water and hole #6 was the first sign of Pete Dye's signature railroad track bunkers which created quite a cool optic as the angled out the front bank almost like sunrays against the bright green grass.
Hole #7 was a reachable par-5 and yielded my best results of the either round as I dropped my drive out of the hazard but absolutely laced my 5-wood to a couple feet. I sank my birdie (which would have been an eagle without the drop) and notched only my second birdie for both me and my friend for either round. Hole 8 was a challenging par-3 and as we made the turn the priority seemed to have shifted from joking, trash-talking, and our beverages at least as much as golf.
In complete transparency there was a series of somewhat non-descript holes after the turn (the heat and drinks may not have helped) but the next real interesting hole was the par-4 15th which had a series of bunkers that ran through the middle of the hole up towards the green. 17 was a bit of a tricky par-3 but the 18th was a very solid finish which led us back towards the clubhouse along a well sloped fairway that ran up against the water.
A little fatigue may have set in after two rounds in two days, the Vegas heat, and a nursed hangover but the Sun Mountain course was still very solid. While I personally liked The Wolf a bit more (especially because of the back-9) my friend actually preferred Sun Mountain more which shows how subjective these reviews can be. Nonetheless, I highly recommend both courses, especially when trying to stay out of the city, to get some good desert views, good value, great course conditions, and some challenging and fun holes.
Overall Score: 9.1/10
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