Travel + Leisure magazine just announced survey results ranking Las Vegas as the most popular summer destination in the United States. But while that is in large part because of the city’s over-the-top pool scene, both leisure and business travel to Sin City is a year-round passion—as is golf. There has been steady post-pandemic growth, with nearly 41 million visitors last year, approaching the all-time 2016 tourism record. Whether you are headed to Vegas now or in cooler weather, for a vacation, a bachelor/bachelorette party, concert, sporting event or convention, if you play golf, you just might want to carve out some extra time, because the city has some exceptional courses.

Like food, hotel rooms, drinks and just about everything else in Las Vegas, the golf runs from sub-par to good to world-class, and from surprisingly reasonable to shockingly expensive. And like most other aspects of the city, it varies wildly based on when you visit, with peak season from October–May and the in between hotter months heavily discounted. Early morning tee times are the priciest and most courses discount “twilight” rates, which can begin as early as noon at some times of the year. Surge pricing, last minute liquidation, and a bewildering array of peak, off-peak, semi-peak and replay rates make pricing confusing, and in addition, there are numerous online tee time booking companies, resellers, the courses themselves and discounted stay and play packages—offered by both golf clubs and hotels.

In general, I’ve found the best advance rates for a single round typically come via individual course websites, but if you are flexible there are several last-minute discounters, using surge pricing to dump excess demand as far as three days out and up to the same day. One of the most reliable and easiest to use is the NBC/Golf Channel’s GolfNow.

VIP Golf Services is a local concierge company for more serious muti-day golf itineraries, including transportation and increasing discounts for the more courses you combine (at least two). They also have an excellent array of reasonably priced rental clubs (many brands), delivered to your hotel even if you don’t book through them, along with rental extras from golf shoes to rangefinders.

Very little Vegas golf is at traditional golf resorts, and most of the good courses are standalone, with the notable exception of Wynn Las Vegas, the only hotel with golf on the Strip, though you don’t have to stay at Wynn to play it. For those seeking a more traditional non-Vegas golf resort feel, the upscale JW Marriott in suburban Summerlin has a stay and play partnership with the immediately adjacent TPC Las Vegas, one of the best, and several other courses within 10 minutes.

Shadow Creek, the city’s most exclusive course, is strictly limited to guests of MGM Resorts properties, but there are a ton of those at many different price points. Regardless of where you fall on the luxury spectrum, the greens fees are very likely going to be more than your room cost. MGM also has a special arrangement with private club DragonRidge, but other than these two you can stay anywhere you want and play anywhere you want.

There are also more “fun golf” options in Vegas than anyplace else on the planet, including the world’s largest Top Golf facility, attached to the MGM Grand. A new rival, the 100,000 square foot Atomic Golf, with six bars, just opened (first quarter 2024) at the north end of the Strip next to the Strat. The Vegas outpost of PopStroke, a national chain of which Tiger Woods is part-owner and course designer, just opened its off the Strip location in the popular retail and dining Town Square neighborhood. The family friendly concept is two elaborate putting courses, sort of mini-golf on steroids, plus lawn games, restaurant, cocktails and craft beer. The Rio is home to KISS World Mini Golf, a glow-in-the-dark layout themed on the famous rock band, decorated with Kiss props, next to a KISS museum and rock n roll wedding chapel. The new Horseshoe Casino resort (formerly Bally’s), a Caesars Strip property, has Twilight Zone by Monster Mini-Golf, with two glow in the dark sci-fi/horror themed 18-hole courses.

Angel Park, an actual golf course near the airport (and the Strip) has the Devine Nine, a larger than life putting course with natural grass, water hazards, rock outcroppings, bunkers and dogleg fairways, that is lighted for night play, as well as Cloud 9, a short course with 12 replicas of famous Par-3 holes from around the world, such as the Island Green from TPC Sawgrass and the Postage Stamp from Scotland’s Royal Troon. It was one of the first lighted golf courses in the world—and has beverage cart service of course.

This fall will see the grand opening of Swinger’s Club Las Vegas, “A $50 million mini-golf course for adults,” in Mandalay Bay. A boozy brand out of the UK, Swingers is already in London, New York, Washington, DC and Dubai but Vegas will be its flagship location, with five “English countryside” and “Country house” themed courses, lots of drinks and bars, food and DJs, spanning 40,000 square feet.

But back to real golf. These are the best golf courses in Las Vegas, in order, in my very informed opinion. I have been writing on and ranking golf courses and resorts around the world for 30 years (Golf Magazine, Travel + Leisure Golf, The Golf Insider, LINKS Magazine, USA Today, and many others), but have been especially busy in Las Vegas. The ranking below incldues factors in addition to the pure quality of the course itself, such as service and the experience, conditions, setting and location. (I am not including Mesquite, over an hour from the city, which has eight courses, small casinos and some excellent golf, especially highly rated Wolf Creek, and some might make the drive).

Shadow Creek

This one is a no brainer, as Shadow Creek is not just the best course in Las Vegas, it’s one of the best in the world and the highest ranked in Nevada, by a wide margin. Currently Golf Digest has it on Number Five on America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses, and it’s also Top 10 on Golfweek’s list (at Number eight). Golf Digest also ranks it Best in the State and puts it on its global list of Top 100 Courses in the World, public or private—the most elite ranking in golf. But while these rankings consider the architecture and the course itself, they don’t get to the experience of playing Shadow Creek, which is far superior to that of any other public course in this country. If you gave me the choice tomorrow of playing top rated Pebble Beach Golf Links or Shadow Creek (both of which I have played multiple times), I’d take Shadow Creek. Almost all of the other high-priced golf courses in this country (let’s say north of $3-$400) take the factory golf approach of collecting as many greens fees—and additional fees—as they can, resulting in slow rounds and often mediocre conditions.

Shadow Creek, in a dramatically different tact, takes a “King for the Day,” approach to its guests. Tee times are very limited and a minimum of 30-minutes apart. The course is heavily wooded so that you rarely can see another hole from the one you are playing, and in the times I have played there, I have never seen another group on the course. Pace of play is however you feel, conditions are immaculate, all players get one of the best trained caddies in the business and the carts have coolers stocked with complimentary beverages. Greens fees include roundtrip limo transfers from whatever MGM property you are staying at (you cannot arrive at Shadow Creek in your own car or by taxi) and it’s a truly special experience. The course is Tom Fazio’s best, and widely believed to have been the most expensive ever built at the time ($38 million and it opened in 1989). It was considered an engineering marvel, with hundreds of tall, fully mature trees transported and replanted in the desert, massive earth moving and the first course to be completely sodded rather than seeded. The result is a parkland-style course in the Nevada desert that looks like it should be in the Carolina mountains, with streams tumbling over boulders, large elevation changes, and fairways flanked by forests of towering pine trees. It is completely unlike anything else in the region. The three finishing holes are spectacular, and it is gorgeous and fun to play.

It also has the highest greens fees in the country, and these have been increased repeatedly in recent years to the current jaw dropping $1,250. It’s only open to the paying public Monday–Thursday, with weekends reserved for “invited guests,” who are comped and don’t pay anything to play here.

By any standards that’s a lot for golf, but at the end of the day it’s not the most expensive public round, it just has the highest greens fees. That’s because while you have to stay at an MGM property (excluding Excalibur) you can usually do that for under $200 (often well under) if you choose something at the bottom of the heap, with New York-New York the best of the cheaper qualifying properties. Rooms here were just all redone, and when I just checked online, it has rates in the $50s and $80s per night next week). Other resorts that require staying onsite charge less for golf but much more for lodging, and there’s probably no great golf course in the country that offers associated hotel rooms available for less. Of course, if you choose the Forbes 5-Star Skylofts, 5-Star Sky Suites at Aria, or the even tonier Mansion at MGM, you’ll pay accordingly.

According to Golf Magazine, while Pebble Beach greens fees are “only” $625 (plus extra for a cart and more for a caddie), they have a minimum stay requirement of two nights with rooms “starting at” $920, for a lowest cost of $2,465 for one, or more realistically $3,090 for two, while Shadow Creek would be under $1,400 and $2,650 respectively. According to Golf Monthly, the second highest greens fees in this country are TPC Sawgrass at $920, and while Shadow Creek costs 30% more, it is much more than 30% better.

But the bottom line is that if you love golf and can afford to play Shadow Creek, you should, it’s Bucket List stuff for sure, and if you can’t well then, the decision is irrelevant. If you gamble enough to get comped, which is the case with many who play here, greens fees are the last of your financial concerns.

Cascata

After the groundbreaking success of Shadow Creek, Wynn (later MGM) competitors needed their own VIP layout for high rollers, and the result was the even more expensive Cascata, again said to be the costliest ever built at the time. But despite its one-of-a-kind setting and high fun factor, it never enjoyed the kind of exclusive cache and popularity Shadow Creek achieved, and was sold by Caesars Entertainment, along with sister Las Vegas desert course Rio Secco to a small golf management company that is now a subsidiary of Canada’s wildly successful high-end golf resort group, the Cabot Collective, with numerous Top 100 courses.

Cascata is still very much worth seeking out for its unique design. Architect Rees Jones blasted large parcels of a rocky mountain and built the holes in narrow, parallel finger canyons emanating from the summit, with self-contained fairways running up and down the rocky slopes. Sitting in the canyons, most holes are completely isolated from one another by the rocky slopes, dramatically contrasted by the lush green grass. Jones focused on the especially dramatic par-3s, built in front of amphitheater cliffs and waterfalls. This is Vegas, so they also built a 40-story waterfall that pours through the marble Italian palazzo–style clubhouse (Cascata is Italian for waterfall). You can pair Cascata with Rio Secco (see after note below) for a two-day discounted package.

Las Vegas Paiute Golf

The Las Vegas Paiute tribe owns a great parcel of land outside the city, and instead of building a hotel or casino or shopping mall, way back in 1996 they developed it into the city’s finest “pure golf” facility, with three first-rate 18-hole courses—all by the late, great Pete Dye, one of the most awarded golf architects of all time.

The 54-holes are carved from the desert with nothing else in sight, no casinos or homes, just a fabulous clubhouse, nature, and the three eighteens. The signature course is the infamously challenging Wolf, the longest in Nevada at 7,604-yards from the tips. It’s long but another challenge is water, as it has a true island green par-3 homage to the original one that was invented by Dye at TPC Sawgrass. The Wolf is a must for better players, but most amateurs will have more fun on Snow Mountain and Sun Mountain. All three are usually in great shape, and all have been ranked in Nevada’s’ Top 15 by Golfweek and rated 4.5-Stars by Golf Digest. It’s the collective multiple courses that elevate Paiute so high on this list, especially since they offer various multiple play, unlimited play and discounted replay options. If you have 36-holes in your wheelhouse, this is the place, as they often run a heavily discounted “Golfapalooza” special that includes lunch in between rounds, but you can also come back the next day and still get a discount.

It’s great golf, but it is also one of the best values in town, especially if you are playing more than 18. They also partner with MGM Resorts for stay and play packages.

Wynn Golf Club

Steve Wynn was the original innovator behind Shadow Creek, and after he sold it along with the Bellagio and Mirage to MGM Resorts, he brought back his favorite designer, Tom Fazio, to do a Shadow Creek-esque course on the Strip for his new Wynn Las Vegas casino resort, on the site of the former Desert Inn course. Built in 2005, the course was closed to make way for a waterpark in 2017 and was half demolished before the casino board changed their mind. Wynn Golf Club was rebuilt by Fazio with eight new and ten revamped holes and a new routing and reopened in 2019. The really big appeal here is location, in the heart of the Strip, the only resort on Las Vegas Boulevard with golf, super convenient if you are staying at Wynn, and within walking distance of Resorts World and the Venetian (Wynn guests get preferential tee time booking up to 90 days in advance).

The course has hosted The Match, the celebrity and PGA Tour (and LIV Tour) made for TV competitions. It is also a totally first-class operation, from the pro shop to the lavish locker rooms and attendants to the maintenance to the available forecaddies, beautiful with luxury flair and prices to match—more than Pebble Beach before the lodging (see Shadow Creek above for a detailed cost comparison). But the footprint of the course is small, so the result is a fairly comp0pact 18-hole par-70 layout with an unusual six par-3s. Like Shadow Creek, there was a ton of earth moving and it has surprising amount of elevation change and the signature boulder strewn creeks. It’s a fun and playable course, not one where you lose a lot of balls. It also helps you get your Vegas on, with something you won’t see anyplace else: the signature hole is the long (up to 249-yards!) par-3 eighteenth over water, with a manmade 35-foot-tall by 100-foot-wide waterfall behind the green and a tunnel through it you drive your cart inside of for a dramatic end to the round.

The course is very expensive and a true luxury to play, and part of that luxury is walking down from your room to the pro-shop, something you cannot do anyplace else in or around Las Vegas. It also holds a special place in my heart, because on opening day in 2019 I was the first person ever to birdie the signature eighteenth, and always will be, at least until they build another course on top of this one.

Coyote Springs Golf Club

Consistently a Las Vegas best-value, Coyote Springs is also simply one of the best golf courses in Nevada. It was developed by the PGA of America in 2008 and was immediately named Best New U.S. Public Course of the year by Links Magazine. Rave reviews continued, Coyote Springs was also a Top 10 New Course in both Golf Magazine and Golf Digest. It is a Jack Nicklaus Signature course with a lot of rock-lined water features, including 11 lakes and dramatic creeks, but also captures the desert environment with sandy waste areas. It shares some DNA with the Nicklaus-designed Reflection Bay at Lake Las Vegas, which used to be a marquee area layout but declined, and Coyote Springs is a better option. Nicklaus’ trademark is a memorable finish, on water when possible, and he does that here, with the last four holes curving around lakes. The only caveat is that it’s the furthest course on this list from town.

DragonRidge Country Club

This is one of the top private clubs in the city, but DragonRidge has a special arrangement with MGM resorts—sort of like Shadow Creek, only cheaper (much). MGM’s golf concierge can book it for guests of all its hotels (including round-trip car service, or you can rent or Uber/Lyft). It was designed by desert specialist Jay Morrish (Troon North, Troon CC, Forest Highlands, TPC Las Colinas, etc.) and named one of the nation’s best new private clubs by Golf Digest when it opened in 2001. DragonRidge is most famous for the way iconic sections of the Las Vegas skyline are framed behind several greens, and it typically has among the best conditions of the courses you can play around the city.

TPC Las Vegas

The Tournament Players Clubs, or TPC, network, was created by and is owned by the PGA, and began with the so-called “stadium courses,” specifically designed to host tournaments and spectators. The network has grown around the world, but the vast majority, including nearby TPC Summerlin, which hosts a PGA Tour stop, are private. But TPC Las Vegas (formerly TPC Canyons) is one of the few public exceptions, and was designed by Bobby Weed and Ray Floyd. In the past, it hosted the Las Vegas Invitational and the Michelob Championship. It is a tough and relatively unforgiving yet well-designed desert course, with significant elevation changes and holes that play over canyons, with plenty of opportunities to lose balls in the desert. But while it is most appealing to the better player, it does offer six sets of tees with greatly varied options by ability, and all the facilities are first-rate. TPC Las Vegas has a longstanding partnership and packages with the adjacent JW Marriott Summerlin, a first rate luxury property, as well as several Strip resorts.

Las Vegas Golf Club

Still a great area bargain, even though in recent years the Las Vegas Golf Club has have pumped $5 million in renovations and improvements into the course, the first and oldest in Las Vegas. Legendary Golden Era designer William Bell laid it out in 1938, and it’s been locally popular ever since. It is welcoming to less skilled golfers with wide fairways and little in the way of penal hazards or significant trouble.

Angel Park Golf Club

Angel Park’s courses are solid but unremarkable, and what it lacks in the way of standout design it makes up for with quantity and enthusiasm. This—and an especially convenient location near the airport and Strip—have helped make it one of the most successful public golf facilities in the entire United States. The par-70 Palm Course and par-71 Mountain course are both solid Arnold Palmer designs, and Angel Park also has other golf attractions. The grass putting course predates—by a long time—the current trend for these, a craze that just about every top resort is embracing. The Cloud Nine short course has replicas of 12 famous par-3 holes from around the world, like the Postage Stamp at Royal Troon, and these are lit for night play. It’s a boisterous and very locally popular facility.

Final Thoughts & Othe Notables

Any Top 10 list is going to disappoint the course on the bubble, and if I had 11 spots the last would go to Rio Secco Golf Club, one of the best (and closest) desert-style courses, designed by Rees Jones, who also did sister course Cascata, both now subsidiaries of the Cabot Collective (see above).

Years ago, Reflection Bay would have been in the middle of this list, but the last time I visited, the facility had gone significantly downhill, and it has a convoluted routing that starts with an especially weak opening hole, significantly reducing the quality of the experience.

Besides Wynn, Bali Hai is the only other golf course directly on the Strip, and its location is a big draw, one that does not require a pricy cab ride or rental car. The tropical themed course has 7-acres of water features including a dramatic island green. Its flair and convenient location keep it popular among visitors.

Bear’s Best is a tribute to Jack Nicklaus (the Golden Bear) by Jack Nicklaus, with re-creations of his handpicked 18 holes from designs elsewhere. Some golfers love it, but while there are a couple of standouts, especially those from Montana’s Old Works Golf Course, I felt most didn’t really fit the desert landscape.

Golf history buffs and Tiger Woods fans might want to tee it up at Las Vegas National, a course that has hosted the Tournament of Champions, the Sahara Invitational, and the Ladies’ Sahara Classic. Most notably, Tiger Woods won his very first PGA Tour event here before becoming the first or second greatest player in history depending on your opinion. The course was also the golf setting of the hit movie Casino.

The Revere Golf Club is another one close to the cut, with two quality eighteens, Lexington and Concord, both designed by Billy Casper and Greg Nash. It’s solid golf, often at a very good price, and a great value proposition for a 36-hole day.