Jack’s newest LV design more beauty then beast

Thursday, May 7, 1998 | 9:36 a.m.

Jack Nicklaus has designed more than 140 golf courses around the world, commanding a hefty fee each time his company is enlisted to put the Golden Bear's signature on a piece of property.

But to hear Nicklaus talk, he might have paid the folks at Transcontinental Corporation to design their newest course, Reflection Bay at Lake Las Vegas.

"I think the golf course was a great opportunity for me," Nicklaus said before playing the inaugural round Tuesday on the resort course, which opens for public play on Friday. "And Ron (Boeddeker, Transcontinental Corp. president) didn't pull any punches here, he did not hold me back at all.

"You don't get the opportunity on a body of water such as Lake Las Vegas to be able to do something like this very often. You're given the opportunity to put parts of five holes on that water on a pretty expensive piece of property. That's a pretty special gift to be given to you and a pretty big responsibility."

What Nicklaus was able to create along the north shore of the 320-acre man-made lake is a course he said rivals -- if not surpasses -- his private SouthShore Golf Club which opened at Lake Las Vegas in 1996. SouthShore was named one of the country's top 10 new private courses by Golf Digest magazine.

"I think you're going to find that the golf course here is a little bit more gentle to walk than the golf course on the other side," Nicklaus said of Reflection Bay. "I think it's probably a little longer and stronger golf course and probably a prettier golf course (than SouthShore).

"(Reflection Bay) spans more along the lake and it has more interesting golf shots. I think you will find the average golfer can get around here pretty well; he's going to lose a couple balls in the lake but I don't think he'll ever fill it up."

The 7,261-yard course, the first of three courses to be built on the development's north shore, weaves five holes -- 7, 8 and 9 and 17 and 18 -- along the lake while the interior holes snake through various inland arroyos and canyons.

Being able to use the lake-front property affords Nicklaus a unique opportunity.

"From a land-planning standpoint, (Boeddeker) gave me the lake, in many instances, to be able to utilize and to create something special," Nicklaus said. "The focus is on 7, 8 and 9 on the lake and 17 and 18 are on the lake -- that's quite a few holes on this body of water.

"All golf courses have a pace. When you get to some of the exciting holes, you're set up by the other holes. You've got 17 and 18, very strong holes, on the water but 16, in reverse, is not a hole that stands out to be anything extraordinary; it's a nice, simple golf hole. But because it's a nice, simple golf hole, when you leave that hole and you go to the 17th, all of a sudden you say, 'Wow.'"

Nicklaus said Reflection Bay was designed as a tournament course. Lake Las Vegas officials confirmed that the Wendy's Three-Tour Challenge, an end-of-season charity event featuring players from the PGA Tour, Senior PGA Tour and LPGA Tour, will move from the SouthShore course to Reflection Bay this December.

The centerpiece of the Reflection Bay course will be a 496-room Hyatt Regency Resort, which is scheduled to open in the year 2000. Greens fees for the new resort course will be $150, year-round.