Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Pair of golf courses set to open in LV valley

A blind tee shot followed by a blind approach shot on the 12th hole will lead those fortunate enough to play The Falls Golf Club to a rewarding, and stunning, view of the Las Vegas Valley.

"It's a dramatic view of The Strip," said John Herndon, director of golf at Lake Las Vegas Resort. "It's like nothing else around here, in terms of dramatic elevation changes and views. It's what the course will be noted for."

Durango Hills Golf Club, the other Las Vegas course that will be officially unveiled to the public this weekend, should also attract some considerable attention.

The green fees at Durango Hills will be about $200 less than The Falls, but it is a par-3 course. It is also the first golf course in the nation to be completely approved by the American Disabilities Act.

Curved walkways are only a few of the amenities that will allow the disabled, even those in wheelchairs, to play an enjoyable round of golf.

"You and I, the general public, won't notice it, but the sand traps are even built to allow motorized carts in them," said City Councilman Larry Brown, who has been working on bringing a new public golf course to the northwest area of the city for four years.

"I think it's going to be as unique a golf course as you will find, certainly in Las Vegas and definitely in the Southwest. People will be very excited about it. A course was created on a flat piece of desert that has hills, some dog legs and some challenging holes."

The Falls should find itself on a few "best-of" lists quickly. It has been open since Sept. 25, but its official debut is Saturday morning, when Tom Weiskopf is scheduled to smack the first ceremonial tee shot.

Weiskopf stopped playing the PGA Tour full-time 20 years ago, and the former British Open champion has said he would like to be remembered more for his work as a course designer than for anything he accomplished with a club in his hands.

He and co-designer Jay Moorish are the architects of two of Golf Digest's Top 100 courses. The addition of The Falls with two Jack Nicklaus-designed courses will make Lake Las Vegas a hot destination.

"This is a great course," Herndon said. "It has been integrated into the natural topography, and it will be noted for some of the holes on the back (nine). This really helps position the Lake Las Vegas Resort as a major golf destination."

The Falls is a par-72, 7,250-yard layout that surrounds the entrance of the resort. A waterfall flows down the peak of a mountain and into rock-edged pools along the 17th hole's fairway and green.

The spectacular par-5, 553-yard 12th is the first of three consecutive holes that Herndon believes will make The Falls distinctive.

The 13th is a par-4, 388-yard hole that plays from an elevated tee to a narrow, dog-leg right fairway. The green, a 160-foot elevation drop, is only visible through a natural rock arch in the mountainside. The par-4, 336-yard 14th plays back down a hill.

Weiskopf calls the course "memorable." Green fees for the general public will cost $200, and the weekend Friday-Saturday-Sunday rate increases by $25.

The fees at Durango Hills are $25 during the week, with a cart fee of $10 and an out-of-state stipend of $5 to $10. Seniors and juniors can play for $15-$18 during the week. Weekend and holiday rates will increase $5.

In addition to using treated water from a nearby resource facility, the city-issued bonds that fueled the building of the course will be repaid from its revenues.

Brown and his staff also executed some tricky negotiations with the Federal Bureau of Land Management, which owns most of the Durango Hills land and has strict guidelines for its usage.

The course officially opens Saturday at 6 a.m., but Brown will participate in a media preview Friday. He will play in a foursome that will include John Chambers, the city's wheelchair-bound manager of adaptive recreation.

"It's not that we'll get every handicapped or wheelchair-bound golfer here, but it certainly is an opportunity," Brown said. "You have to see it. It's absolutely beautiful. Everyone involved in the project did a great job."

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