Where to Play Golf During Your Next Las Vegas Golf Vacation

Sin City, home to the world famous Vegas strip, has been depicted by famous novelists, showcased in acclaimed films and celebrated by celebrities. Amid all the opulence and grandeur, golf is quietly picking up the pace on the way to being labeled as the famous city's newest notable attraction.

Las Vegas has hosted professional golf tournaments for years, notably the Las Vegas Invitational at the Tournament Players Club Summerlin which just so happens to be the site of Tiger Woods' first PGA TOUR victory in 1996. Musician Justin Timberlake now finds his name attached to the event titled the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open scheduled to take place this October during the Tour's fall series.  All three major professional tours visit Vegas annually for the Wendy's 3-Tour challenge.

The golf boom in Las Vegas has left the area ripe with choices for a round. Southern Nevada is now home to 64 public or semi-private golf courses and 14 private courses.

Thanks to world-class designers like Jack Nicklaus, Tom Weiskopf, Billy Casper, Arnold Palmer, Pete Dye, Tom Fazio, Rees Jones and Robert Trent Jones, Jr. the quality of the Las Vegas layouts cannot be disputed.

While these courses may no longer fit into the category of the best-kept secrets in the game, they certain qualify for most unique and unpredictable.

Bali Hai Golf Club is located at the southern end of the Las Vegas strip and delivers an island feel with towering trees and sparkling green fairways accented by white crushed granite. Only in Vegas will your approach shot require blocking out the images of the shimmering Mandalay Bay and famous MGM Grand off in the distance.

The Legacy Golf Club is certainly one of a kind. The Arthur Hills-designed facility features tee boxes on the 10^th hole that are in the shape of every suit in a deck of cards: spades, clubs, diamonds and hearts.

Reflection Bay Golf Club gives visitors a chance to walk in the footsteps of the professionals they watch every week. The 7,261-yard, par-72 award-winning course is the first public resort golf course in Nevada that was personally designed by Jack Nicklaus and is the host course to the nationally televised Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge.

Bear's Best, designed by golf legend Jack Nicklaus, is similar to a compilation album produced by one of the many rock star visitors Vegas attracts. Bear's Best offers 18 replicas of Nicklaus' finest holes currently at courses from Montana to Mexico. Bear's Best Las Vegas is home to a clubhouse that features Jack's Place, where photos, plaques and other memorabilia from Nicklaus' legendary career are displayed.

The landscapes on these courses are as varied as their visitors.

Some Vegas offerings are rugged terrains nestled among canyons and cliffs while others are links-style layouts are reminiscent of past sites of The Open Championship. Most offer panoramic views of the beautiful surroundings and dramatic water hazards. Fairways are typically lined with palm trees and tropical plants to remind you that this may in fact be paradise.

Golf in Las Vegas can be both a challenging and relaxing experience that is well worth the trip alone.

The one downside of golfing in Las Vegas is that greens fees can be a bit steep, typically costing over one-hundred dollars per person for almost any course. For more reasonable prices, golf packages or inclusive golf resorts are your best bet.

When planning to golf here, the winter season is an option worth exploring when it comes to price and weather. From November to February there are fewer visitors, extreme summer temperatures aren't an issue and rates tend to be a bit cheaper at the courses and hotels.