My Quest to Check Off Golf's Best Experiences
The Golf Bucket List
I'm not going to promote Wolf Creek as the greatest golf course in the world, but I am going to say I'm very glad we made the drive from Las Vegas to cheek it out. It's absolutely worth seeing. It's not natural, it's not walkable, and it's got a couple less than stellar holes, but it's an incredible collection of visual amazement. The contrasts of greens and browns and blues were incredible and gorgeous. It's easy to see why EA Sports wanted Wolf Creek to be a part of their video games, because it's almost too amazing to be true, and has a feel of fantasy golf in spots. One last comment I'll make, and complement I'll give, is that the service at Wolf Creek was fantastic. We couldn't have been treated better and felt more welcome. The gentleman in the clubhouse gladly gave us a free yardage book to help us out and the starter was equally welcoming and friendly.
After finishing our round, we took advantage of a 2-for-1 draft beer deal in the clubhouse with some of the other golfers. There's no better taste than a cold beer after a round of golf. After that, it was back to the bright lights of Vegas to finish our trip.
#18, 295 Yards, Par 4
Much like the 9th, this is a short uphill hole that returns to the clubhouse, and certainly gives you the chance to finish strong. It's not exactly the quality of the short par 4 last holes at Olympic or Inverness, but it's a decent finisher that goes counter to some of the typical long par 4 ball-busters that some courses finish with. The long shadows sure gave this one a cool look.
#17, 527 Yards, Par 5
If #14 isn't the signature hole, it would be second to #17. A reachable downhill par 5 with a last second bend to the left and over water. I sure didn't have the guts to go at the green with a fairway wood due to all of the trouble around it. It was a layup and a flip wedge into the green for me. A great looking hole.
#16, 377 Yards, Par 4
After the miserable 15th, the reward is a pretty cool drive off of the 16th. The only drawback is that 16 and 17 both go toward the setting sun, so my photos didn't look that great. This tee shot is partially blind and must carry a canyon to stay safe. There's more room to the right than you'd think. The green is fronted by their interpretation of a lion's mouth bunker.
#15, 116 Yards, Par 3
In my opinion, this is a pretty bad hole. It's nothing more than a connector from the cool 14th, to the cool tee shot on the 16th. That happens from time to time, so it's somewhat forgivable to have a connector hole, but as the 15th hole, I'd say it's pretty unforgivable. It's just a sand wedge downhill. What makes it even stranger is the awkward angle into the green and the fact that you hit your shot over where you park your cart. Just a weird hole that I didn't like at all.
#14, 370 Yards, Par 4
They call this one their signature hole, or at least their most photographed hole. It is definitely sharp off the tee, with good mounding in the fairway that splits it in half. Keeping your ball on the right side is the play on both shots at the 14th. Hitting it left will be well-punished. The green was a little too small and narrow for me on a hole with trouble all around, but the challenge sure made it interesting.
#13, 341 Yards, Par 4
All you can see off the tee is the layup zone. There is a bit more room out to the right than you can see. I flared a high slice that I thought would be with the snakes, but it ended up in the middle of the fairway. So, apparently you can hit it right and get away with it? Or maybe I was just ridiculously lucky. The green is pretty hard from back to front, so staying below the hole is important.
#12, 544 Yards, Par 5
A downhill bender to the left. Beware, especially on the second shot, the ground close to the pond slopes to the pond, so you'll want to aim your layup further right than you might think. The only bunkers here are on the far side of the pond. This green is 55 yards deep, so yardage to the pin is important to get it close.
#11, 193 Yards, Par 3
A beautiful par 3. It was probably my favorite view on the course. The hole plays well downhill, so it plays probably 20 yards or so shorter than the distance on the card. If you're going to miss, right is the preferred side to miss.
#10, 446 Yards, Par 4
The second nine starts strong with this long par 4. From the Champions Tee, it takes a good drive to even reach the fairway. My wife had a 230 yards advantage from the forward tees! The fairway is split down the middle with a line of rough and offers a lower level to the left and a higher level to the right. Left offers a slightly better angle into the green, but right offers a better view of the green. Par here is a really good score and gets you off to a good start on the inward nine.
#9, 303 Yards, Par 4
The third hole of the front nine of 310 yards or less from the Champions Tees. This one plays uphill and back to toward the clubhouse. A deep green with where the front third is the narrowest location. Just get it over the water off the tee and keep it on the grass for a chance to finish the outward nine strong.
#8, 217 Yards, Par 3
One of the most demanding, unforgiving holes I've ever played. You just have to bring it from the tee, or you'll get punished. The first picture I posted below is from the back tees, which stretch to 248 yards. From back there, the green looks like it's the size of an astroturf mat on a practice tee. From the Champions Tee, it's still a nasty shot. There is a bit more room to the right than you can see, but not much! The back third of the green is ever tighter as the creek wraps around on the right side too. Playing to the front half of the green give you a little more room to miss right.
#7, 281 Yards, Par 4
Can't say I loved this hole. With the water in front of the green, I'm not long enough to pull driver, so it was a mindless layup shot with a mid-iron. The only thing that provides some strategic thought off of the tee is that the farther back you layup, the better look you'll have into the green. The farther you go down the hill, the more your chip into the green will be blind. The green is shallow and long is completely dead as you'll face a chip shot out of thick rough from a downhill lie. Oh yeah, and short is a problem too. Like the 4th hole, the green is plenty fair given the length of the hole, but if you lay back in the fairway to get the best view of the hole, the green might be a little small. This hole just didn't work for me. I'm usually a sucker for a good short par 4, but I didn't think this was that.
#6, 415 Yards, Par 4
Driver is definitely not the right club off of the tee unless you're trying to thread the needle and carry the creek. Just take a long iron or hybrid and get it out into the fairway. Aiming at the bunker just over the creek is about as far left as you want to go if you're hitting a longer club. From there, it's a mid-iron up the hill to a generous green. I made the mistake of taking too much club off the tee (it plays well downhill) and pulling it a bit into the water. An easy way to make a quick double. Learn from my mistake and keep it on the grass.
#5, 469 Yards, Par 5
From the Champions Tee, it's about 210 to the creek. Clear that, and you have a straight shot up the hill to try to get to this green in two. Bunkers are on either side of the fairway to catch a wayward layup or shot into the green. The green is long and tiered, so try to get the right level to stay away from a three-putt.
#4, 307 Yards, Par 4
What you see is basically what you get here. A short par 4 dogleg right, but unless you're a bomber, it's probably just a layup shot away from the bunkers. They say you can't get half pregnant, and in the same breath, you can't half layup. I tried to half layup, and ended up hitting grass but rolling back into the bunkers. Commit to a SAFE line, and stay out of the traps rather than half laying up! The green is small for Wolf Creek, and is appropriately sized for a flip wedge into the hole.
#3, 175 Yards, Par 3
I've never seen a hole quite like this one. The lay of the land feels like it sets up for a typical drop shot hole, except that you're playing it backwards! The hole plays straight uphill and over the desert, to a green surface you cannot see. I hit my shot a little thin, but I didn't even get it high enough to carry all the way to the green. It was a unique experience, but I questioned this hole a little bit. It would be fun to play it again and see if a good shot gets rewarded.
#2, 429 Yards, Par 4
A hard dogleg left, this one plays as a "Cape" hole, though you can't see much of the landing area if you choose to take an aggressive line down the left. A bold line will get rewarded with a shorter shot into the hole, which plays a bit uphill. The green is roughly 40 yards deep, so make sure you get the right yardage to get close to the hole.
#1, 504 Yards, Par 5
Wolf Creek wastes no time giving you a commanding view. From an elevated tee, this medium length par 5 unfolds right in front of you. Bunkers are on the left off of the tee, and with that in mind, I strayed to the right into fairly dense rough. Even with a mis-hit from the tee, it's easy to get to this green in regulation as long as you keep the ball in front of you. Bunkers are on either side of the hole all the way to the green, but you never have to carry one. A pond is to the right on the second shot, but it takes a shot a good ways off line to put it in play. This hole is an opportunity to get off to a good start.
When I told people that I had never been to Las Vegas, I got some crazy looks. It was almost like I was telling them something un-American, like I had never tried a Big Mac (actually, that's true too!). So, when my wife and I made the pilgrimage to Vegas in winter of 2015, I wouldn't just be checking off a bucket list golf course, but a bucket list life experience too. So, after a day of walking the Strip, having some great food, and checking out a Cirque du Soleil show, it was time to play some golf. In the Las Vegas area, there is one golf course that's on every list, and of course, that's Shadow Creek. Since my time in Vegas was only a long weekend and Shadow Creek is only available to the commoners Monday through Thursday, that wasn't an option (not to mention I wasn't really in the mood to drop $500 on golf when I hadn't picked up a club in nearly four months). So, that meant it was off to Mesquite to check out the bucket list alternative.
Wolf Creek is about 80 miles from the Strip. It's all highway driving, heading northeast on Route 93, and it's all through desert with hardly anything in site along the way. However, just before the Utah border lies an oasis of sorts, with several golf courses, a couple casinos, a Walmart, and more. This town of Mesquite is where Wolf Creek sets.
When you get to Mesquite, you'll realize that there's no really logical reason that a golf course should exist on the ground that Wolf Creek lays. However, there's also no logical reason that the Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty are 80 miles down the round. Money, vision, and creativity do amazing things, and it took all three of those, in spades, to build Wolf Creek. What was built is something of a fantasy course, that overwhelms your senses on a regular basis. Visually, I've never seen anything like it. The ups and downs, combined with the green grass contrasting with barren desert create a visual scene and almost can't be real. However, it is very very real, and something that almost has to be seen with our own eyes to believe.
So, with it a given that Wolf Creek is a stunning beauty, is it a great golf course? That question is not as unanimously agreed upon. Those who appreciate classic golf design or natural minimalism will hate Wolf Creek as a golf course. Those who like modern architecture, and just want to have fun, will be plenty happy here. Wolf Creek is a fun golf, but my only criticism was that it felt more like 18 stand-alone holes rather than a golf course. Navigating your gas-powered golf cart through massive hills and canyons, you often can't see the next golf hole from one hole's green, and have no idea what will come next. That creates a sense of drama and anticipation, but I almost felt like once I arrived on the next hole, I had left the prior holes behind and was starting over. It just had a weird feel to me.
With cart paths meandering around and over the canyons, speed bumps were built in many spots to ensure that drivers don't overdo it and lose control. It was a bit frightening in spots. However, soothing the fear is an extremely green and lush golf course with streams and waterfalls in spots. In February, it had been overseeded with Rye in the rough, which was more comforting to me than the typical Bermuda I often play off of in off-season Southern golf. If your balls stray off the grass, the common Southwestern so-called "Desert Rule" comes into play. You're asked not to enter the dirt and rocks to find your ball, but just to drop and play as if you hit into a lateral hazard.
Wolf Creek was the brainstorm of Cory and Chad Clemetson, who engaged Dennis and John Ryder to build a "roller-coaster ride" of golf, as they explain it on their website. The course opened for play in 2001, and tests even the best of players. When I stepped up to the first tee, I was encouraged to play from the white tees, called the "Masters Tees," which measure only 5,798 yards with a par of 72! They only want single-digit handicaps playing from tees longer than those, and when I told the starter my handicap (which was probably a stretch for February golf), he said I'd be fine playing the blue "Champions Tees." The course from the Champions Tees is still rather short, tipping out at 6,309 yards with a rating / slope of 70.9 / 138. On the scorecard, handicaps of 0-8 are asked to play these tees, with the "Challenger Tees" reserved for professional players. From there, the courses tops out at 6,939 yards, and a rating / slope of 75.4 / 154. Length is not what makes Wolf Creek difficult. What makes it difficult is all of the carries over deep canyons, and visual intimidation everywhere. Keep your ball on grass, and you can do ok.
So, after loosening up on the irons-only range, and rolling a couple putts, it was time to take on Wolf Creek. We had arranged to tee it up at the clubs twilight portion of the day, which enabled us to make a leisurely ride out from Vegas after enjoying a breakfast buffet at Paris. Going out at Twilight, which was after noon during February, meant saving about $50 per person. You'll see from the pictures that the sun started getting low toward the end, but we were never at risk of not finishing. We probably had an hour or so to spare before the sun went down. I'll quote the holes below from the Champions Tees:
Wolf Creek Golf Club
Mesquite, Nevada
Checked off the Bucket List February 8, 2015
Golf Magazine:
#66, Top 100 Courses You Can Play (2014)
#3, Best Public Golf Courses in Nevada (2014)
Golf Digest
#41, America's 100 Greatest Public Courses (2015-2016)
#5, Best in the State of Nevada (2015-2016)