Golf in San Francisco
Over the past couple of weeks, I have been visiting the USA as part of a private tour with some of our clients. Spending a couple of nights in San Francisco to start the trip, before moving across to Las Vegas to join the rest of the group.
TPC Harding Park and Pasatiempo Golf Club
With only a short stay in San Francisco, there was no time to waste, and after getting off the plane, it was straight to my first round of the trip at TPC Harding Park. The course is 100% public with no memberships available, and was host of the 2020 PGA Championship, one of the four men’s major’s, one by Collin Morikawa.
Sitting right on the edge of Lake Merced, and framed beautifully by towering Monterey Cypress trees, I found the course to be in excellent condition with lush fairways, thick rough, and true greens. The course is fairly open with the main defence being the thick, juicy rough that swallows any golf ball and virtually forcing a pitch out back into the fairway to get back into play. I found this out the hard way several times!!
For my second round, I was to head south for a course that has been on my bucket list for a while, Pasatiempo Golf Club. A top 100 course in America, it was designed by one of the most famous golf course architects in the world, Dr Alister MacKenzie. This was MacKenzie’s most loved design from his extensive list of courses and when you consider some of the other courses he created (Augusta National, Royal Melbourne, Cypress Point, Lahinch, NSW to name a few), it must be pretty special. He also lived alongside the 6th fairway at Pasatiempo, such was his love for the course.
Unfortunately, I was only able to play the front nine twice as the back nine is currently under course improvement works to take it further into the future, but I’m glad I got the chance to experience the first half of the course anyway.
The course was in exceptional condition and each hole design was excellent, as expected. The par 3’s were standout holes, all three on the front nine were tough, especially the third hole, which was playing over 200 metres uphill to a green surrounded by deep bunkers.
I look forward to visiting again once the back nine upgrade is complete. I’d also like to point out the service and hospitality of the staff at Pasatiempo. Everyone was friendly and helpful, and always with a big smile. The standout was when the course marshall stopped me during the round, and mentioned how grateful they were to have us visit, that they really appreciated us taking the time to stop by and that they hoped we loved the course. Considering this is a private course with equity shares that are priced at $250k +, to be treated like this as a visitor is a nice touch.
Las Vegas - NFL
Next up, it was time to head to Las Vegas! I always enjoy visiting Vegas, as long as there is a good itinerary and plenty of activities planned, otherwise I tire of the place quickly if just roaming the strip. A place filled with anything and everything, everyone can fuel their vice in Vegas! As much fun as it is walking the strip, seeing the sights, people watching, checking out the street performers, it can grow stale after a few days, so I find it important to have a good schedule to keep you occupied, and we had a great one!
On our first day, we took to Allegiant Stadium to watch the Las Vegas Raiders take on the defending Super Bowl Champions, Kansas City Chiefs, in the NFL. The Chiefs taking the victory, but the Raiders did well to hold their own until late in the match. The stadium is incredible, and it was nice to visit and get my bearings before we head back in February/March to watch the NRL in Las Vegas games.
Las Vegas and GOLF!
Our first round of golf in Vegas was at The Revere Golf Club, Lexington Course. We were greeted by a chilly morning by Vegas standards, and with strong winds gusting to over 80 km/h, it wasn’t easy. The course was in great condition, and was a classic risk/reward course where good shot making paid off, but with the wind being so strong, this was a tough ask!
With fantastic views of the Las Vegas Skyline and surrounding mountains, it was a nice way to kick off our golf. After a tough round, it was also nice to finish off with four straight birdies! Something that doesn’t happen very often!
Next up, we visited one of the best golf facilities in the area, Las Vegas Paiute Golf Resort. Home to three excellent courses, Wolf, Sun Mountain, and Snow Mountain, I class it as the best conditioned courses in the region as every time we have visited, the courses have been faultless. We played the Sun Mountain course this time, and once again there was not a blade of grass out of place.
All three courses were designed by renowned architect Pete Dye, and the resort sits on native tribal land, and is owned and operated by the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe. The resort was the first master-planned, multi-course facility of it’s kind to be built on Native American land. The tribe also owns and operates the Las Vegas Paiute Police Department, Las Vegas Paiute Health and Human Services, along with other services and businesses.
Our third course of the trip, was the famed Wolf Creek, North East of Las Vegas in Mesquite. This is a course that can be found on many people’s bucket lists, and after visiting several times, I can say that it never grows old and the novelty never wears off.
In great condition (as usual), everyone was blown away by the first visit (as usual). Its not hard to see why, with absolutely breathtaking views over the course greeting you at every step of the way. It’s quite surreal standing at certain points of the course and looking around at the vast expanse, wondering how they ever got a golf course in there! If you’ve never been, you really should as it is an incredible place.
The final round to our trip, was at the beautiful Reflection Bay Golf Club, a stunning course located in the luxurious high-end resort residential community of Lake Las Vegas.
Designed by Jack Nicklaus, and being the only Jack Nicklaus Signature Design in Las Vegas, the course weaves its way through the estate and offers fantastic views of both the surrounding mountains and Lake Las Vegas. And we saw firsthand where the course name is derived from, with the picture-perfect reflection beaming off the lake.
Once again, we found the course to be in top condition and had a blast playing it. The greens especially were excellent, putting fast and true, but there was no faulting the rest of the course either. Definitely add this one to your list of must play courses when you’re in town!
Outside of golf, we also found time for a few other activities to break up the trip. We took in an ATV Tour through the Mojave Desert, which was great fun, attended an NHL Ice Hockey game at T-Mobile Arena, watched a show at Sphere – Vegas’ latest entertainment venue, and took a visit to Downtown Las Vegas and Fremont Street.
All good things must come to an end though, and after visiting Las Vegas several times, this was one fun trip with a great bunch of guys. It was time for home for me, with several of the group heading onwards to other places. We organised a special visit to Pebble Beach for four of the group, which they are currently in the middle of, staying on site and playing the famed course plus others. No doubt it’ll be a never to be forgotten few days for them.
2025 Rugby League in Las Vegas Official Golf Tour!
We are heading back to Las Vegas in late February for the opening round of the Telstra NRL Premiership where we will see four matches and play golf. If you don’t want to miss out, it’s not too late to join us!
You can find all the information here https://bit.ly/3LtTgYu
