After the awesome GK Review Guru round at Cascata on Thursday, I headed off by myself for a late afternoon round at Vegas National. The $29 non-resident rate was the best deal I could find on a course... Continue »

After the awesome GK Review Guru round at Cascata on Thursday, I headed off by myself for a late afternoon round at Vegas National. The $29 non-resident rate was the best deal I could find on a course I hadn't played yet, so I booked a 3:00 tee time. The weather was rather ugly when I arrived, so the course was wide open. The weather cleared up nicely during my round, though. I went off right away by myself, played through a couple groups early and then didn't hit anyone else until the final few holes. Unfortunately, it came to a grinding halt and it seemed like the last 5 holes took as long to play as the first 13! Still, the total pace was great around 2.5 hours. The course was in decent late-summer shape, playing better than it looked in places. The tee boxes were fine. The fairways were mostly pretty good, with some scattered thin/bare spots throughout. Same with the rough. The greens were on the firm side and very dry/crusty. They looked ugly and rolled slow, but reasonably smooth. Bunkers were good. The course is about what I expected. Older style parkland kind of design. Nothing too distinctive, yet solid and enjoyable enough with the right price and great pace of play on a weekday afternoon. I liked the back nine better than the front. Not really a destination Vegas course (the name sounds more "important" than it is). I'd consider it a good mid-level local's course. Lots of local history, with signs on almost every tee describing the famous old school Vegas people who once owned which houses along this course. The scorecard also tells some history of when it started as Stardust CC and was a popular Rat Pack hangout.

Played Friday, 3/18, with John_T and a 7:20 tee time. Resident price of $49, and since it's the only course in Vegas with Golfboards (I think), spent another $20 to try them out. Played with 2 other l... Continue »

Played Friday, 3/18, with John_T and a 7:20 tee time. Resident price of $49, and since it's the only course in Vegas with Golfboards (I think), spent another $20 to try them out. Played with 2 other locals and finished right at the 4 hour mark. Friendly customer service, minus the marshall who said we were holding up a "94 year old" on the 10th hole (he was keeping pace). Marshall did redeem himself by finding my putter cover.

Conditions were pretty good, but not great. Tee boxes were just mowed, but still were shaggy. Mostly level, but the Par 3 3rd hole had the markers set on an extreme side hill lie. Fairways were great, nice lies that were sitting up. The one fairway bunker was fluffy and had some good size rocks. The many greenside bunkers I visited were fluffy, minus one that was packed from watering. The rough was almost non-existent, just long enough to see a defined fairway that tapered to bare/mud areas the farther you went off. Greens appeared to be thin but rolled smooth at a medium speed.

Overall, I liked the course. A good mix of long and short par 4s, decent par 5s, and all 5 of the Par 3s were over 160 yards. We played the whites (6200ish yards, Par 71) with a rating above the listed par (71.6, as noted by a previous review). It is surrounded by houses, but they rarely come into play, and always on the left side of the fairway. Course is definitely more difficult than it looks. Local price is great (rack is about $100), extra $20 for the Golfboard is an one time thing for me.

Played National this Sunday and the course was in great shape. The greens were nice and soft in the morning and began to speed up as it started to dry. If you enjoy a challenge this course is for yo... Continue »

Played National this Sunday and the course was in great shape. The greens were nice and soft in the morning and began to speed up as it started to dry. If you enjoy a challenge this course is for you, the course felt like it was setup for pros. With some holes shaped like horse shoes with large bunkers in front, I found it difficult to stick the greens when the pin placement was at the narrowest area no more then 15ft wide. On the holes where the pin placement was near the edge of two tier green, hit it too far past the hole and you end up in the lower tier. The fairways, the rough, and the sand traps felt like I was playing California. If you like to play golf you will want to play this course, if you love golf you will not miss an opportunity to play this course.

Played Tuesday. 7:00am tee time, got out an hour late - frost delay. Course is in winter condition - not bad, not great, just kind of average muni condition. Greens are firm and fast. Traps are fluffy... Continue »

Played Tuesday. 7:00am tee time, got out an hour late - frost delay. Course is in winter condition - not bad, not great, just kind of average muni condition. Greens are firm and fast. Traps are fluffy white sand. Paid the local $50 rate thru a friend. Service was polite. Pace of play was about 4 hours. Cart girl made plenty of passes. No GPS in carts. They give you two bottled waters in the ice chest. Convenient from the strip. The film-location house of Sam Rothstein (Robert De Niro) from "Casino" can be seen from one of the fairways. Not bad, would play it again if invited ... I just can't say this is a "must play" in Vegas.

It has been a while since I submitted a review and in particular, a review about Las Vegas National. However, after the experience we had on Sunday (July 13th) I felt compelled to inform the Greenskee... Continue »

It has been a while since I submitted a review and in particular, a review about Las Vegas National. However, after the experience we had on Sunday (July 13th) I felt compelled to inform the Greenskeeper.org community.

I am normally not an overly critical person. I very rarely get upset by slow play and I typically can brush off less than optimal golf course conditions. That said, this Sunday at LV National I came about as close to losing my cool as I ever have on a golf course. The crazy part is that I have played LV National many times in the past two years and it is normally a great golfing experience. The course has consistently been in very good to great shape and the staff is always super friendly and very attentive. They are also always on top of tee times and I don't think we have ever tee'd off late in 15+ rounds there. That all changed on Sunday and I am not sure why.

My playing partner and I had a 5:40am tee time that we booked a couple weeks in advance since he is a player card member. This typically means we will tee odd second, and usually a few minutes after 5:30am. I arrived at the course around 5am to give me time to pay, check-in and stretch before we tee off. From the minute I pulled in I knew it was not going to be a good day. The parking lot was more full than normal and there was a group of guys yelling loudly as they walked into the clubhouse. I followed them and found my place in line to pay. I was the third person in line. The group of 7-8 loud and obnoxious guys were standing in a circle to the right of the pro shop throwing in cash and talking about pairings. My golf partner paid right before I did and then I walked up to the counter. The guy working the counter asked for my tee time and I said the name and time. He then asked for my ID. I have golfed for a couple years at the course and have never been asked for my ID to get the local rate. I explained that I leave my wallet in my car so that I don't run the risk of losing it and asked if it was really necessary to run out and get it. He gave me a "snippy" response and said "Get your ID or pay the full price." I of course conceded and ran to the parking lot.

When I returned, the clubhouse had emptied out, which seemed unusually quick since I did not see any of the guys pay, but I brushed it off. I showed my ID, paid the local rate and heading out toward the range. When I arrived at our cart my golf partner immediately said that he thought something was up because a group of guys just came running out and over to the first tee yelling the entire time. I realized who the guys were and we both agreed that something was fishy because we should have been the second group off. We approached the started and he just said to putt around and he will get us off when he can. My partner and I were furious now, but we were not going to let it get to our game. We headed to the practice area.

At a little after 6am the starter called our group and we were paired with a nice local couple. They had a 6am tee time and the four of us tee'd off a little after 6:10am (30+ minutes after our scheduled tee time. From here things only became more frustrating. The course let off 6 groups in front of us and we were supposed to be the second group off. The group immediate in front of us were horrible. Not only were they bad players playing from the tips when they should have been playing from the front tees, but they had no respect for the course, driving past the no-cart signs, right next to greens and back-and-forth down the fairways. By the 3rd hole they were one hole out of position and by the 6th hole they were two full holes out of position. Our group waited on every tee shot. To make matters worse, the group in front of us constantly left clubs and other crap on the previous hole and needed to come back to retrieve them.

On the 14th hole the nice couple playing with us finally had enough as it was getting hot and they decided to leave. My partner and I were not about to leave as we both had good scorecards (how ironic). We continued to hit and wait, hit and wait. And then we had two things happen that were the icing on the cake. On the 15th hole we flagged down the marshal/ranger to see what the story was and he suggested/blamed the first group off that morning. He also said that the guys in front of us were in the proper position. Now if you have ever played LV National you know that from the 15th fairway you can see the 17th green. As we waiting on the 15th fairway to hit our approach shots we could see the group two ahead of us walking off of the 17th green. There were now over two holes ahead of the group behind them. This would have been bad enough, but when we finally got to 18th tee we saw the same marshal/ranger on the tee with the group in front hitting one of their drivers, clearly a group of friends or regulars.

Needless to say, the round was the most frustrating round I have played since I took up the game and the crazy part is I shot several strokes better than my handicap, which should have made it a very good day. I have calmed down a lot since Sunday and so my review is far more reserved than it might have otherwise been. I am not sure I will ever play LV National again and my playing partner is going to try getting a refund for the player's card he recently purchased. I would also have a hard time recommending the course to others, which I frequently did in the past. I don't know if LV National's owner/manager will read this review, but I would advise him/her to check the receipts for July 13th. I don't have any hard evidence, but I would suspect that cash money changed hands in the clubhouse or with the started to bump several groups back to fit a large group of regulars without tee times in between a bunch of groups. This would be very disappointing if it was the case.

Finally, if you are going to venture out to LV National any time in the near future I recommend avoiding the bunkers at all costs. I would guess that 1 in 3 of them were infested with wasps/hornets. A couple times we allowed free relief and left balls in the bunkers because it was a bit too dangerous to swing with all of the wasps/hornets in there. The worst was the left green-side bunker on #2.

My apologies to the community for the long-winded review, but I think it is in everyone's interest to report less than ideal playing experiences. Know Before You Go.

Played this course on May 29th. Haven't played this course in about 8 years. Probably be another 8 years til I play this course again. Not a bad layout and conditions were average, but with all the fa... Continue »

Played this course on May 29th. Haven't played this course in about 8 years. Probably be another 8 years til I play this course again. Not a bad layout and conditions were average, but with all the fancy golf course in Las Vegas, this course is alittle plain. The home of tiger woods first win on the PGA tour.

Played a round on Sunday April 27th at around 8am. The course was in great shape, greens were a little slow but were true and nicely manicured. Fairways were in great shape too. Only two issues I h... Continue »

Played a round on Sunday April 27th at around 8am. The course was in great shape, greens were a little slow but were true and nicely manicured. Fairways were in great shape too. Only two issues I had the entire round, some of the sandtraps were hard and the a few of the tee boxes were not level. Other than that I would give the course a 9 out of 10.

On Saturday, February 15th, I played Las Vegas National Golf Club with GK-jeroethel . We had a 7:40am tee time and the weather was nearly perfect for February. By the time we tee’d off it was already... Continue »

On Saturday, February 15th, I played Las Vegas National Golf Club with GK-jeroethel . We had a 7:40am tee time and the weather was nearly perfect for February. By the time we tee’d off it was already in the high 50s and would eventually climb into the low 70s by the time we finished.

The club has a very attentive outside services staff that promptly meet you at your car, set you up with range balls and ensure the groups move off the first tee in an efficient manner. Of course, the nicest thing they do is fill the water bucket with warm water, which is great for the early morning tee times :)

LV National continues to be in very good condition with well-manicured fairways and lush rough. The greens were a bit firm and about average speed so lower trajectory approach shots tended to release. The only noticeable change from earlier in the winter was that the bunkers appeared to have been recently turned over and in many of them the sand was very deep. This made for several buried sand shots and a few times required more than one shot to successfully exit the bunker.

After the first couple holes the pace of play was a little slower than normal as we were about the sixth group off, but we still finished in just under 4 hours, which is always nice on a Saturday morning.

If you are a local Vegas resident or are just visiting the area you should add LV National to your list of places to check out. The rates for locals are very reasonable and the rates for tourists are competitive, considering how close the course is to The Strip.

Played 1/18/2014 at 7:40. Temp about 40° but warmed up quickly. No wind, slight frost delay.
We went off as a twosome, behind the regular first off foursome who we never saw after the first hole. A... Continue »

Played 1/18/2014 at 7:40. Temp about 40° but warmed up quickly. No wind, slight frost delay.
We went off as a twosome, behind the regular first off foursome who we never saw after the first hole. And we played in 2:35.
Course is in really good shape. They have been watering some so the course is fairly soft for the winter. Not as much winter roll, but the greens are holding better once the frost goes away.
Local rate was $35/$40 which is about half of what it is worth.
This is a very challenging course. White tees are 6260, but the slope from the whites is 133. One of the few courses I have ever played where the course rating 71.6 from the whites is higher than the par 71.
No desert areas. No interior houses. Lots of trees and well positioned bunkers. Lots of gentle doglegs so tee shot positioning is important.
Restaurant and bar is great. Practice facilities are wonderful and the course staff is very friendly and polite. Shout out to Brian in pro shop.
Range balls included with green fee. Wet towels also provided.
My favorite course in Las Vegas.