I know this post is long overdue, as part of the GK Guru trip to Vegas.

The course was in very good shape in almost all areas. The tee boxes were well maintained and flat. The fairways were in gre... Continue »

I know this post is long overdue, as part of the GK Guru trip to Vegas.

The course was in very good shape in almost all areas. The tee boxes were well maintained and flat. The fairways were in great shape, maybe even a little wet in some areas (if you could manage to hit them! Very narrow and meandering toward the hole). Rough was lush but not overly penal. Almost all the greens were in very good shape, not too fast with the ball rolling true. Some of the greens had a large number of unrepaired ball marks.

I enjoyed the design of the course, there weren't two holes that were completely alike, making you take different approaches on different holes. Some forced carries off the tee, some to the green. Overall a very enjoyable trip out to Rio Secco, although for the price I'm not sure how high it is on my list to play again.

I too joined in on the GK guru outing in Vegas, which was really in Henderson on day one and Boulder City the second day. I played with JohnnyGK, Matt, and Rob. A great foursome to be a part of and ... Continue »

I too joined in on the GK guru outing in Vegas, which was really in Henderson on day one and Boulder City the second day. I played with JohnnyGK, Matt, and Rob. A great foursome to be a part of and I really enjoyed the personal long drive contest Johnny and Matt had going.

Rio Secco is a course I play frequently as it is 10 minutes from home for me. I was a little disappointed that my fellow GKr's had to experience it in this pre maintenance condition at the end of a hot summer. That being said my comments come from knowing what this course is like most of the rest of the year. This is a favorite local course for me.

The conditions I speak of were some bare spots in the fairways and some areas of GUR. The greens were slow but looked fast. This caused many putts to be left short and 3 putts a plenty.

Tee boxes were in mostly good shape and the bunkers were Vegas style firm and sun baked, but were not so bad that you couldn't get a club under your ball. The rough was punishing. If you found yourself there you were left with a very challenging out and at least for me difficulty getting to the green. Tip, stay in the fairway.

The course is visually appealing and has many photo ops of the Vegas strip on a normal day. But because of the smoke from the Blue Cut fire we left lacking a view.

The course staff was very pleasant and accommodating. As mentioned before we were treated to a bounce back certificate for %25 off a future date for a foursome. This was a welcome surprise and it is good through December 2017. I know this course in better conditions and yet I really enjoyed the day and the service from the staff. I will be back and recommend this course to all.

Oh, I almost forgot but they have one of the best prime rib sandwiches I have every had anywhere. Even though I didn't eat there this day, take it from me, it is awesome.

Played Rio Secco Golf Club as my first round on Wednesday as part of the GK Review Guru outing in Vegas. Teed it up with rob1563, phunteratc and mpisarski01. Great fun with terrific playing partners o... Continue »

Played Rio Secco Golf Club as my first round on Wednesday as part of the GK Review Guru outing in Vegas. Teed it up with rob1563, phunteratc and mpisarski01. Great fun with terrific playing partners on a track I have come to enjoy more and more with every round. Challenging, fair, scenic, lots of elevation changes, unique holes. Of the 4 total times I have now played Rio Secco Golf Club, although still in great shape this time around, it was not at the level of playing conditions I was accustomed to from this facility which is normally outstanding. I’m very confident after their overseeding coming up in early September, come October, their playing conditions will be at Rio Secco Golf Club standards again. The course was still a joy to play. With exception to slower than expected greens, some thin spots in the fairways (some designated by GUR – appreciated that), some patchy thin areas in the rough, some firmer than expected bunkers, I thought the course was in great condition. As far as service, excellent on all accounts. Kelly the on course beverage service came by every 4 holes and with free water refills and a new bottle of water only $1 made it easy on the wallet. Although I agree with many others there should be complementary water and some water jugs to access on the course during to summer. As far as food/clubhouse, just fantastic. I was bummed I had to run to my next round of golf that day so quickly and did not get to enjoy the lounge and more delicious food with fellow GK’ers. Bsparks gave me one of his prime rib sliders and it was quite possibly one of the best tasty little sandwiches I’ve ever had. A very nice gesture was made by Rio Secco Golf Club in giving everyone that played a 25% discount to come play again or at Cascata at ANY time of the year. I’m pretty sure I’ll be using it for Rio Secco Golf Club this Fall or coming Spring. Highly Recommended

I also participated in the GK Guru’s outing in Vegas this past week and had a great time out there with Jerry64, dangerousbri, and MrKich. There weren’t many players out there so it was pretty empty ... Continue »

I also participated in the GK Guru’s outing in Vegas this past week and had a great time out there with Jerry64, dangerousbri, and MrKich. There weren’t many players out there so it was pretty empty but was in good shape. Was looking forward to the views of the casinos on the Vegas Strip but smoke from the fires near Victorville made that a challenge. I actually smelled the smoke. From what I remember, this was the course that used to host the 3 Tour Challenge and it was nice to be able to play the same course. Overall, the course is in very nice condition. Fairways were great. Not many hard or brown spots. Tee boxes were all in great shape as were the bunkers. The greens however were slow and I wasn’t expecting that. They certainly looked like they were going to be fast but were not. They rolled true but had a few 3 putts anticipating they would be much faster. My bad. Should have adjusted to the speed but never did. The rough was Bermuda and was pretty thick. Not a good place to be. The layout is fun. It had a good mix of long and short par 4’s. Also some of the par 3’s had elevation changes which made them challenging to hit the right club. You don’t need to hit driver on a couple of holes for sure or you end up in the wash. Some holes were narrow so miss a fairway and you were in the thick rough or the rocks. Great customer service but I expected nothing less. After our round and while sitting in the bar, a gentleman (not sure who he was) came out to thank us all for coming out and also gave us a discount voucher on our next round. Very classy!!! Not sure what the rates are but I imagine it’s a bit steep and will definitely come out again given a chance for a discount.

Played here in the GK Review Guru outing on Wednesday, 8/17. Conditions were good, and especially good when you consider how late in their season it is. Greens were a little on the slow side. Smooth a... Continue »

Played here in the GK Review Guru outing on Wednesday, 8/17. Conditions were good, and especially good when you consider how late in their season it is. Greens were a little on the slow side. Smooth and medium to medium-slow overall, and some greens were pock marked with ball marks. Full shots stopped quickly. Fairways were mostly lush with a few burned out spots here and there. Rough was lush Bermuda, often penal with the ball nestled down in it. Tee boxes were nice; a few were maybe a bit too fluffy but overall they were good. The bunkers I was in were inconsistent: first one had very little sand on top, next one was great, next one was good but wet.

This was my first time playing here and it's a really fun layout. Felt reminiscent of many other Vegas courses: combination of the Revere courses, a little Badlands, maybe some DragonRidge Lite. Lots of great elevation changes. There are lots of nice views of The Strip but unfortunately they were mostly concealed by the smoke from the Blue Cut Fire that closed the Cajon Pass.

A couple minor service issues: For one, a guy before the round alerted us that the par threes were cart path only, but that everything else was fair game to drive on the fairways. It turned out two additional holes were cart path only, which sucked in 105 degree, muggy conditions. Not sure why they'd need to be CPO when they are preparing to close for overseeding soon anyway. The other thing was the drinking water situation. Each player is given one water and can then buy more for a dollar each. The beverage cart attendant had a jug where she could refill your water, but why not just put jugs out on the course? I know we got a great deal, but if I paid full rack rate out here, I'd feel like I'm being nickel and dimed to have to pay for more bottled waters. These are minor issues and overall I really enjoyed the day and the course.

My Flickr album of 29 photos here: https://goo.gl/B9SWiH

Busy week in Vegas, starting with the great GK Guru deal at Rio Secco. We had a great time with 16 GK'ers in attendance. I enjoyed my round with kg1791, rgm2525 and Itslikeimsayin. We went off second ... Continue »

Busy week in Vegas, starting with the great GK Guru deal at Rio Secco. We had a great time with 16 GK'ers in attendance. I enjoyed my round with kg1791, rgm2525 and Itslikeimsayin. We went off second and the pace was pretty good. Sometimes felt like they had the course reserved for just GK because there weren't too many other people out there.

The conditions were pretty good, as others have noted. Tee boxes good. Fairways mostly very good. Rough inconsistent in places, but generally a challenge with the ball settling into the thick bermuda. Bunkers a bit thin and crusty. Greens were somewhat disappointing. They were very soft, but rolling quite slow and sometimes bumpy. I was shocked at how many downhill putts would stop way short, and I just couldn't seem to adjust to the slow speeds all day.

Rio Secco was actually the first Vegas course I had played many years ago, so I was eager to come back and play it. It's a good overall course with a nice setting comparable to the Revere courses just down the street. Solid layout, but not necessarily as interesting as I remember it. Good collection of par-3s. Worth checking out for the right price.

Played 8-17-16 with Sixpez. Itslikeimsayin, and Kg1791 in the GK guru outing. Blue tees were in good shape, mostly level with descent coverage. Fairways were in good shape with some minor brown areas,... Continue »

Played 8-17-16 with Sixpez. Itslikeimsayin, and Kg1791 in the GK guru outing. Blue tees were in good shape, mostly level with descent coverage. Fairways were in good shape with some minor brown areas, and some small bare spots. Rough was 2-3 inches of thick bermuda, so the ball would sit down on occasion. Was in one greenside bunker that was a little thin. Greens were in good shape but rolling slow with an occasional bump. Great costumer service, nice layout with great views.

Played in the GK outing to Rio Secco on a "warm" (by Vegas area standards) morning. The course itself is very interesting for what can be considered a "resort" course. Every hole contains interesting ... Continue »

Played in the GK outing to Rio Secco on a "warm" (by Vegas area standards) morning. The course itself is very interesting for what can be considered a "resort" course. Every hole contains interesting features and some very punitive rough. If you are a fairway finder you will find the course a very enjoyable place to play. If you are a ball sprayer, and the rough is as high as it was for our outing, you will be using all your casino luck on lies. Very dense for the most part and rather long (maybe 3-4 inches in most places). The bunkers are rather deep and well placed. The only negative to the bunkers would be the lack of sand and the hard, wet base sand underneath a very shallow layer of summer crust. If there were a bit more sand, the bunkers would be amazing. The greens around the course are nicely contoured and can leave you a bit perplexed at times. When we played, the greens were running rather slow (maybe 7-8 on a stimpmeter) and I left a good 10 putts short. Hard to talk yourself into hammering a putt in the desert downhill, but that is what was required at times. The Million Dollar Hole (#7) is a great long par 3 over water that played into the prevailing gusts making club selection a bit of a guessing game. Thought I had it in the bag until I ended up about 1/2 club long... so much for the million bucks. I would say it is the best par 3 on the course. HUGE negative for the course in a desert setting is no fountains to be found anywhere on the course. This is a danger for heat exhaustion (I did get a bit overheated myself), and I would suggest the course look into either water stations throughout like Southern Dunes (Maricopa, Az) where you can grab bottles every other hole, or adding ice water jugs at intervals. This course is worth the visit to Sin City, and with faster greens and more sand in the bunkers could easily give everyone in your group a chance to be a hero and take the million home!

Played in the GK Guru group also. I thought the course was in very good shape for the summer with the exception of the bunkers. They were hard packed sand. Service was very good from the bag drop to t... Continue »

Played in the GK Guru group also. I thought the course was in very good shape for the summer with the exception of the bunkers. They were hard packed sand. Service was very good from the bag drop to the check in and the departure. Driving range was disappointing. We were hitting of a very hard mat. I have pretty much the same two issues with the other reviewers in the greens were very slow and no water stations throughout the course. I love playing desert courses and I have never played a course that did not have water available in the summer