Best in State
The best golf courses in Nevada
Nevada might not get the credit it deserves for being an upper-echelon golf state. Though not everyone travels to Las Vegas for golf, they are rarely disappointed if they pick the right courses. Many courses have momentum throughout the state in our ranking: Clear Creek Tahoe, the Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw designed course up in Carson City, debuted on our Golf Digest's Second 100 Greatest rankings this year. Southern Highlands, a private club outside Vegas, moved up more than 30 spots. And The Summit Club, one of the newer Discovery Land designs from Tom Fazio and a host of the 2021 CJ Cup, continues to crack our top five.
We urge you to click through to each individual course page for bonus photography, drone footage and reviews from our course panelists. Plus, you can now leave your own ratings on the courses you’ve played … to make your case why your favorite should be ranked higher.
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The Henebrys/Courtesy of Shadow Creek GC
The Match between Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods may have fizzled as a pay-per-view spectacle, but the venue was certainly a showcase during the Black Friday, 2018 broadcast. Shadow Creek has the reputation of being one of the most expensive courses built in America, a reported $47 million at the time. Designer Tom Fazio said that budget was necessary at Shadow Creek to perform what he now calls “total site manipulation,” creating an environment where none existed, by carving rolling hills and canyons from the flat desert floor north of Las Vegas and pumping in plenty of water. Alas, this once-in-a-lifetime dream design has been too successful, triggering many equally expensive, but inferior, imitations.
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One gets the feeling Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw looked long and hard at this mountain property on the east side of Lake Tahoe before agreeing to take the job. On one hand the site is gorgeous, an elevated evergreen forest with views of the surrounding Sierra Nevadas and distant valleys. One the other, it was far more rugged than they prefer and would prove challenging to link up 18 well-connected holes on such vast terrain. Ultimately, beauty won out and they were able to find enough calm ground—especially from holes ten through 15—to make the journey around it seem meditative and not a lurching, adrenaline-filled rush. The boulder-strewn site recalls parts of Rock Creek Cattle Company in western Montana, currently No. 56 in the ranking, and the off-site views and the way fairways and greens blend into the native grasses and conifers brings to mind Gozzer Ranch, ranked No. 37. Pretty good company.
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Courtesy of the club
Although Southern Highlands was billed as a co-design between Robert Trent Jones Jr. and his famous father, in truth the senior Jones, who would die in 2000, was retired by the time construction on this lavish Las Vegas layout began in 1998. Still, there’s a plaque on the 12th hole proclaiming it to be the last hole Mr. Jones ever designed. Regardless, Southern Highlands reflects his son Bobby’s design tenets and visuals. The Highlands was always intended to be Bobby’s answer to Tom Fazio’s Shadow Creek, but with a more financially sensible real estate component. It has the same Carolina-pines motif, the same sprawling, overly elaborate bunkers, the same kinetic water features and, if anything, even more elevation change, with the 11th tee box sitting ten stories above the fairway and providing an unobstructed view of the Las Vegas Strip several miles to the north.
Alex Goodlett
Tom Fazio did his thing at one of his newer Discovery Land Properties, The Summit Club, maximizing exceptional views of the Las Vegas Strip on this land that sits about 3,000 feet above sea level. Fazio routed the course and molded the land in a way so that every hole is secluded from the next—similar to what he did at Shadow Creek. Summit Club, a runner-up for Golf Digest’s 2017 Best New private award, offers a strong variety of holes—with optionality particularly on the par 5s. You’ll find the typical Discovery Land offerings here—with multiple comfort stations including Jerry’s—which we got a sneak peek into last year as one of the best halfway houses in the U.S.
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Wolf Creek is a fantasy calendar come to life, with holes clinging to stark canyon hillsides and plunging down narrow ravines. A genuine amateur architect design (although Jim Engh provided an early routing), Wolf Creek finished third in Golf Digest's survey of America's Best New Upscale Public Courses of 2001, behind Pacific Dunes and Arcadia Bluffs (Bluffs). All three are now ranked among America's 100 Greatest Public Courses.
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Dave Burk
One of the great engineering feats in golf thus far in this century, Cascata climbs up and down a steep, rocky mountain hillside southeast of Las Vegas. It's authentically Nevada on the edges, the barren areas akin to Wolf Creek in Mesquite, but its turfed areas, planted with date palms, ironwoods and willows, and crossed by endless babbling brooks, is something of a salute to nearby Shadow Creek. Cascata plays mostly uphill on the front (the ninth tee is 600 feet above the clubhouse), downhill on the longer back nine.
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Brian Oar
Nestled in the heart of the Vegas strip, Wynn Golf Club has become a go-to venue for Capital One’s “The Match,” hosting the match between Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau in 2021, the four quarterbacks in 2022, and in 2023 the teammates battle between Steph Curry/Klay Thompson vs. Patrick Mahomes/Travis Kelce. The Tom Fazio design features dramatic elevation changes, created by moving over 400,000 cubic yards of earth. Fazio and his son, Logan, renovated the course in 2019 to make room for a casino and hotel expansion onto the property, creating eight new holes and refurbishing the other 10. The par-70 layout features six par 3s, including the picturesque 18th, with a green perched at the base of a roaring waterfall.
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Brian Walker
Edgewood Tahoe is one of golf’s most televised courses as the annual host of the American Century Championship. It also holds the distinction of being the only course in Nevada to have held a USGA championship, hosting a U.S. Senior Open and a U.S. Amateur Public Links in the 1980s. Once a member of Golf Digest America’s 100 Greatest Courses, Edgewood Tahoe is as telegenic as they come with fairways framed by stately pines, greens flanked by sparkling ponds and several holes positioned on Lake Tahoe, including the final three. At over 6,000 feet elevation the ball flies roughly 10-percent farther than at sea level.
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About an hour north of Las Vegas, this Jack Nicklaus design was a member of Golf Digest’s 100 Greatest Public Courses ranking in 2011. Wide, generous fairways offer a variety of shot options, but undulating, sloping greens require precise approach play. Uneven lies in the fairway—plus an often-present wind in the valley—will also test your irons. The course debuted as No. 2 on Golf Digest’s Best New Public list in 2008, trailing only future U.S. Open host Chambers Bay.
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Orlando Ramirez
TPC Summerlin co-hosted the 1996 Shriners Children’s Open (then the Las Vegas Invitational), where Tiger Woods captured his first career PGA Tour victory. The Las Vegas desert layout, designed by Fuzzy Zoeller and Bobby Weed, winds through arroyos and canyons. As you’d expect from a TPC facility, the practice facilities are tremendous, covering 12 acres and including two short game areas and a 10,000 square-foot practice green.
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Courtesy of the club
A former member of Golf Digest's 100 Greatest Public Courses, this Jack Nicklaus design sits along the edge of Lake Las Vegas, less than 20 miles east of the strip. The routing features a variety of hole directions, effectively using the natural landscape to create a balance of uphill and downhill shots. The five holes set along the water make for a memorable finish.
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Rees Jones, known as the “Open Doctor” for his work on prominent U.S. Open venues, renovated his original design at Rio Secco in 2017. With the redesign, Jones enhanced the playability for the average golfer, creating many new tees and greens. A former member of Golf Digest's 100 Greatest Public Courses, Rio Secco provides exciting elevation changes and views of the Las Vegas Strip. And, if your round didn’t go as planned, the Butch Harmon School of Golf is on property to help.
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Courtesy of Incline Village Golf Courses
In the mid-2000s, Kyle Phillips renovated this Robert Trent Jones Sr. design just as he did at Spain’s famed Valderrama, host of the 1997 Ryder Cup. Make sure that you’re in control of your start line on your tee shots, as stately pines guard many of the tees and fairways. The course features a blend of doglegs moving in each direction, often severely. At over 6,000 feet elevation, the ball flies roughly 10-percent further than at sea level.
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BRIAN OAR - FAIRWAYS PHOTOGRAPHY
You would never know you’re less than 30 miles from the hustle and bustle of the Las Vegas Strip at this Pete Dye design, surrounded by barren desert and jagged peaks. In typical Dye fashion, there are plenty of risk-reward holes, including the split fairways at the par-5 sixth and the par-4 17th. The island green at the par-3 15th closely resembles Dye’s signature 17th at TPC Sawgrass’ Stadium Course.
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Brian Oar
Meandering through canyons and between rocky outcroppings, Conestoga provides a unique experience of playing within Mesquite’s natural landscape. With water in play on just two holes, you likely won’t lose many balls provided you keep it out of the surrounding desert, which lurks to snag errant shots. The picturesque 10th hole, with a mountain backdrop and a green set in front of a tumbling waterfall, is one of Mesquite’s most memorable holes.
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This Bobby Weed and Raymond Floyd design previously hosted PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions events when it was known as TPC at The Canyons. The nearby Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area provides a scenic backdrop for a course that features elevation changes and forced carries over canyons. Fairways are generally wide and forgiving, while the greens have subtle breaks influenced by the surrounding mountains. The course has six sets of tees to accommodate every level of player.
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