Introduction
Hello Cocktail Clan. Going to talk about a great experience I had playing golf. I was on a trip to Mesquite, NV and was able to play Wolf Creek. This course is ranked amongst Golf Digest’s top 100 and is located about 80 miles northwest of Las Vegas, NV which is an easy drive between the two cities.
Arriving at Wolf Creek
Upon Arriving you are greeted by the cart / club attendants. Who load up your golf clubs onto the cart for your tee time. Accordingly, we have two foursomes, and the attendant went to get two more carts. They then loaded up our golf bags with the correct people riding together. Then we headed over to the pro shop to get checked in. When we played the rate was $325 for golf and cart. This is more than I am used to paying for golf. However, when on a golf trip with guys you do what you have to. Pro shop is filled with all sorts of items with the Wolf Creek logo as you would expect for a destination course like this.
Get paid up and grab the cart and head over to the range. This range being near an airport you are only allowed to hit irons. If you are one of those people that need to hit the driver you will on your first tee shot and hope. Get warmed up and off we go to the tee time. Importantly I was warned that the course plays slow and when the starter told us they were turning in 4.5 hours everyone in our group was thrilled. On the first tee we get a picture of your group and away we go.
Playing Wolf Creek
Standing on the first tee, which is a par 5 and not hitting any drivers makes this a great hole to start. As you stand on the tee box you look over a gorgeous green fairway that has white bunkers on both sides and rocky cliffs from mid fairway to the green. The green looks like a small dot off in the distance. You stand there thinking can I even get the driver over the rocky area between the tee box and the fairway. This view will play tricks on you all day long. You think you either didn’t hit the ball far enough or you feel like you crushed it well past the aiming point. You must commit to the yardage and trust you will hit the ball that yardage with the club you are using.
Now I could go and give you the exact details of every hole and shot by shot. This would be interesting for some but, for many others, it would be extremely boring and would stop reading just to get done with the blog.
Will say this. Most of the tee shots are downhill and you need to be accurate otherwise you are in the mountains and searching for your golf ball or losing it all together. You are constantly going up or down in your golf cart. This got to me as I am afraid of heights and the constant change started giving me a touch of vertigo. Yeah, playing golf feeling like you are spinning is not a good thing.
Specific Hole Discussion
Will specify a couple of holes that just stood out to me. The first hole is the second tee box. You climb up about 30 steps to a tee box that may be 10×10. All sides are a straight drop down besides where the stairs come up. For a person afraid of heights this was interesting. Didn’t go near the edge and stood by the stairs until I hit my tee shot. Now this is also very interesting as you are teeing off over a gorge and over a mountain ridge. Fairway is a dog leg left, and you need to clear the ridge to get to the fairway. (Didn’t get a picture as well the whole heights thing)
Then the 3rd hole which is a par 3 is amazing. You come to the tee box and look straight up, and you can barely see the flag. If you are short your ball rolls back to the cart path if not farther down. I brought that up as I was lucky enough to not hit the ball clean and it rolled to the cart path. From here you can’t see the flag, so I grabbed a few clubs and my range finder and sent the other three up to the green. One of them gave me a line to the flag I get a distance and as normal drop the range finder onto the ground. Now every other time I do this it lands and stays. This time it starts rolling down the hill and here I am running after it trying to stop it and grab it. So glad the guys on the green didn’t have a camera watching me chase after my range finder.
Finally on the back 9 there was a par 4 dogleg left that was a really sharp dogleg. Bunkers all along the fairway and the fairway has two levels. I decided to pull my drive and put it at the bottom of the fairway right next to the rocky mountain. Nobody should play a ball from that location as nobody should even think about hitting it there. I walk down to find my ball then walk up to grab my club and back down. Getting my work out for sure. Again, have to have someone on the green give me a view of where the flag is, and I get my yardage and hit the shot. Somehow it lands about 2 feet from the hole for a very improbable birdie.
Conclusion
Wolf Creek was one of the most beautiful golf courses I played ever. The scenery between the mountains, the water and bunkers are amazing. Yes, there are a few holes with water in the desert. Who knew I would lose a few balls in the water while playing golf in the desert. The amount of concrete needed for the cart paths is mind blowing. I don’t know how often the carts need to be maintained for brakes but, you are always riding the brakes going down the hill. If you are willing to pay $325 for the round, I would say it is a must play. I am so glad the group put Wolf Creek on the rounds this year. After the round I was looking forward to a cocktail and cigar to relax from the heights. Now get out and play. Leave a comment if you would like to know more about my play or anything else about Wolf Creek.
