Nevada is state where it can often pay to have a guy on the inside. Throughout 2016, golfers left thousands of reviews on Golf Advisor for many of the top courses to help take a little gamble out of booking a tee time. Nevada's top shelf courses, whether they're in Las Vegas or around Lake Tahoe, have some of the highest green fees in the U.S., so any little assurance that the experience delivers is welcomed.
To compile our state Top 25s, we used a similar method to that of our our national Top 50 ranking. A course's score is based on their overall (50%) rating and subcategory average (50%). Reviews are weighted based on how prolific that reviewer is on Golf Advisor, and a course receives a bump in their rating if their score is better than that reviewer's average score.
Don't see your favorite Nevada golf course? You can make your voice heard by writing a review here.
Top courses by subcategory in Nevada in 2016
Course layout: Snow Mountain at Las Vegas Paiute
Course conditions: Sun Mountain at Las Vegas Paiute
Value: Mountain Falls
Off-course amenities: Las Vegas Paiute
Pace of play: Mountain Falls
Staff friendliness: Genoa Lakes Golf Resort
Top 25 courses in Nevada in 2016
Primm
Las Vegas
Las Vegas
Henderson
Las Vegas
Boulder City
Henderson
Mesquite
Henderson
Las Vegas
Mesquite
Las Vegas
Las Vegas
Genoa
Henderson
Sparks
Stateline
Henderson
Las Vegas
Las Vegas
Incline Village
Coyote Springs
Pahrump
Las Vegas
No. 35 in the U.S. in 2016
Las Vegas
No. 34 in the U.S. in 2016
Huh? No Shadow Creek, Cascata, Wynn, or Southern Highlands? No Clear Creek? No South Shore? And this is the list for the "best" courses in Nevada? I understand how this list is "compiled" but it sure doesn't say much about those logging on to GolfAdvisor and their breadth (or lack thereof) of knowledge of Nevada golf. Shadow Creek is constantly rated one of the best in America, and probably the world. Cascata and Southern Highlands are amazing, and Wynn is as first class an experience as anywhere. Anyone who knows anything about Nevada golf would scoff at this list. I am not a fan of the politics that goes into the Golf Digest lists but it's "Best in State" is much, much more accurate. Anyone relying on this list is "advised" to ignore it. Paiutes are good but a far cry from the best, and Reflection Bay at 11 is way underrated. I've played them all and IMO it goes Shadow, Cascata, Wynn, tie between Clear Creek and S. Highlands (both private), R. Bay/Southshore (they're in the same area, one is public, one is sorta private but accessible) and Wolf Creek is in there somewhere as well since it's so unique. Certainly there is room for healthy debate but how you could leave off the 6 I mentioned above is mind-boggling.
First let me say that I don't think Golf Advisor is for people who can afford and have access to the Wynn, Shadow Creek, etc... While I have played all these courses and agree in principal (Wynn a great experience if you want to throw away $500 with plenty of better ways to spend that money in Vegas) I think for a list of public golf at reasonable rates and access this list is pretty spot on.
Agree! If this is supposed to be a list of good, affordable public golf then yes...but the title is "best" and "top." Wynn, Cascata, and Shadow each have numerous reviews so some GA people are playing them. And I have clicked around GA some more and noticed they did a nice disclaimer on their "Top 50 U.S." (another list that was way off) referring the reader to Ginella's "real" list which was much more accurate IMO (Bandon, Pebble in Top 10, etc). This one links to a U.S. "Top Shelf" courses list but doesn't include any of them in the "best of" list which is bizarre. I guess I don't know what GA is trying to accomplish with this list. If it is the best value then say so. If it's "here's our readers' favorites but our readers don't play the best courses often so keep that in mind list" fine. But to call it "best" or "top" golf is laughable.
Perhaps TA is trying to get people fired up so they will get more page visits, clicks, and reviews and in turn more ad revenue. I noticed they even encourage people to write reviews if they don't see a course they like on the list....but to even publish this "list" under the headline "Best of 2016" and "Top Nevada Golf Courses" is totally misleading...no matter how it's compiled. The powers that be here at GA are obviously well-traveled and avid players (Tucker, Deegan, Ginella, etc). I am sure they've heard of and probably played all the courses I listed in my first post. How they could let this list out with that headline is beyond me...even if it's their funky "reviews/reviewer reputation" formula that spits this list out.
The point of my rant is if you're going to Nevada and want to play it's "best" courses, ignore this list. If you want to play decent/good public golf with decent value this list not bad (IMO it should be R.B. then Wolf Creek then Paiute Wolf as 1,2,3). Now all of you kids get off my lawn! haha.