Southern Highlands G.C. in Las Vegas: A private golf Shangri-La owned by Pacific Links
LAS VEGAS -- As beautiful as the 7,374-yard golf course is, it might be tempting just to hang out all day at the gorgeous Tuscan-style clubhouse at the private and exclusive Southern Highlands Golf Club.
The 42,000-square-foot clubhouse, perched on high ground overlooking the Las Vegas Strip, has been named the no. 1 clubhouse in the country by the Golf Digest Index. The Spa Southern Highlands inside rivals any resort with a fitness center, treatment rooms, a lap pool and outdoor Jacuzzi and poolside cabanas.
Golfers are spoiled with just as much opulence outside.
Each nine of the design by Robert Trent Jones Sr. and Jr. (completed in 2000) finishes with an epic par 5. Waterfalls cascade into a pond protecting the left side of the ninth fairway and green. A winding stream zigzags through the 603-yard 18th hole. The hazards on both holes are as beautiful as they are intimidating.
As the home of the UNLV men's golf team, Southern Highlands hosts the Collegiate Masters every spring. Pacific Links, a Canadian company that operates a network of private clubs and public courses around the world, owns two other high-end private clubs near Las Vegas -- DragonRidge Country Club and SouthShore Golf Club -- but it's hard to beat a day at its fabulous Southern Highlands Golf Club.