Played a round of golf at 5:30am Sunday and found the course in great shape except some greens looked like they were just aerated. According to the staff it was due to the water change, the greens we... Continue »

Played a round of golf at 5:30am Sunday and found the course in great shape except some greens looked like they were just aerated. According to the staff it was due to the water change, the greens were not accepting the change to reclaimed water so they had to aerate some green to help it along. The pace of play was fast, although we were the second group to tee off for the day the group behind us were never closer that a full hole. I am a slow golfer so to finish a round of golf in under 4 hours is awesome. Love the layout of the course, very deceiving from the tee box. It looks tighter that it really is. I expect to play this course more often after this round.

Played here on April 5th on an internet special (1:00 tee time = $70)
Fun little course. Played from the whites because I was put into a group of guys who were novices and since I had never played h... Continue »

Played here on April 5th on an internet special (1:00 tee time = $70)
Fun little course. Played from the whites because I was put into a group of guys who were novices and since I had never played here, figured it would be more fun if we all played from the same tees. Looking back, I wish I had played the blues, just because the length was pretty short.

The course is not very long, but is challenging for the following reasons: 1) there is no rough; if you miss the f'way, you will probably roll into the desert; 2) the greens were not receptive. it took me 6 holes to realize that you have to hit 20 yards short of the hole and let it roll from there. Putting was really tough, but fun (undulations, fast greens) and everything rolled TRUE.

Service was great from everybody. They do a fun challenge on the 16th hole (a par 3). One of the pro shop guys makes a bet with you: if you buy a $30 gift certificate from him on the tee, he lets you hit your tee shot and if you hit the green, then he has to hit a tee shot. If he can't hit it closer than you, he will double your gift certificate amount. I was planning on buying something after the round so it made sense to give it a try. I hit it pin high, but 3 feet off the green to the right. d%mn !

Overall, a s tourist who likes to play different courses, I would not play here anytime soon, but if I was a regular, I'd like to get another chance at those greens. I shot a 45 on the from thanks to a couple of blow-up holes, but a decent 38 on the back once I figured out that driver is not even necessary on many holes.

quick hole tip: #9 and #18 run parallel to each other. If you are gonna miss the fway on nine, miss right and you are fine; likewise, on 18, miss left. You will be fine in either situation as long as you miss the strip of waste bunker between the fairways.

Played 11-9-13 first out as a twosome with sixpez. Overall course is in good shape. Tee boxes were lush and level. Fairways were some of the best I have played on in awhile, very lush and surpisingly ... Continue »

Played 11-9-13 first out as a twosome with sixpez. Overall course is in good shape. Tee boxes were lush and level. Fairways were some of the best I have played on in awhile, very lush and surpisingly a lot of roll for over seeded rye. Rough is bermuda and going dormant but still ok to hit from. Sand traps were on the thin side. Greens were in nice shape rolling true with medium/fast speed. A lot of undulation in these greens so not very many straight putts.

Played here early Saturday morning with rgm2525. We had the 6:20 tee time. The online booking price was $99 for the early morning rate. It was expensive, but was a relatively OK deal when considering ... Continue »

Played here early Saturday morning with rgm2525. We had the 6:20 tee time. The online booking price was $99 for the early morning rate. It was expensive, but was a relatively OK deal when considering most of the morning times that day were going for $199. Though not super cold, there was a minor frost delay. Still, we ended up teeing off around 6:45 and were done by 9:30 as a twosome, so no issues with pace. The course was in great shape, easily the best overall of the 5 courses I played this weekend. The tee boxes and fairways were perfect. If I could play fairways like this every day, I'd be a very happy golfer. They provided more roll-out than they looked like they would and every lie on them was perched up perfectly. The rough is shaved down semi-dormant bermuda. It's nice to hit from and not penal at all. Unfortunately, it takes away a little from the overall aesthetic "framing" of the fairways because the color is a splotchy mix of browns and greens. It will look way nicer when it's completely dormant tan/gold. The greens were very nice. A tad firm, but would hold well struck shots. Very hard to read these greens for some reason. On approach shots, many are well protected by bunkers and mounds, so it's hard to know where to land without local knowledge. We hit many shots that seemed good, but ended up in a run-off area or on the wrong shelf of the green. The bunkers had great sand. Only minor nit-picky complaint is that the fairways bunkers were probably too soft. Would rather those have firmer surfaces. I'm a little conflicted on this course. The conditions were nice and the layout was fun. I always love Dye courses and this has many of the hallmarks you want and expect. However, I couldn't imagine ever paying up to $200 to play here. It's a good course shoehorned into not-that-great a location and the overall facilities (clubhouse, parking lot, etc.) didn't present really like a "high-end" club. I'm all about the golf, so I don't put that much stock into those things, but I figure it's worth noting as some people might when shelling out a lot of cash to play here.

This course is in really good condition. I have no complaints other than the Las Vegas Hurricane winds, but that's not the course's fault.

Greens were amazing, fairways and rough were lush, and bu... Continue »

This course is in really good condition. I have no complaints other than the Las Vegas Hurricane winds, but that's not the course's fault.

Greens were amazing, fairways and rough were lush, and bunkers were perfect.

Capped off the trip at Desert Pines. I knew going in it would be tough since it was a Pete Dye course but compared to Lost Canyons and some of Mr. Dye’s other creations I've played Desert Pines seemed... Continue »

Capped off the trip at Desert Pines. I knew going in it would be tough since it was a Pete Dye course but compared to Lost Canyons and some of Mr. Dye’s other creations I've played Desert Pines seemed pretty tame. I was hitting the ball mostly straight that day so that helped since the fairways are rather narrow. Greens were in excellent condition rolling fast and challenging. Pretty small although with lots of intimating approaches due to water and of course Pete Dye signature bunkers. Fairways were lush but more divot damage than I expected. Service was excellent and Pace of Play 4 ½ on a weekday. I enjoyed this course.

Went to Vegas this past weekend, and played this course, the rates are obviously quite low because it is the middle of Summer. Pace of play not an issue, we only saw about 3 other groups the whole da... Continue »

Went to Vegas this past weekend, and played this course, the rates are obviously quite low because it is the middle of Summer. Pace of play not an issue, we only saw about 3 other groups the whole day, and they were on other holes. The customer service was excellent all around. There were no cart girls, but there is a snack shop at the turn.

The tee boxes were in good shape, you can tell they are rotated frequently, and were never an issue. The par 3's were just as good as all the others, which is rarely the case at most courses.

The fairways were sub-par in my opinion. Tons of divot damage, which was filled with seed/sand mix but they were on basically every single hole and tons of damage all across the fairways. Also noticed a few bare/brown patches on some of the fairways, but they were not really in play.

The rough was one of the best aspects, was very level throughout, and in great lush shape. Was not to penal, but definitely affected your shot and approach as it should. The rough around the greens was also in excellent shape, as well as the green side bunkers. I did not actually visit any of the green side bunkers, but my partners did and the sand looked to be in really good shape. THe fairway bunkers were a little more compact, which I suspect is on purpose to make the escape a little easier.

My biggest gripe of the day was the greens. They ran slow-awakward. I have heard that they keep the greens longer in summer months so they don't get baked out. But these were extremely slow and quite unpredictable. Balls would stop rolling half way there on a downhill putt. On top of that there were 40+ pitch marks on every green. With at least 10 not being repaired. When you were putting over them it made the ball skip and bounce, and usually go off line. This aspect was especially frustrating. I was not going to spend 15 minutes on every green fixing marks.

Overall, I would play the course again, because the layout and challenge was excellent. I enjoyed the style of the course and think Pete Dye has created a nice course here. With current conditions I would say its not worth the fee, and would wait till the Fall when temps cool.

Desert Pines Golf Club Review
Las Vegas Nevada Golf Course Reviews

Played this course for the first time on 9/13/2011. It is located just north and east of downtown Las Vegas.
The staff was as friendly as could be when I arrived. I was given a card for a bucket of b... Continue »

Played this course for the first time on 9/13/2011. It is located just north and east of downtown Las Vegas.
The staff was as friendly as could be when I arrived. I was given a card for a bucket of balls before teeing off, even without having prepaid for them. They have a large driving range adjacent to the course surrounded by protective netting on all sides.
The course is called Desert Pines because it is populated with pine trees throughout. It is an enclosed course, no housing adjacent, although you can hear traffic on adjoining streets on a few holes.
The fairways are narrow, and if you stray from them you will most likely end up with a lie on a rocky dirt that will at least be managable, although you will want to be careful to pick out the larger rocks before you swing lest you damage your club head.
The course plays at 6810 yards from the back tees which I played, but it plays shorter because the fairways are very hard and fast. Greens are bent grass and in good shape. They were getting ready to overseed the next day.
This is a Pete Dye design with many of his trademarks - the railroad ties, large mounds in the fairway and near the greens, multi-tiered greens with deceptively small landing areas, water on 10 holes. If you are hitting it straight off the tee it's a real roller-coaster down the super-hard fairway as your ball hops along and among the mounds.
There is a good variety of holes, short and long par fours, short and long par fives, water on the right on some holes on the left on others. The 18th hole, a 466-yard dogleg left par 4, is a classic Dye design with water left. You can bail out right off the tee but that means a longer shot coming in to a green that still has water on the left side. The 15th hole is a short (341 yard) dogleg par four with water right, that invites you to bite off as much of the dogleg as you dare to make your second shot shorter. Even then, with a back-right flag, the approach shot is intimidating, with a large bunker in front of the flag and water right and long. All the holes give you something to think about and force you to choose among the various risk-reward scenarios.
My playing partner and I had some trouble with yardage estimation. There's no GPS in the carts, and there are very few yardage markers in the fairways. It's often better to play bump-and-run shots into the greens because the fairways and greens are so hard that it's easy to end up long if you fly it at the flag. We both got into trouble on a couple of holes by underestimating the yardage to a hazard or having the ball roll farther than expected.
All in all, this was an extremely fun course to play. Great design that makes you think and that rewards good shots. I'll look forward to the next chance I get to play it.

Played the course last Saturday. Pace of play was ok - One group holding a couple groups up. Greens were nice; Fairways on the back 9 were very thin and dry (don't understand why the front 9 is better... Continue »

Played the course last Saturday. Pace of play was ok - One group holding a couple groups up. Greens were nice; Fairways on the back 9 were very thin and dry (don't understand why the front 9 is better); tee boxes were good.
Relatively short course - but certainly a nice landscaping and layout.