Las Vegas: Now On My A List
By Scott A. Sumner
Thunder Bay Business
Many people have a list, a list of places that they want to visit, experience and find out about first hand. Las Vegas was on my list and I decided to see it for myself. The 2008 Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open PGA event was also on so I was able to see
the city, a PGA Tour event and play some desert golf in onne trip! As I have found out several times this year Northwest Airlines provides excellent service to many US cities including Las Vegas. You leave Thunder Bay at 7am and arrive in Las Vegas at 10:50am. That’s pretty good even with the 3 hour time change! Flying into Las Vegas you see the desert setting first hand and realize this is a city built up in a geographic setting that is not lush to say the least. In fact it
reminded me much of my trip earlier this year to Dubai.
My stay in Las Vegas was to be at the beautiful 545 room JW Marriott Golf Resort and Spa. Incidently the PR person for the resort, Lisa Roughley is a native of Dryden, Ontario. How’s that for karma! This hotel is located some 20 minutes for the strip and is in amoungst many
beautiful desert golf courses. The JW property was originally developed by a Swedish company at a cost of some $300 million dollars and has since been purchased by a Toronto based firm. It really is a fabulous property that includes great restaurants, a great pool area and a spectacular spa. The spa includes the best gym area I have seen in my travels and a great selection of spa services. I was lucky enough to experience a great massage and facial done by really good staff. The JW Marriott Las Vegas is a relaxing place to be.
After the golf day is over you can gamble at a casino right on the JW property or take their complimentary shuttle downtown to the strip. My first trip to Las Vegas allowed me some nights to see the glitz and magnitude of the largest gaming city in the world! Earlier this year I had experienced gambling at Reno/ Lake Tahoe, Biloxi Miss issippi and in the UP of Michigan. The magnitude of Las Vegas is like no other gambling city. It really is a spectacular setting you have to see. My gambling stops included the Mirage, Treasure Island, Ceasar's Palace, Venetian, Bellagio, and the Winn. It was fun to see a tremendous show by Las Vegas Entertainer of the Year, Danny Gans. He has his own 1250 seat theatre in the Mirage and sells out 4 nights per week with ticket prices of $110. Las Vegas is a city of money. The casinos were packed
each night I was there. No economic downturn here it seemed!
One of the most known courses of Las Vegas is the TPC Las Vegas, previously home to several PGA and Champion Tours events. Owned by the PGA Tour this was my first of two course I would play in Las Vegas. “ TPC Las Vegas opened in November 1996 with course designer Bobby Weed along with Raymond Floyd as architects. The course was named the TPC Canyons until December of last year. We renamed TPC Las Vegas to help capture a market that might relate to the name Las Vegas vs Canyon. The TPC at Summerlin is our sister course in Las Vegas and private,” said Brad Church, Sales and Marketing Director for TPC Las Vegas. “ The terrain makes it a special course. It is a purely desert golf course
and a member of the Natural Audubon Society”.
My next course at Las Vegas was Badlands, a 27 hole facility. Badlands opened up in 1995 as an original 18 with the Desperado and Diablo nines designed by Johnny Miller in collaboration with Chi Chi Rodrigous. The third nine was built in 1997 and is called the Outlaw
nine.
“ The Outlaw nine is a little more different as it is more forgiving. The nines are all unique. The first 18 is a target desert course for the thinking golfer,” smiled Chad Pettingill, GM of Badlands. Originally from Utah, Chad has worked all over the place for Troon
golf, the management company of Badlands and is a golf professional as well.
The owner of Badlands developed Queens Ridge a gated exclusive resort where Badlands is situated. Residents here include business people, casino owners and politicians. The smaller houses in the development are $500,000 to $600,000 now and were a $1 million a year ago. Some of the houses are in the 25,000 square feet range and sell for $14 to $20
million dollars.
You can’t beat the weather in Las Vegas. It only rains a couple times per year. Each day of my trip to Las Vegas featured bright sunshine and temperatures of 82-87 Degrees F . If you want to play some great golf in perfect temperatures and then have the evening hours for some exciting entertainment activities, Las Vegas is the place to be!
