Angel Park Golf Club - Palm (Las Vegas, NV)

Angel Park is exactly what you’d expect in a place like Las Vegas. It has something for everyone including a nine hole short course and an eighteen hole putt-putt course. Both can be played under the lights, making for a cool experience that extends well past dark. Of course a restaurant and bar is there to keep you satisfied and relaxed. For more serious golfers, two eighteen hole courses provide a traditional challenge in a desert setting.

 

(The putt-putt course and this dramatic waterfall greet you when you arrive at Angel Park. In the background is the par three course called Cloud 9.) 

Arnold Palmer designed the Palm in 1989. It’s a few hundred yards shorter than the Mountain but it has plenty of character. The holes move across the property with several arroyos coming into play. The desert wash plays alongside most fairways. The land moves up and down, creating some exciting shots both off the tees and into the greens. The view of the Red Rock Mountains is the best feature though. They backdrop several of the shots and will etch themselves into your memory far longer than the holes. 

(The 180 yard par three fifth has a two tiered green. Today’s pin is on the lower section.)

(The tee shot on the 523 yard par five sixth plays over the desert. The fairway in pic is for the second shot as the hole zigzags back to the right.) 

My biggest criticism are the water features used to defend some of the holes. This is a desert so they look very much out of place. The fact you can see the liner makes them even more gaudy. The fountain on the ninth is the worst. I feel the desert is plenty enough to protect the course, and the best holes mingle with the arroyos, making for some really cool shots. I also thought the shaping around the greens is too blasé. Granted there’s a lot of new players and high handicappers here, but more defined playing areas would up the enjoyment level. 

(The 404 yard par four seventh is possibly the best hole on the front. With desert wash both left and right off the tee, the player must hit a long straight tee shot followed by a long second to this elevated green.) 

(This is a great view looking back towards the tee on the 456 yard par four tenth. Notice how tenacious the desert terrain can be with the scrawny trees and bushes prohibiting any significant advancement.) 

The routing on the Palm is divided by a long drive under the East Summerlin Pkwy. Holes 1-3 and 14-18 play on the clubhouse side while 4-13 play on the away side. The holes away are crammed into an area that made Palmer come up with poor solution. Both the par three fifth and eighth hole play side by side, making them carbon copies, while the fourth and ninth are not very imaginative short par fours. Together these four holes are forgettable. The only upside is the quality of the other six, including my personal favorite, the par three twelth. 

(The 214 yard par three twelth plays over an arroyo to a green on the other side. A large boulder on the right sets the shot, making a fade the desired ball flight. The putting surface slopes hard towards the rock so those who bailed out will need to judge the weight of their downhill putts.) 
(The view from the 367 yard par four fifteenth shows off the handsome qualities of the desert look.) 

The Palm plays a modest 6,432 yards from the back tees but it’s only a par 70. It’s well suited for most amateur golfers and the mountain air combined with the firm conditions will make it play shorter. I must comment on the turf. There’s a lot of little stones and few times when I took a divot you can see they’re not far below the ground. All the bunkers are filled with them and you have to make sure one is not between your ball and the face of your club. This is not a criticism but rather a pointed commentary on the terrain. None of these things stop the facility from being packed, and with all the amenities, it’s busy day and night. My only regret was not playing Cloud9 at night. It just got ranked as one of the best par three courses in the country. Angel Park is a fun place and the Palm is a 5 (good)(worth driving an hour to play). It’s 15 minutes from the airport. 

(The 204 yard par three seventeenth is another one of my favorites. The arroyo encircles the green and any shot that misses the putting surface will roll back into the desert. If this happens, then it’s hit or miss if you have a shot.) 

(A stone wall elevates the green above the bunker on the 373 yard par four eighteenth. The putting surface is two tiered with the rear being the higher level. Today’s back pin requires a fearless shot over the bunker.) 

(The putt-putt course is on real grass with big slopes or mounds. The cups are double the width of a regular one. It’s lit up at night and hosts plenty of families or couples on a date. What a great idea that could be brought to any city! A course looking to increase its business should really consider this, especially if it already has a bar or restaurant attached.)

[My round was played with three gents from New York City. Man did these guys talk! Often times there was more chatting than playing! We played the blue tees at 5,741 yards. I really thought I’d tear it up but my game was off and I shot a very mediocre 77. That’s +7 for a course under 6,000 yards. It was Super Bowl Sunday and I was very pleased to get on without having a tee time.]

PGA West - Stadium Course (LaQuinta, CA)

          #77 World Top 100 (Golf Magazine)

          #93 Top 100 USA (Golf Digest)

          #71 Top 100 USA (Golf Magazine)

          #91 Top 100 USA Modern (Golfweek)

          #55 Top 100 Public USA (Golf Digest)

          #67 Top 100 Public (Golf Magazine)

          #86 Top 100 USA resort (Golfweek)

          #97 Top 100 Public (Golfweek)

Winter golf in the desert is the best. The weather is nearly perfect everyday with temperatures in the 70s and 80s. There is no wonder why the Tour begins their season here after two weeks in Hawaii. The host courses have always been pleasant affairs where the players could enjoy their rounds, mingle with the stars, and make a ton of birdies. But that changed in 1986 when Pete Dye built the Stadium Course at PGA West. The pros hated it! In fact, they petitioned to kick it off the rotation. And they won. But in doing so they created the most sought after tee time in the country and cemented PGA West’s reputation as the hardest course in the world.

(The 445/358 yard par four first hole is just a mid iron approach. A small slope makes the front pin location the most difficult but typically anything in the middle of the green is a good start.) 

In his book “Bury Me in a Pot Bunker” Pete Dye said this was the worst site he ever worked with to create a golf course. It was barrenless and dead flat. He researched every design feature he ever saw, and came up with a concept that didn’t rely on brute strength. He came up with a design that was strategic by obscuring greens, offsetting targets, deepening bunkers, and creating uncomfortable angles. Pete felt this was a great opportunity for the best to showcase their skills but it introduced hesitation and doubt, two emotions that are just killers in competitive golf. Amateurs on the other hand love the idea of pulling off the miracle shot. 

(The 471/383 yard par four third plays straightaway with a bunker on the left and hills to the right…
…the green is angled in behind a “v” shaped bunker with grassy moguls in the center. It’s a long iron approach that needs to bite before going over. The front right is the target for most amateurs but even that is small. Par is a very good score.) 

I found the course to be more playable than what I was expecting. Off the tee, the stadium mounding could be used to one’s advantage especially if the water or bunkers were too intimidating. This strategy usually lengthened the hole but more times than not your approach would be from the short grass. The fun began at the green complexes. Finding yourself in one of the mounds or deep bunkers was an automatic bogey unless you hit a great shot or made a long putt. I saw my playing companion putt from as far as forty yards off the green through the dormant Bermuda. And he was putting it through the moguls! (He made two incredible pars this way!) 

(The 192/151 par three fourth hole features a tabletop green with a false front that will scuttle the ball ten feet below the putting surface.) 

(The 535/496 yard par five fifth is one of the more intimidating tee shots on the course. Choosing the correct line is vital…
…once you hit safely in the fairway the rest of the hole gives plenty of room to get there in three shots. The long hitter who’s trying to reach in two will have the biggest challenge. Even he has room to bail out. This is one of the few birdie opportunities.) 

Picking the correct set of tees is the biggest factor in how difficult your day will be. The standard 5 handicap will miss eight greens while a mid handicap will miss ten. Those are the numbers from the National Golf Foundation. It’s those recoveries that will make or break your score. If you overestimate your skill level and play a longer tee then you’ll just up your chances to make more big numbers. 

(The monstrous 255/193 yard par three sixth is crazy difficult. This ball eating Goliath will make any amount of anxiety rear it’s ugly head as you try to make a smooth swing. A three here will usually pick up a stroke or two.) 

For any golf aficionado, the opportunity to play here should not be turned down. Often called the “Sawgrass of the West,” it’s interesting to see what design tenets Dye used to combat the professional game. One will notice water and deep bunkers as two obvious tools, but some more nuanced schemes are the amount of dogleg and at what yardage it makes it turn. Often times it turns late, and mounding or dips throw off your depth perception or block your view. It’s hard to see the dimensions of the greens or where the high point is. This has a huge influence on where to properly miss it. Being below the hole is not always possible. This leads to the greens. They are very fast. They’re not overly contoured but they have enough ridges in them that coming over one is cause for concern. 

(Several sleeper bunkers are in view at the 452/382 yard par four ninth. Todays pin is tucked in the back right corner making any type of bailout a truly difficult up n down. Left or long faces a a downhill shot with sand and water staring you in the face.) 

The Stadium course is very difficult. There are several shots that I personally don’t think I can pull off. The mid and high handicaps are going to have their work cut out. Double bogey is a good goal for them. With that in mind, I’m not really sure how serious people should be playing here. The member I played with capped the scores of his threesome to triple bogey. Looking back on the round, the par threes are the biggest threat. Two of them are very long shots with water in play. The island green seventeenth is the showstopper. Thankfully it’s only a mid iron shot. The par fives are all birdie opportunities. The sixteenth has a twenty foot bunker left of the green called San Andreas. If you’ve ever watched the Bob Hope Classic, then you’ve seen this shot. (I vocalized my desire to hit one from the bunker and the member obliged by tossing a ball down there for me. It’s impossible looking!! A big wall of rough looms over you! I took my sand wedge and swiped behind the ball. It easily climbed the height to escape but never had the chance to stay in the green. He just said “yep it always goes over.”)  The par four hours have a lot of variety to them. Dye doesn’t inundated you with a series of long par fours. He tosses in plenty of short ones, and the approaches on those are very exact. I think these are the most memorable. Of course his last hole is a carbon copy of Sawgrass eighteenth. Water all down the left with a tight angle off the tee and into the green.  

(Called the “moat,”the short 363/308 yard par four twelth has a ten foot bunker encircling 270 degrees of the green. It’s just a short iron but it must be precise to get close to the flag. The pin in picture is exceedingly difficult. A ball that lands on top of ridge will trickle close. Anything past that risks skipping into the sand.)

(The brutal 214/167 yard par three thirteenth is pressed hard against the water. Mounds and bunkers hide most of the front. Note how skinny the green gets the further left you go. This is a fantastic par three.)

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. I paid $370 to play here, the most ever for a round of golf. (Whistling Straits was more but that included caddy and gratuity). Is it worth this much? Depends. The member told me that the Nicklaus Private is the best course out of the five that PGA West owns. Whenever someone comes into town, or when he hosts, the only one anybody wants to play is the Stadium. Another bit of information to consider is Sawgrass is getting nearly $600 during peak season, so when comparing oranges to oranges, you’re getting almost the same experience for two-thirds the price! 

(The 600/474 yard par five sixteenth is guarded by the San Andreas bunker. It’s 20 feet deep and even the professionals struggle getting the ball out. One might want to reconsider going for this in two!) 

(The most famous hole in Skins Game history is the 168/131 yard par three seventeenth…
…Lee Trevino aced it for a cool $175,000!!)

The Stadium course is a love it or hate it kinda place. With the minimalism renaissance in full force, it is viewed by many as outdated, manufactured and the prime example of the “archi-torture” era. Those who love it find it to be engaging, interesting, and heroic. I actually think it’s a lot of fun, especially if you’re striking it pretty good. Every hole is a challenge, and if you can somehow keep it within a few of your handicap, then the experience will be one you remember for a long time. PGA West Stadium still stands as one of the toughest courses on the planet, and if you’ve never seen it, then it’s a must play if you find yourself in the region. I give it an 8 (excellent)(worth spending a long weekend). 

(The 439/387 yard par four eighteenth has an exact drive with water and sand guarding both sides. Note the professional tee is left of this view and features a long carry over water…
…the approach is tightly guarded by water. The green slopes away to the rear, shedding most balls long. Any pin in the front is very difficult to attack.) 

[I had a few people tell me I should add my score so I’m putting my round in at the end. First, we played the white tees at 6,166 yards. It was a fair distance and I was able to hit a lot of quality shots. My driver was the real hero as I kept the ball in play and gave myself plenty of chance to make par. Note that I birdied two holes, both on par fives including the San Andreas hole.]