When complete in summer 2019, the academy will offer one-, two- and three-day golf school options for juniors and adults and will be open to beginner and more advanced players.ĭutt said the academy will be the only facility in southern Nevada of its kind and will include an existing range, a short game area, putting green and clubfitting equipment, including Track-Man technology. The final three holes are especially notable: a par 3 with a green across a canyon, and back-to-back par 4s that follow the rolling landscape.Įven The Falls course is getting some use again - three holes are part of a new Golf Academy led by former PGA TOUR players Craig Barlow (who shares the low round of 64 from the tips at Reflection Bay) and Jeff Gallagher. The course features some dramatic elevation changes, with a handful of tee boxes 100 feet and more above fairways, providing tremendous views of the area. We have a new fleet of golf carts with GPS coming in soon, we have new maintenance equipment coming later this year and we’ve replaced the beverage carts with five drink stations located around the course.”Īt South Shore CC, limited outside play is part of stay-and-play packages or available through reciprocal deals with other country clubs. We’re through Phase 1 and now we’re talking about aspects that will take it to another level. “But it’s two to three times better than it was when I got here. “Right now, Reflection Bay is about 65 percent of where I want it to be,” he said.
#Reflection bay golf course reopening professional#
The views across the lake are memorable.”ĭutt’s expectations for course conditions are a bit different from others’, given his long history of organizing professional tournaments in the area. There aren’t a lot of forced carries, and the ones that do exist are pretty easy. “It’s actually a very fun course for women and higher handicaps too. “The more I play it, the more I like it,” said Dutt. The last two holes on each nine play directly along the western edge of Lake Las Vegas. Reflection Bay, which ranked among Golf Digest’s America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses from 2003 to 2007, reopened in 2014.
“Our focus is on improving the golf experience across the board and working with hotel partners here and on the Strip regarding stay-and-play packages.” “We’ve been working on course conditioning and have built a new grill room, among other changes,” he said. He is leading the ambitious renovation work both on and off the course. In 2017 he also brought in Dutt, now the director of golf operations for Reflection Bay GC. “He renovated Reflection Bay and took 12 holes of The Falls course for real estate development.” “He recognized that golf would be an integral part of res-urrecting the real estate communities,” said Eric Dutt, a Las Vegas native and veteran of the area’s golf scene. In 2014, he also purchased Reflection Bay and The Falls, which by then were ghost courses lying fallow. He saw an opportunity in the downturn, acquiring real estate assets through a bankruptcy auction. The Falls ceased operations in 2009 and Reflection Bay shut down in 2010.Įnter John Paulson, a hedge fund manager from New York City. But not long afterwards the real estate market collapsed, with Las Vegas hit especially hard. The growth continued in 2007 when a Tom Weiskopf design called The Falls debuted. A number of residential communities were built, as were two hotels (a Westin, which recently underwent a $40 million renovation, and a Hilton) with a combined 850 rooms.
A private Jack Nicklaus designed course called South Shore CC opened in 1995, while Reflection Bay GC, a high-end daily fee course also designed by Nicklaus, followed three years later directly across the lake. Located 25 minutes southeast of the famous Strip, the sprawling residential community was centered on a 320-acre lake. When Lake Las Vegas debuted in the mid-1990s, there was nothing comparable in the area. But it’s happening right now in Las Vegas, where one course and part of another have been coming back to life. But news about previously closed golf courses reopening and actually thriving? That’s about as rare as a U.S. You won’t struggle to find stories about golf courses either losing money or shutting their doors these days.
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