How many of you have played these courses? What did you think?
From South Central Golf Magazine
By David R. Holland
Everywhere one looks in the vast, wild west areas of California and Nevada, surrounding Reno, Lake Tahoe and Truckee, are nature scenes that remind me of a Reno billboard, sporting a sunset scene of Carson City’s Sierra Nevada backdrop, that once proclaimed, “Build this Las Vegas.”
Fake versus natural, which one do you prefer?
Here’s a couple of examples: Giant granite boulders encircle Coyote Moon’s signature green site at the par five, No. 12, with towering Ponderosa Pines forming a backdrop and Trout Creek roiling nearby. This natural amphitheater is almost surreal.
Looking far down Edgewood Tahoe’s No. 16 fairway, snow blankets the Sierra Nevada mountains in the distance, tumbling down to touch spectacular Lake Tahoe. Your next swing is a par three right on the beach of one of the world’s most beautiful lakes.
This could be your favorite golf vacation if you just give it a try. It has scenery, casinos, ski resorts, boating, fishing, and the ambiance of the old west mixed with the glitzy west. Dine atop Harrah’s Lake Tahoe at Friday’s Station Steak and Seafood with an 18th floor view of the sunset or have a barbeque on the patio of the ritzy five-star Resort at Squaw Creek with the ski runs of the 1960 Olympics in the panorama.
And while the Lake Tahoe area courses close for the chilly season from October until May, the weather can still be beautiful and warm in Reno at 4,500 in elevation.
Where to start might be the question. Take Reno first. The “Biggest Little City” is growing up and doesn’t seem to have a “cow chip” on its shoulder concerning Las Vegas. You can head out from the airport just seven miles for D’Andrea Golf Club, a Keith Foster design that uses rugged foothills, desert canyons and high points on the back nine that opens up views of Reno on its roller-coaster 6,849 yard, par 71 journey.
LakeRidge is another favorite in Reno. Opened in 1969 and designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., you won’t forget its signature hole, No. 15, which sits atop a rocky ridge looking 140 feet down to an island green, 239 yards away, over a part of Lake Stanley. First thought is “no way”, but a well struck three metal will be plenty. Hard to believe you have climbed 350 feet from the clubhouse to this high point on a memorable routing of 6,715 yards at par 71.
Reno has other worthy courses – Red Hawk, Wolf Run, ArrowCreek, Northgate, and Wildcreek are all worth a try before heading 30 minutes south to Carson City. Nearby is the small town of Genoa, home to Genoa Lakes Golf Club featuring 36 holes. The Lakes Course, designed by Peter Jacobsen and John Harbottle, measures 7,359 yards at par 72. It is an award-winner picked third best course in Nevada at one time. Water comes into play on 14 of the 18 holes with crossings of a tributary of the Carson River, wetlands, ponds, and abundant use of bunkers. Big sycamores and oak trees are also featured in the landscape.
Its sister course is the old Sierra Nevada Golf Ranch, now named the Resort Course. This Johnny Miller and Harbottle design takes advantage of the jagged Sierra Nevada’s eastern foothills to give you wide open vistas, 300 feet of elevation changes, 100 bunkers and wild bounces off some sloping terrain. Another quality selection in the area is Dayton Valley Golf & Country Club.
Carson City is ripe with reminders of Nevada’s rowdy days of gambling and mining. In this area, the Comstock lode era gave birth to the nickname “Silver State”. Here you can see the state capitol, museums, historical points and dine at Red’s Old 395 Grill. And from Carson City it is only a short drive uphill to Lake Tahoe.
On the south shore of the lake is Edgewood Tahoe, which is purely one of the most strikingly beautiful golf courses in the world. It annually hosts the July, nationally televised (NBC) American Century Championship, a celebrity tour event with a field of 75 sports and entertainment stars.
First designed by George Fazio and updated by his nephew Tom, Edgewood Tahoe measures 7,445 yards at par 72. The views of the lake on the finishing three holes are unparalleled. The sixteenth is a par five with a huge pine to negotiate in the middle of the fairway then massive bunkers guarding the approach.
Seventeen is a gorgeous 207-yard par three on the banks of the lake and the finale is a risk-reward award-winner of 572 yards. Rated by Golf Magazine as one of the “Top 500 Holes in the World”, this reachable par five dares you to go for eagle, but anything less than perfect could be a double bogey in the pond which fronts the green.
The south shore is home to casinos, hotels, dining and outdoors opportunities that include skiing in the winter and boating and fishing in the summer. To find even more spectacular golf, head north from the south shore in either direction.
Incline Village has two golf courses on the north shore. The Mountain Course, a par 58 designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., rises in elevation with narrow fairways bounded by towering pines. The Championship Course, designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr., is also tight, tree-lined and heavily guarded by bunkers and water hazards. Don’t miss the spectacular view of the lake from the sixteenth tee box.
The Resort at Squaw Creek rolls through meadows next to the ski runs of the 1960 Winter Olympics.
This Robert Trent Jones Jr. design is an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary because of its commitment toward natural, no pesticide greens-keeping methods.
Just 10 miles north of Squaw Creek is Truckee, home to Coyote Moon and Old Greenwood. Coyote Moon sits in a tranquil mountain setting at more than 6,300 feet, a 7,177-yard, par 72 designed by former PGA Tour player Brad Bell. It includes 250 secluded acres of rolling hills, granite boulders the size of houses, towering pines and wildflowers without a single home to spoil the view.
Coyote Moon has dramatic changes in elevation, forced carries, trees in the middle of fairways that are sloped and always seem to dive in the opposite direction of the dogleg. The real beauty of the course begins on the back nine, where the par-5 No. 12 features the huge boulders rising from bunkers, and the next hole, a par three that dives downward 100 feet over Trout Creek, to a what looks to be a miniscule green 227 yards away.
Old Greenwood, a Jack Nicklaus Signature design, could be the most playable Nicklaus 18 you have ever teed it on. It is only minutes away from world-class skiing and offers luxury cabins and town homes for purchase. The course is a hefty 7,518-yard, par 72, and was christened on August 30, 2004, by the threesome of Nicklaus, Jack Nicklaus II and Peter Jacobsen.
From Truckee, head north about an hour on California 89 to the boondocks areas of Clio, Portola, and Graeagle. This is truly rustic California built on logging, but firmly planted in tourism now because of its pristine lakes, scenic valley, and a slower pace you never thought existed in the Golden State.
Graeagle is only about an hour from Lake Tahoe and less than that to Reno. Portola, the only incorporated city in Plumas County, is intersected by the Union Pacific Railroad and the Middle Fork of the Feather River. Nearby Lake Davis is well known for excellent trophy trout fishing and camping.
Whitehawk Ranch Golf Club is rated No. 11 in California by Golfweek, and is set in the scenic Mohawk Valley, once a cow-patty field, with flowered meadows and narrow fairways lined with pines, cedars and quaking aspens. Ponds and streams also dare you to be brazen from the tee. Dick Bailey designed this beauty and the 18th, a par 5, is a winner. The fairway splits on this 558-yard hole, but keep it in play and you will have a birdie chance on this double-tiered green.
The newest opening is the area, Grizzly Ranch, near Hallelujah Junction and Portola, is a private club with a few tee times a day for the public. Talk about a totally enjoyable wilderness hike in the mountains. This 7,411 yard, par 72 journey winds through huge trees with elevations gains, rolling terrain and natural barrancas. But designer Bob Cupp made it walkable even through rugged land.
Other selections nearby include Nakoma Golf Resort, formerly known as The Dragon at Gold Mountain, and Plumas Pines Golf Resort.
There you have it. Lake Tahoe, Reno, Carson City and Graeagle – if you ever dare to come you might never want to leave.
David R. Holland is a former sportswriter for The Dallas Morning News and author of The Colorado Golf Bible. He writes for four regional golf magazines, one national golf magazine and one international golf magazine.
How many of you have played these courses? What did you think?
From South Central Golf Magazine
By David R. Holland
Everywhere one looks in the vast, wild west areas of California and Nevada, surrounding Reno, Lake Tahoe and Truckee, are nature scenes that remind me of a Reno billboard, sporting a sunset scene of Carson City’s Sierra Nevada backdrop, that once proclaimed, “Build this Las Vegas.”
Fake versus natural, which one do you prefer?
Here’s a couple of examples: Giant granite boulders encircle Coyote Moon’s signature green site at the par five, No. 12, with towering Ponderosa Pines forming a backdrop and Trout Creek roiling nearby. This natural amphitheater is almost surreal.
Looking far down Edgewood Tahoe’s No. 16 fairway, snow blankets the Sierra Nevada mountains in the distance, tumbling down to touch spectacular Lake Tahoe. Your next swing is a par three right on the beach of one of the world’s most beautiful lakes.
This could be your favorite golf vacation if you just give it a try. It has scenery, casinos, ski resorts, boating, fishing, and the ambiance of the old west mixed with the glitzy west. Dine atop Harrah’s Lake Tahoe at Friday’s Station Steak and Seafood with an 18th floor view of the sunset or have a barbeque on the patio of the ritzy five-star Resort at Squaw Creek with the ski runs of the 1960 Olympics in the panorama.
And while the Lake Tahoe area courses close for the chilly season from October until May, the weather can still be beautiful and warm in Reno at 4,500 in elevation. Where to start might be the question. Take Reno first. The “Biggest Little City” is growing up and doesn’t seem to have a “cow chip” on its shoulder concerning Las Vegas. You can head out from the airport just seven miles for D’Andrea Golf Club, a Keith Foster design that uses rugged foothills, desert canyons and high points on the back nine that opens up views of Reno on its roller-coaster 6,849 yard, par 71 journey.
LakeRidge is another favorite in Reno. Opened in 1969 and designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., you won’t forget its signature hole, No. 15, which sits atop a rocky ridge looking 140 feet down to an island green, 239 yards away, over a part of Lake Stanley. First thought is “no way”, but a well struck three metal will be plenty. Hard to believe you have climbed 350 feet from the clubhouse to this high point on a memorable routing of 6,715 yards at par 71.
Reno has other worthy courses – Red Hawk, Wolf Run, ArrowCreek, Northgate, and Wildcreek are all worth a try before heading 30 minutes south to Carson City. Nearby is the small town of Genoa, home to Genoa Lakes Golf Club featuring 36 holes. The Lakes Course, designed by Peter Jacobsen and John Harbottle, measures 7,359 yards at par 72. It is an award-winner picked third best course in Nevada at one time. Water comes into play on 14 of the 18 holes with crossings of a tributary of the Carson River, wetlands, ponds, and abundant use of bunkers. Big sycamores and oak trees are also featured in the landscape.
Its sister course is the old Sierra Nevada Golf Ranch, now named the Resort Course. This Johnny Miller and Harbottle design takes advantage of the jagged Sierra Nevada’s eastern foothills to give you wide open vistas, 300 feet of elevation changes, 100 bunkers and wild bounces off some sloping terrain. Another quality selection in the area is Dayton Valley Golf & Country Club.
Carson City is ripe with reminders of Nevada’s rowdy days of gambling and mining. In this area, the Comstock lode era gave birth to the nickname “Silver State”. Here you can see the state capitol, museums, historical points and dine at Red’s Old 395 Grill. And from Carson City it is only a short drive uphill to Lake Tahoe. On the south shore of the lake is Edgewood Tahoe, which is purely one of the most strikingly beautiful golf courses in the world. It annually hosts the July, nationally televised (NBC) American Century Championship, a celebrity tour event with a field of 75 sports and entertainment stars. First designed by George Fazio and updated by his nephew Tom, Edgewood Tahoe measures 7,445 yards at par 72. The views of the lake on the finishing three holes are unparalleled. The sixteenth is a par five with a huge pine to negotiate in the middle of the fairway then massive bunkers guarding the approach.
Seventeen is a gorgeous 207-yard par three on the banks of the lake and the finale is a risk-reward award-winner of 572 yards. Rated by Golf Magazine as one of the “Top 500 Holes in the World”, this reachable par five dares you to go for eagle, but anything less than perfect could be a double bogey in the pond which fronts the green.
The south shore is home to casinos, hotels, dining and outdoors opportunities that include skiing in the winter and boating and fishing in the summer. To find even more spectacular golf, head north from the south shore in either direction.
Incline Village has two golf courses on the north shore. The Mountain Course, a par 58 designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., rises in elevation with narrow fairways bounded by towering pines. The Championship Course, designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr., is also tight, tree-lined and heavily guarded by bunkers and water hazards. Don’t miss the spectacular view of the lake from the sixteenth tee box. The Resort at Squaw Creek rolls through meadows next to the ski runs of the 1960 Winter Olympics.
This Robert Trent Jones Jr. design is an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary because of its commitment toward natural, no pesticide greens-keeping methods.
Just 10 miles north of Squaw Creek is Truckee, home to Coyote Moon and Old Greenwood. Coyote Moon sits in a tranquil mountain setting at more than 6,300 feet, a 7,177-yard, par 72 designed by former PGA Tour player Brad Bell. It includes 250 secluded acres of rolling hills, granite boulders the size of houses, towering pines and wildflowers without a single home to spoil the view.
Coyote Moon has dramatic changes in elevation, forced carries, trees in the middle of fairways that are sloped and always seem to dive in the opposite direction of the dogleg. The real beauty of the course begins on the back nine, where the par-5 No. 12 features the huge boulders rising from bunkers, and the next hole, a par three that dives downward 100 feet over Trout Creek, to a what looks to be a miniscule green 227 yards away.
Old Greenwood, a Jack Nicklaus Signature design, could be the most playable Nicklaus 18 you have ever teed it on. It is only minutes away from world-class skiing and offers luxury cabins and town homes for purchase. The course is a hefty 7,518-yard, par 72, and was christened on August 30, 2004, by the threesome of Nicklaus, Jack Nicklaus II and Peter Jacobsen.
From Truckee, head north about an hour on California 89 to the boondocks areas of Clio, Portola, and Graeagle. This is truly rustic California built on logging, but firmly planted in tourism now because of its pristine lakes, scenic valley, and a slower pace you never thought existed in the Golden State.
Graeagle is only about an hour from Lake Tahoe and less than that to Reno. Portola, the only incorporated city in Plumas County, is intersected by the Union Pacific Railroad and the Middle Fork of the Feather River. Nearby Lake Davis is well known for excellent trophy trout fishing and camping.
Whitehawk Ranch Golf Club is rated No. 11 in California by Golfweek, and is set in the scenic Mohawk Valley, once a cow-patty field, with flowered meadows and narrow fairways lined with pines, cedars and quaking aspens. Ponds and streams also dare you to be brazen from the tee. Dick Bailey designed this beauty and the 18th, a par 5, is a winner. The fairway splits on this 558-yard hole, but keep it in play and you will have a birdie chance on this double-tiered green.
The newest opening is the area, Grizzly Ranch, near Hallelujah Junction and Portola, is a private club with a few tee times a day for the public. Talk about a totally enjoyable wilderness hike in the mountains. This 7,411 yard, par 72 journey winds through huge trees with elevations gains, rolling terrain and natural barrancas. But designer Bob Cupp made it walkable even through rugged land.
Other selections nearby include Nakoma Golf Resort, formerly known as The Dragon at Gold Mountain, and Plumas Pines Golf Resort.
There you have it. Lake Tahoe, Reno, Carson City and Graeagle – if you ever dare to come you might never want to leave.
David R. Holland is a former sportswriter for The Dallas Morning News and author of The Colorado Golf Bible. He writes for four regional golf magazines, one national golf magazine and one international golf magazine.
Planning your trip
Golf the High Sierra, www.golfthehighsierra.com
Where to stay
Carson City, Gold Dust West, (775) 885-9000
South Lake Tahoe, MontBleu Resort Casino & Spa, (888) 829-7630
The Resort at Squaw Creek, (530) 583-6300
Truckee, Holiday Inn Express, (530) 587-9999
Townhomes at Whitehawk Ranch, (800) 332-4295
Reno, Circus Circus, (800) 648-5010