Over the past year Rhodes Ranch Golf Club in Las Vegas has been experiencing some difficult times with their greens. Coming out of overseeding in 2006, they had to completely replace the greens twice.. During the summer months the golf course was completely shut down in order to change the greens and hopefully give them a chance to survive.
Recently I had the opportunity to play this Las Vegas golf course after it had gone through the overseeding process again in 2007. I had played Rhodes Ranch right after they reopened following the summer construction and, as expected, they were kept very long and not very smooth. I was interested to see how the greens had come along after all the trauma of the previous year.
I am happy to confirm that Rhodes Ranch has made a dramatic improvement in the condition of the golf course and greens. This is one of the most impressive turn-arounds I have been witness to. The golf course recently came out of the overseeding process and the grass is filling in nicely. This is a great layout, so it was very reassuring to see the good conditions of this course.
We started our round on the 1st tee which is a very testing par-4 that is only 379 yards. The problems start right off the tee as the fairway is bordered by two bunkers on each side of the fairway. These bunkers restrict the landing area to not more than 20 paces in width. If you happen to find one of these deep bunkers it will require a great shot to get to the green.
The great thing about the green is that it is large and fairly easy to hit. The green is slightly elevated and shots hit short of the green rarely reach the putting surface. After a perfect tee ball I had only 110 yards to a front pin position. I was really interested in seeing just how the greens would react to a ball. To my surprise the ball bounced once and then stopped. I was thinking, wow, that is impressive.
As we approached the greens the excitement was boiling up to see how they putt. The greens had been cut way down and looked like the Rhodes Ranch greens of old. I was extremely happy with the way the greens rolled. They were smooth and quite fast, I would say around 9 on the stempmeter.
The design of Rhodes Ranch Golf Club gives the player the opportunity to shoot a low score. Many of the par-5's can be reached in two shots, but this is offset by some very difficult par-3's. The 3rd hole is one of the toughest par-3's of all Las Vegas golf courses. This long par-3 can play to over 220 yards and has a large pond on the right-hand side of the green. Hit the middle of the green for a chance at par.
The day I played, the first two holes at Rhodes Ranch were cart path only but after that the golf course was open to the 90 degree rule. This is a great golf course for both men and women. They have several sets of tees that can vary the length of the golf course from 5,200-6,900 yards. Most of the fairways are generous and the greens are fairly large. This golf course is fun to play. Rhodes Ranch Golf Club is located in the southwest section of Las Vegas and was designed by Ted Robinson. The rolling hills and slopes in the fairways create some interesting lies that can play havoc with the golfer.
I invite you to play Rhodes Ranch Golf Club, a Las Vegas golf experience that will leave you amazed.
