Golf Mesquite, Nevada
Story by: Cynthia Boal Janssens
Photos by: Chet Janssens
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| “Golf Mesquite Nevada” offers many attractive packages. |
There are several places in the U.S. where you can play excellent golf at reasonable rates. Myrtle Beach and Northern Michigan immediately come to mind, but a lesser known place is Mesquite, Nevada.
Mesquite is a small town located about an hour and a half northeast of Las Vegas, almost in Utah. It is easily accessible because most people can fly into Vegas fairly cheaply, and it is right off Interstate 15. It offers affordable rooms in its casino hotels and affordable golf on a collection of courses that is quite impressive.
Nine courses in the Mesquite area and some in Southern Utah have joined together to promote themselves as “Golf Mesquite Nevada” and they offer many attractive packages.
My husband Chet and I visited Mesquite to participate in the “Mesquite Media Classic,” a golf tournament designed to show off the area’s courses to the golf media…writers, broadcasters and others who cover golf, particularly golf travel.
Chet and I flew in to Vegas, rented a car and drove north on I-15 through the deserted Nevada countryside to exit 120 and right into our host hotel, the CasaBlanca. We had a quiet evening and our first morning we headed out to Coyote Springs golf course for our practice round…and what a round it was.
It was very cold …about 28 degrees when we teed off at 9:15 a.m. and about 53 degrees when we finished. However, in the summer temps here reach a scorching 105. Spring and fall may be this area’s best seasons.
Coyote Springs Golf Club
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| Coyote Springs Golf Club is a Jack Nicklaus Signature Course and has already won a lot of awards, and deservedly so. |
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From our hotel, it was about 50 miles to this golf course, which I must say is in the boonies…I mean, the boonies. In fact, it is so isolated that they still do not have electricity and so operate off of generators. However, they do have water, obviously, hence the name.
Why this location? The Bureau of Land Management owns most of the state of Nevada and there are few locations that offer both available land and water. The course opened in 2008 and is in excellent condition. Eventually, they want to develop a residential community here but the economic timing has not been good.
But eventually this superior golf course, which is a Jack Nicklaus Signature Course, will attract more and more fans. It has already won a lot of awards, and deservedly so. As I said, it is in pristine shape, from the concrete cart paths to the roly-poly greens.
And did I mention it is tough? Not so much the fairways, which are pretty roly-poly themselves, but the greens are absolutely punishing. They curve and undulate way more than most of us are used to and three- and four-putts quickly rack up if you aren’t very precise with your approach shots.
The waste areas are large and creatively placed. Most are full of gravel, boulders and scrub plants and it is easy to lose your ball. There are lots of bunkers, particularly around the greens, and they are deep and challenging. This is a course where precise shots are key to success…forfeit length for accuracy here. Plus, there is significant water on the course…on eight holes…very rare for a desert course. They are lucky to have a deep aquifer.
And it is quite beautiful, with the Sheep mountain range in the background for most of the holes. This is definitely desert golf at its best and well worth a visit. Check out www.coyotesprings.com or call (877) 742-8455.
Falcon Ridge
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| Falcon Ridge golf course has dramatic views…due largely to elevation changes. |
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On day two we play Falcon Ridge. We like this because it is convenient, just minutes from our hotel right in the city of Mesquite. We don’t like it because again it is cold, bitter cold, and to make playing worse, very, very windy.
Falcon Ridge has a radically different look than Coyote Springs. Here the fairways are green and the roughs are yellow (unwatered). Most notable are the huge elevation changes and the fact that several holes are downright tricky…you really need to know where to put the ball and no yardage book really helps. Only experience will guide you to playing Falcon Ridge well.
There are dramatic views…due largely to the aforementioned elevation changes…but it is hard to fully appreciate them when you are being chilled by a bitter wind. If there is any regret I have about this day it is that playing conditions were so difficult that we could not do the course justice.
Chet and I were playing as a four-person team with two young men from Utah, the editor and art director of Fairways magazine, which focuses on Utah golf. They had played this course several times and were helpful as we got around. But even they lost it on the last few holes…we were all just “done” with it. Too windy and too cold…but, a course well worth returning to play in better weather. Go to golffalcon.com or call (702) 346-6363.
Coral Canyon
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Coral Canyon is a course in St. George, Utah…about a 45-minute drive from Mesquite.
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On day three we played Coral Canyon. This is a course in St. George, Utah…about a 45-minute drive from Mesquite. But what a drive! This turned out to be a highlight. Just outside of the Mesquite city limits on I-15 you enter Arizona. Then, less than 20 miles later, we enter the Virgin River Gorge…that is 11 miles of the most incredible scenery you can imagine. Huge rock walls, one after another, will dazzle you as you pass through this narrow pass. It is amazing and so totally worth it! We weren’t expecting this.
According to one of the rangers at the course, when this road was built it was the most expensive per mile of any road in America. Little wonder. Soon after coming out of the gorge, you enter Utah and St. George is about ten miles within the state limit.
Coral Canyon was a refreshing change for us. First, the weather cooperated. It was a tad warmer … 30 degrees when we began…and the wind laid down nicely and it warmed up under a bright sun.. The look of the course was also different. Here, both the fairways and roughs were green. There were not dramatic elevation changes but rather a more subtle design. The Pine Valley mountain range is in the distance and red rock formations give shape to the course.
The most severe challenges were several several washes filled with scrub and foliage that crossed several of the fairways. Chet and I were playing a two-person scramble today and were doing very well until we met hole No. 15 where three washes cross the fairway and we read them wrong. That is one hole I would like to play again as I would do it totally differently. Check out www.coralcanyongolf.com or call (435-688-1700.)
So far we have played three courses in three days, each totally different in look and design. It is a credit to the area that such a variety is available. Tomorrow is our final round at Conestoga…the medal round, individual play. Looking forward to it!
Conestoga Golf Club
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| Built in 2009, the Conestoga is a resort course that is part of a Del Webb Sun City community. |
Conestoga was an excellent choice for our final round. It was perhaps the “kindest” of the courses, yet the views were as spectacular as on other days. Built in 2009, this is a resort course that is part of a Del Webb Sun City community. (And this is one community that is growing, as evidenced by all of the construction going on around the course.)
This course was somewhat a combination of all the other three: It had lovely fairways, fantastic views, some elevated tees and some memorable greens. It winds through many canyons so each hole is a surprise as you approach it. The back nine plays just below Mesquite’s famous Flat Top Mesa.
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| Conestoga has an excellent location, just a few miles from the heart of Mesquite. |
Many of the holes have houses lining the fairways, but still there are many that are set apart on their own which was a refreshing change. This course has an excellent location, just a few miles from the heart of Mesquite, which makes it a must-play for almost everyone. The 1880 Grille is quite nice. This course is managed by Troon Golf so the level of service is high. Check out www.conestogagolf.com or call (877) 489-0777.
All in all our golf experience in Mesquite was great, if chilly. There are still five courses here that we have not played so we may be back.
For information on area casino resorts go to:
There are also a number of smaller hotels in the area: