This whole article today is going to be all about the beautiful Painted Desert Golf Course. The Painted Desert Golf Course is one of Las Vegas’ finest golf courses. It is located at 5555 Painted Mirage Road in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Painted Desert Golf Course Las Vegas was built in 1982 but didn’t open to the public until 1987. And the Las Vegas public hopes you don’t find out about it. It is, if I can be somewhat trite, an oasis of golf courses amongst the Las Vegas golfing opportunities. It is an early Jay Morrish design golf course which has plenty of water to coax your ball. It is a very open desert golf courses, showing considerable lack of trees, much to the golf course’s benefit I might add.
The Painted Desert Golf Course rating is between 71 and 73.7 from the middle to the championship tees. The forward tees carry a rating of 72.7. What this means in case you didn’t know is what the average score would be of scratch golfers who have played this course. That is how the USGA developed the ratings. The slope, which is better for me as an average player is from 120 to 136 for the forward to championship tees. The middle tee has a slope of 128. Just so that you understand these numbers, an average slope rating is around 113, so these courses are challenging without being overly frustrating for average players.
The Painted Desert Golf Course was allegedly the first of the Las Vegas golf courses to be designed as an traditional/desert course. Of course this is now way more popular, but at the time Jay Morrish was trendsetting. If you haven’t played a desert course, this is likely to be one of the funnest and enjoyable out there. The 18 holes are consistently green and as mentioned earlier, there is a lot of water on this course in the form of lakes that challenge you further as the fairways are pinched and narrow. For example, Painted Desert’s signature hole the par 3 eighth hole requires a long flight over water onto an additionally long green. On top of that, you’ve got a long lake on the left side of the fairway that beckons your ball with its magnetic shimmering face.
This is one of the preeminent Las Vegas public golf courses that plays a decent 6,800 yards from the championship tees. It is an immaculately cared for golf course that speaks to you from the first tee of the care and consideration that the greenskeeper offers year round to his course. Unless word gets out, you’ll likely be able to get a variety of decent tee times and you can find some great discounts for as little as $39 as I write this if you go at off-peak hours. There are additional discounts for Las Vegans. As I said earlier, this is a very under appreciated golf course, and your concierge on the strip won’t tell you about it as they have their own golf courses to hawk. But when next you get to Las Vegas, take a round at the Painted Desert Golf Course and enjoy some refreshments at the Painted Desert Golf Club restaurant after. You’ll be glad you did.