Bear's Best Las Vegas

Do you like greatest hits compilations? With a tee time at Bear s Best Las Vegas, located only about 20 minutes from the Las Vegas Strip in Summerlin, you ll play a high-end Jack Nicklaus design featuring 18 replicas of Nicklaus s favorite holes from courses he s designed all over the world. The featured holes come from courses such as Palmilla, Cabo del Sol, and El Dorado in Los Cabos, Mexico, and in the United States, Las Campanas in Santa Fe, La Paloma in Tucson, and Old Works in Montana, to name a few. While replica courses can seem like disconnected hodgepodges of holes inserted onto a playing field, Bear Best Las Vegas succeeds because the holes fit the topography beautifully and flow nicely together. Among the most fun tests at Bear s Best Las Vegas are the 12th, a short par 5 with a minefield of grassy bunkers and the long par-3 15th that crosses a dry desert wash and showcases a stunning view of The Strip. The holes replicated from Old Works are especially intriguing because they feature the same black slag in the bunkers that Nicklaus employed in Montana. The only holes with water hazards are the1st, which traces the edge of a lake, and the 18th, a clone of the tough finishing hole at the PGA West Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course. In typical Nicklaus fashion, while the landing areas at Bear s Best Las Vegas are generous for tee shots, the fairways narrow and trouble crops up around the greens. Putting surfaces here are large, fast, and undulating. Bear s Best Las Vegas boasts excellent practice facilities and a fine clubhouse. All in all, a day at Bear s Best Las Vegas is a fun experience. Even if you didn t know this was a replica course, the layout can stand on its own as an excellent and enjoyable round of golf, though it will be all the more memorable if you ve played or are familiar with some of the holes in their authentic setting. And yes, while the green fee at Bear s Best Las Vegas may be steep, it s a heckuva lot less expensive than traveling to play the original versions of these exquisitely crafted and connected replicas.