Casual Golf in Sun City

I recently took the opportunity to play the Palm Valley Golf Club located in Sun City in Summerlin, NV. This golf course is one of three that can be found in this large retirement community. I personally have always enjoyed this golf course, because it is the longest and most challenging of the three courses.

Before heading out to the golf course I went to the practice facility to warm up. They have changed this area recently and I liked the changes. The practice facility is mostly red gravel with islands of grass that serve as targets. I like this set up because it allows you to focus more closely onto the target. This will also help the golf course pick the balls up more easily.

On this day I was playing in a shotgun tournament and we started on the par-3 3rd hole. This medium length hole doesn't appear to be hard but when you throw wind into the mix it makes for a very difficult shot. The wind happened to be blowing fairly hard at 15-20 mph, and the pin was stuck in the back left hand portion of the green. Club selection was difficult as the wind was swirling, I chose the wrong club and ended up hitting the ball into the back bunker.

After a good second shot I was able to make my 20 foot par putt. This was a great way to start my round. Palm Valley has a good mixture of short and long holes. Much of the difficulty on this golf course comes on the overly long par-3's. Several of the par-3's are over 210 yards from the back tees.

I was impressed with the condition of this golf course. The greens were the right firmness and running at a good pace. I also liked the condition of the fairways. Every time I hit a fairway my ball was sitting on a lush, green surface. The only problem with the course was with the rough. Although you shouldn't always draw a good lie in the rough, these were severe. The problem was with the clumps of grass that were growing throughout the rough. There was not a consistent surface. I can attribute this to the bermuda grass taking longer than expected to come in.

The hardest hole on the golf course, in my mind, is the par-4 5th hole. This 454 yard par-4 is guarded by bunkers on the right and out of bounds on the left. After hitting the tee shot into the fairway this green is fairly small and slopes away from the player. Par on this hole is a great score.

Unlike other Las Vegas golf courses, Palm Valley is not a target golf course. The player has a little more latitude to hit errant tee shots. Although the course is surrounded by homes, the fairways are wide and surrounding areas will feed the golf ball back toward the fairways.

There are several water features that come into play on this golf course. Overall this is a great golf course to play if you want to go out and have a great time. Not only are the conditions good but the price is right all year round. This is one of the best values in golf that Las Vegas has to offer.