At the 35-year-old LakeRidge Golf Course in Reno, the list of celebrities who have played there over the years includes George Bush, John Denver, Smokey Robinson, Willie Nelson and Wayne Gretzky.
With all due respect to LakeRidge, a fine course that overlooks downtown Reno from the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, it might be seeing fewer celebs these days, if only because the Reno-Lake Tahoe area offers so many more golf choices. Since the mid-1990s, nine courses have opened within a drive of 30 to 90 minutes from Reno. That's brought the total number of courses in the area to about 45, give or take a desert course here or a mountain course there.
As far as we're concerned, that makes Reno-Tahoe a golf destination.
"We've always wanted to be one of the top five golf destinations in the West," said Doug Flynn, president of Golf the High Sierra, a marketing association that represents 20 of the courses. "With the addition of Old Greenwood, I think we can say we've made it."
Old Greenwood is a Jack Nicklaus signature course that will open next month in Truckee, 40 miles west of Reno. (Golf courses pay architects such as Nicklaus extra for the signature designation. In return, the course is guaranteed several on-site visits by the architect.) Truckee already had an exceptional course in Coyote Moon, one of the most picturesque mountain courses in the area.
Something for everyone
Much of the allure of Reno-Tahoe as a golf destination lies in its variety. A visitor can play a desert course around Carson City or a course on the shore of Lake Tahoe or any number of mountain courses where golfers share the landscape with Ponderosa pines.
Although a handful of these courses cost more than $100, golfers can play in the shadow of the Sierras at numerous courses priced at $75 or below.
"A lot of golfers will play one premium course and some that are more moderately priced," Flynn said.
But how to choose from so many courses, so many lodging options and so many other types of recreation -- camping, fishing, skiing, hiking, mountain biking, activities on Lake Tahoe, gambling and Nevada's 24-hour entertainment? The easy approach is to call Golf the High Sierra. It will arrange everything for golfers who contact 877-332-4465 or www.golfthehighsierra.com
"If you're on a budget, you might not end up on the lakefront in Tahoe, but you can get a nice room," Flynn said.
Green sells homes
Reno-Tahoe isn't alone in embracing golf as a magnet for tourists. But why are so many golf courses opening when the golf industry is generally flat?
The answer lies in real estate. Developers build golf courses to enhance property and sell more homesites.
A good example is The Golf Club at Whitehawk Ranch in Graeagle, an hour's drive from Reno. The course opened in 1996 in the Mohawk Valley in a bucolic setting that immediately gives a visitor a sense of calm.
Whitehawk and three other courses in the area -- the Dragon, Graeagle Meadows and Plumas Pines -- attract golfers who want to get away. Graeagle sits virtually isolated, accessed by two-lane roads that pass through Tahoe National Forest and Plumas National Forest. The town of Graeagle (pop. 800 to 2,000, depending on the season) offers plenty of charm but few amenities. Formerly a lumber town, it recently turned its focus to tourism.
Graeagle
When they drive into Graeagle, visitors are struck by a row of quaint, tiny red buildings that once were millworkers' homes; now they house gift shops and other businesses. Just off the main road is Lakes Basin Recreation Area, offering more than 30 fishing lakes and numerous hiking and horseback trails.
At the opposite end of the Reno-Tahoe area are two courses that also are tied in with homesites. Sierra Nevada Golf Ranch and The Golf Club at Genoa Lakes are in Genoa, Nev., about 10 miles south of Carson City. Although they are just two miles apart, the courses are starkly different, even though they share the same spectacular vistas -- looking toward the vast Carson Valley in one direction and the peaks of the Sierra Nevada in another.
The Genoa Lakes course is greener, with plenty of trees and water, and winds through homesites on the front nine. Sierra Nevada Golf Ranch offers a desert-golf experience void of trees, with less water -- the hazards consist of 132 bunkers and waste areas full of sagebrush. The only building on the course is a Western lodge-style clubhouse; however, homesites eventually will be developed downhill from, but not on, the golf course.
Each year the American Century Championship is played at Edgewood Tahoe, on the south shore of Lake Tahoe, a block away from South Tahoe's casino row. Fairways framed by towering pines channel golfers toward mountains in one direction and the deep blue water of the lake in the other. The three finishing holes are especially dazzling. The green at the par-5 16th sits on the edge of the lake, as does the par-3 17th and the green at the par-5 18th. The walk along this shoreline, offering vistas of snow-capped mountains on the opposite shore of Lake Tahoe, is a scene matched by few other golf courses in America.
Despite its high greens fees -- $150 in May and $200 from June to October -- Edgewood Tahoe is a must-play for many golfers.
"Most travelers who are golfers try to work in a round here and play a few other courses," Fox said. "But this is the highlight of their golf trip."
Can golf with Wright be wrong? Oh, you betcha
Graeagle -- You might think that Dariel and Peggy Garner's resort has everything it takes to be a huge success.
It has an eye-pleasing golf course called the Dragon that offers views of the Sierra Nevada. The centerpiece of the golf course is a clubhouse named Nakoma, built from a design that was created by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1924 but was not utilized until the Garners bought it. Besides a pro shop and gift shop, Nakoma offers a gourmet restaurant and spa.
Nakoma and the Dragon are surrounded by a gated community, Gold Mountain, in which each building has been constructed according to Wright's Taliesin style of architecture.
So what's the problem?
The golf course can be as ferocious as its name implies. While some golfers relish the challenge it presents, others find it excessively penal, and they're not likely to come back.
"It gives you all the humble pie you can eat," says head golf professional Matt Magnotta. "Some people go away saying some negative things."
Since it opened in 2000, the Dragon has taken a fiendish delight in challenging golfers and whupping them. Its motto is "Send me your heroes." The original idea, Magnotta says, was to "create a niche that would breed word of mouth."
The Garners met while they were working in the computer industry in the San Francisco area. They bought land in Mexico and made a fortune in farming, supplying the West Coast with specialty vegetables. A decade ago, they looked for a retirement home and bought 1,280 acres at Gold Mountain. Their plan was to build Nakoma and surround it with homesites; the idea for the golf course arose when they realized it would help attract buyers.
Nakoma was the name Wright gave to the building when he was commissioned to design a clubhouse by Nakoma Country Club in Madison, Wis. He incorporated numerous American Indian features into the design, including a roof with tepeelike spires, as a tribute to indigenous people.
The structure never was built. Wright is said to have fallen out of favor with the country club because of high cost estimates for the project and because Wright's reputation was damaged as a result of marital problems. The design went into Wright's archives, where it stayed until the Garners purchased it.
The stone and wood clubhouse sits on a hill overlooking the golf course, serving as a beacon for golfers navigating the Dragon's plush fairways. Although Peggy Garner is a novice golfer, Dariel prefers the spa.
"I see golfers come off the course, and half are smiling and half are frowning," he says. "I always come out smiling from the spa."
Source: Contra Costa Times (California)