Angel Park, Las Vegas’ Heavenly Golf CourseRead Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.com
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Just 20 minutes west from
Fabulous Las Vegas Strip, Angel Park Golf Facility, billed as "the most complete golf experience" oversees City of Entertainment. At an unofficial elevation of 2,800 feet, some 800 or so higher than rest of city, two Arnold Palmer-designed 18-hole championship golf courses and a one-of-a-kind 12-hole lighted golf course (and highly-acclaimed 18-hole putting course) provides a panoramic view of Las Vegas skyline, Sunrise Mountain, Black Mountains above Henderson and Sheep Mountains north of city. Along with a full-service golf operation, it maintains an ambiance that distinctively makes it one of Las Vegas's finest.
In golf cart go clubs, passing Main Starter Hut for all courses, and traveling into a tunnel that takes golfers underneath Rampart Avenue to Mountain Course. Here, Course Starter, Joe Lombardi graciously greets all groups. Joe provides a few tips (and tricks) of course, including infamous, "all putts roll to Stratosphere", and black/white poles are 125-yard markers to center of green today. Although Mountain Course is sandwiched between two of areas newest resorts, The Regent Las Vegas and Sun Coast, there is no commercial or residential development skirting golf course's fairways and greens. This immaculate tract makes for a very placid round of golf as you wind through rolling natural terrain and native vegetation.
RED ROCK - The first leg of journey (hole #1 through hole #5) takes golfer in direction of Red Rock and Spring Mountain ranges (e.g., Mt. Charleston). This stretch provides golfer with a variety of tests to get started, including three par fours, number one handicapped and only par five on front nine - hole #2, and a deceiving downhill par three - hole #4. To further gauge golfers' abilities, greens are an ever-present factor to difficulty of this course. The golfer will be flirting with high stakes if he or she tries to edge-burn putts on these fast surfaces. Unlike more forgiving greens, these truly can cause golfer an extra 10-15 strokes per round if one is complacent! The greens with angular surfaces require utmost concentration, technique and luck to every putt. Remember when you play here, you will test your mettle against most intriguing putting a golfer will experience and don't forget where Stratosphere is at all times!
Golfers who have played Mountain Course will point out many of idiosyncrasies of this gorgeous, but demanding layout. For example, take easy looking; par three, 136-yard (from blues), hole #4. As you stand on this elevated tee off box, you are observing a short hole with a slightly elevated green above fairway. It appears as if a 100-yard club will be plenty to reach green. But, golfer will soon discover that true distance here is misleading as it plays every bit as long as scorecard reads, regardless of downhill shot. This is due to terrain. If you analyze behavior of ball flight, you may come to following conclusion, "the opposite of what golfer thinks happens, really does happen." That is, when hitting ball away from Stratosphere you are going against gravity with no exceptions to this rule, including level or downhill topography. This phenomenon requires a calculation of extra yardage into shot and a firmer putting stroke while proceeding in westerly direction.
