Paiute, Vegas’ pure golf escape. Hitting the fairway finder.

It’s Ryder Cup Sunday and as I’m writing this at 11:51 on Saturday morning, Team USA needs a miracle. A comeback looks nearly impossible but I’ve seen it happen before. I was at Medinah in 2012 when Europe flipped the script, and let me tell you, momentum is a scary thing in match play. A couple of wins, a putt drops from 40 feet to tie a hole, and suddenly the whole mood shifts. Let’s go team USA!

Okay, let’s dive into this week’s featured course. Vegas is one of my favorite cities, but the truth is most of the golf there is forgettable. Overpriced, average condition, and zero character tracks are scattered all over the city. Playing on or near the strip might be convenient, but I’d skip all of them - Bali Hai, Bear’s Best, TPC Las Vegas, Angel Park.

Instead, make the 30-minute drive (or Uber) from the strip and you’ll find Paiute Golf Resort with three fantastic courses with wide-open skies, jagged mountain backdrops, and some of the purest desert golf you’ll play in the southwest. I’ve played Sun/Snow Mountain and definitely want to get back there to play The Wolf.

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💰 Green fees - Off Season $119 - $179 | Peak Season $199 -$319

⛳ Three Courses - Snow Mountain | Sun Mountain | The Wolf

✏️ Architect - Pete Dye

📍 Las Vegas, Nevada

TL;DR — Why Paiute Golf Resort is worth your time
If you only have time for one round, play Wolf. If you can swing two, pair it with Sun Mountain for the contrast. And if you’ve got a full golf weekend, knock out all three - Paiute is that rare Vegas golf experience that actually delivers on both quality and value.

Thirty minutes north of the Strip sits Paiute Golf Resort - three Pete Dye designs laid across desert land owned by the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe. The Paiute, known as the Tudinu or “Desert People,” reclaimed this land in the 1980s and later brought Dye in to create Nevada’s only 54-hole pure-golf facility.

What was once scrub, yucca, and jagged rock is now wide fairways framed by mountain backdrops and endless skies. No homes, no gimmicks, just pure desert golf with a little Dye mischief. On The Wolf, he carved a desert homage to Sawgrass with an island-green par-3 that instantly ranks among the most memorable holes in the Southwest.

Each course has its own personality, and if you’re in town for more than a day, you could easily justify playing all three.

Wolf Course
The Wolf is Paiute’s crown jewel and the longest course in Nevada at 7,604 yards. It’s Dye at his most daring — sprawling fairways, deep pot bunkers, and greens that demand precision. The par-3 15th is the signature, an island green that feels like a desert homage to Sawgrass. Wolf is tough but fair — it’s the course you’ll brag about playing when you get home.

Sun Mountain
Sun Mountain is probably the most scenic of the three. It plays a little shorter and more forgiving than Wolf, but the sightlines are stunning, especially in the late afternoon when the desert light hits the mountain backdrop. The greens are subtle but slick — if you like a course that tests your feel without beating you up, this is your play.

Snow Mountain
Snow was the first built and many consider it the most “traditional” of the three. It’s classic Dye — risk-reward par fives, water in play on the finishing stretch, and plenty of strategy baked into the routing. It’s also the most approachable for mid- to high-handicaps, though the challenge is still very real if you miss in the wrong spots.

Pro Tip: If you plan on playing golf for a day, Golfapalooza is the best bang for your buck. If you’ve got two or three days, use the Bounceback offer to knock out all three courses. And if you’re staying on the strip, check the MGM packages — sometimes it’s cheaper (and easier) than booking everything à la carte.

Deals Worth Knowing

Golfapalooza
Paiute’s signature package - 36 holes in one day, lunch included, and 50% off rental clubs. Perfect if you want to knock out two of the three tracks in one go.

Bounceback
Playing more than one day? You’ll get 20% off each additional day when you come back within 7 days of your first round. It’s valid on standard resort rates but doesn’t stack with replay, local, or tournament pricing.

MGM Stay & Play
Paiute partners with MGM Resorts so you can bundle hotel nights on the strip with golf at Paiute. If you’d rather Uber out to the course and crash back in town, this is an easy way to simplify the trip. Packages start around $149/night (plus golf) and scale depending on which MGM property you pick.

How to hit the fairway finder under pressure

I play in a lot of local amateur events, and when my driver isn’t clicking or the hole doesn’t set up for my draw, I go to my fairway finder. It’s my safety net when I need to calm the jitters and just put the ball in play.

Here’s the play: keep driver in hand, but tee it down lower than normal. That adjustment changes everything. The ball comes out lower with more spin, which tightens your dispersion and helps keep it straighter. You give up a little distance, but what you gain is confidence that the ball is staying in the fairway.

Watch Scottie Scheffler walk through it here — Fairway Finder Video.

Hopefully the USA comes back and wins the Ryder Cup. Losing at home is gut wrenching and I don’t like our odds in Ireland in 2027. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and if you’re playing golf today - have fun!

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