Bali Hai Golf Club : Las Vegas Strip Tees

Golf Digest, April, 2001 by Jim Moriarty

High roller

As the transvestite nun said to Robin Williams when he moved into his new digs in San Francisco, "Well, there goes the neighborhood." For goodness' sake, the canals of Venice, the cafes of Paris and rumbling volcanoes are one thing, but golf? Cheops preserve us.

So commonplace on the Las Vegas Strip is the appropriation of any and every conceivable theme/scheme, that it seems dazzlingly appropriate to build a Polynesian golf course in the middle of the desert. And why not? If the movie "South Pacific" could use the dramatic cliffs of Kauai's Napali Coast to represent the mythical island of Bali Hai, why can't Vegas turn it into an entertaining 7,015-yard par 72?

Architects Lee Schmidt and Brian Curley took 145 acres of crushed rock and refuse across Las Vegas Boulevard from McCarran International Airport, imported thousands of palm trees, white granite sand from southern California for waste areas, Augusta white sand from Georgia for the bunkers, black volcanic rock from Utah for an accent and enough tropical honeysuckle, pampas grass and pineapple guava to complete the illusion.

Air traffic-related height restrictions on the southern edge of the property mean this course will likely be around for as long as Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals are performed.

For those who find it contrived, look on the bright side. They could have built "Oklahoma!"

How to get on: $150-$325. Phone 888-397-2499; www.balihaigolfclub.com.