Shadow Creek Golf Course

Overview: Shadow Creek Golf Course, located in the barren desert north of Las Vegas, Nevada, is a legendary, ultra-exclusive parkland oasis designed by Tom Fazio. Fazio pulled off a miraculous feat of engineering, transforming a flat, empty patch of desert into a lush, rolling forest characterized by cascading waterfalls, stone-lined creeks, and over twenty thousand mature trees. Every single hole is completely isolated from the others by dense foliage, creating a surreal and deeply immersive escape that is considered the pinnacle of luxury, high-roller resort golf.

History: Built in 1989 for casino magnate Steve Wynn, the course reportedly cost an astronomical $60 million to construct, making it the most expensive course in the world at the time. For its first decade, the course was strictly private, accessible only to Wynn's personal guests and high rollers. Today, it is owned by MGM Resorts, allowing guests of MGM luxury properties to book tee times for a premium, world-record green fee that includes a private limousine transfer and a personal caddie.

Did You Know? Fazio and his construction team had to excavate a massive, deep canyon from the flat desert floor, utilizing the carved-out dirt to shape the rolling hills and planting thousands of mature pines and weeping willows to completely hide the surrounding desert and mountain range. The course record of 60 was famously set by Fred Couples and matched by Tiger Woods during a private match in the 1990s.