Escape to the Unexpected at Bears Best
So Many people in Vegas seem to be here expecting something especially transformative to happen.
We want the desert to speak to us, or at least for Lady Luck to smile on us. We gravitate here to experience what it’s like to become an exaggerated, slightly reimagined version of ourselves. Like Super Mario, harnessing the powers of a super mushroom and doubling in size, Vegas makes us feel slightly more invincible and, in a general sense, more special than we are back home, far more open to the unexpected.
That untethered spirit you see in the shows and entertainment venues on the Strip that celebrates the impossible becoming possible in the unimaginable being the norm, also carries over into places where creativity and grandiose concepts stand out. Like the golf course. While it’s not the only golf course to harness a high-concept vision and make it a pleasing reality, Bear’s Best Golf Club is one of the best-executed themed, composite designs in the region.
Leaning on the legend and architectural bravery of the game’s greatest champion, Jack Nicklaus, this 18-hole, 7,124-yard, par-72 adventure ride is an elegantly presented showcase of the Golden Bear’s creative intent.
Likewise, it shouldn’t be undervalued that Jack Nicklaus golf course designs have helped move billions of parcels of real estate. His brand and the quality of his work earned him the trust of developers whose projects were far too big to fail. And time after time, Nicklaus delivered.
I remember in the early 1980s, my parents coming back from a trip to Austin’s The Hills of Lakeway CC., and all they could talk about was how absurdly manicured the tees, greens, fairways, roughs and aprons were presented. My dad kept saying if the greens back home were kept and mown at the height of The Hills’ tee boxes, he’d be perfectly content with that.
It has remained true that when you play Nicklaus course, you expect an elevated experience of some kind. At Bear’s Best, it’s not just the desert setting that wows you, it’s the attention to detail in rendering a collection of some of Jack’s most memorable holes from his design career.
The other thing is that the playing experience is cohesive. You don’t feel like you’re playing a tribute course that jumps from an ocean hole to a parkland hole to a mountain hole, giving a theme park feel to the round. This is a golf course you could play, any day or every day. It’s a heightened concept, but it’s also a solid and satisfying test of golf.
While it would have been well received to include iconic Nicklaus holes from gems like Muirfield Village or Valhalla, the plan here was to integrate favorite offerings from Nicklaus’ design career west of the Mississippi and reasonable to fit into the arid Nevada desert landscape. So, the cavalcade Nicklaus hits here includes challenges from Los Cabos, Mexico, Palm Springs, California, Scottsdale and Tucson, Arizona, Anaconda, Montana and Sante Fe, New Mexico. That mentality helps the holes look like they fit the footprint and region and create a golf course design that’s endlessly playable without feeling the least bit forced or gimmicky.
Nicklaus chose to open the round with a 413-yard par 4 patterned off the sixth hole at PGA West’s Private Course. The hole snakes to the left around a small lake that must be taken into account on the approach. Aim for the right edge of the fairway to open up an approach to an elevated green protected by three bunkers.
A the 229-yard, par-3 fourth hole, a tribute to the seventh at Montana’s striking Old Works Golf Club, is the first instance of the black-sand bunker aesthetic that works beautifully in this setting. It’s exotic and fun. Well, to look at, anyway. While this hole plays shorter than the distance, consider playing this hole (and the other par threes) from the tee box of your liking. I prefer variety in par threes and am baffled when architects or developers inflate par three yardages to stretch the overall length of a golf course.
The black sand look returns with a pleasing short par 4 at number 11, a reimagining of #2 at Old Works. The uphill hole plays under 320 yards and requires a shot over bunkers that guard the front right while another awaits you if you hit it long and left.
The holes that deliver a taste of Mexico come at the par-five second, which pays homage to the 12th at Cabo Del Sol along with the fifth hole, a par three based on the long par-four 10th at El Dorado Resort in Cabo Real. That’s followed by the sandy sixth hole, one inspired by the opening hole on the Ocean Nine of Palmilla Golf Club in Los Cabos.
Four holes at Bear’s Best Las Vegas come from the gigantic Desert Mountain Resort in Scottsdale with other Arizona holes coming in as tributes to Desert Highlands Golf Club in Scottsdale and La Paloma in Tucson. The second nine opens and closes with holes from the venerable and iconic PGA West Resort in Palm Springs.
Arguably, Bear’s Best Las Vegas’ most alluring view can be taken in from the tee box at 15, a dead ringer for the fifth hole at Desert Mountain’s Chiricahua Course. The lengthy (don’t get me started…) 230-yard par 3 faces a full carry over desert but also provides a deceptively generous landing area short of the green which is framed by bunkers.
To punctuate the round, Nicklaus built the 18th from PGA West’s Tournament Course, a daunting 463-yard par 4 by a sandy waste area along the right edge of the fairway that is also a buffer from a water hazard sitting farther from the fairway’s center. Aim left off the tee to avoid a closing-hole distaster and don’t fret if you have to play this one as a three-shot affair as water lurks short and right. It’s designed to be tough.
Bear’s Best offers a state-of-the-art practice facility, which is home to the Paul Wilson Golf School. The handsomely appointed clubhouse features casual dining in the elegantly relaxing Jack’s Place and all the comfort you’ve come to expect from a resort-style golf operation. The views from the patio are as arresting as they are on the course, so prepare to stay a while and take in the atmosphere and hospitality.
To learn more, or to reserve a tee time, visit
bearsbestlasvegas.com.