After our round at Rio Secco my friend and I drove across town and checked into our hotel. However, we weren’t finished golfing just yet! We checked in, found something for dinner and then headed over to Angel Park Golf Club for some night golf.
On Monday I played a night round at Las Vegas Golf Center, which is close to the Strip. Angel Park is out near Summerlin, about 15 minutes west of the Strip – so it is a bit farther out. There are actually 45 holes at Angel Park – two Arnold Palmer championship courses (which I haven’t played yet) and then the Cloud Nine course, where we golfed.
Like Las Vegas Golf Center Angel Park’s Cloud Nine course is designed by Bob Cupp. There are a couple interesting things about the course and one of those things is that the course has twelve holes (all par-3’s). However, the twelve-hole routing is only open for play during the day. The course turns into a nine-hole routing (all par-3’s as well) at night!
The other interesting thing about Cloud Nine is that it is a replica course. Here at Angel Park Cupp tried to mimic famous features from golf holes around the world. The course is limited for space and includes mostly short par-3’s (playing a total of 979 yards), but you get the idea of what Cupp was trying to do. There are a couple clever green complexes here.
The greens on Cloud Nine come in all shapes and sizes. There is an island green, a double green and a green with a bunker in it. The island green is modeled after the 17th at TPC Sawgrass and it is the 7th hole on the night routing. Even with only a wedge from 100 yards I was a bit nervous.
The 8th (96 yards) on the night routing is modeled after Riviera’s famous 6th green with a bunker in the middle. The green sits at one of the course’s higher points and you can make out the lights of the Strip on a clear night. It was a pretty cool sight, seeing the lights of Las Vegas while trying to figure out if I should chip or putt along the edge of a bunker in the center of the green!
It was $19 to walk and the conditions here were so much better than at Las Vegas Golf Center. It looked like everything had a ryegrass overseed and the turf had a great consistency to it. The tees had adequate grass coverage and the greens were pure and quick. My only recommendation is that a few more lights would be good, as it was darker out than I would have guessed.
If you are interested in Las Vegas night golf then Angel Park’s Cloud Nine is the place to check out. Even without the lights, I think it is a legit short course with a great design and good maintenance.
Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):