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HENDERSON, Nev. - Back home after a 36-hour bender in Vegas, I'm living proof that casinos and hangovers aren't necessary for a successful trip to Sin City. Why pay big for the Sphere or the Strip when great golf is all you need?
I reacquainted myself with two of the premier public courses in Vegas that I hadn't seen in more than a decade: Serket and Cascata. It was perfect timing, the 25th anniversary of Cascata and the grand-opening weekend of the newly rebranded Serket, which most golfers would recognize as the old Rio Secco, the home of Butch Harmon.
Serket and Cascata are both Cabot-Managed Properties, a growing portfolio under the Cabot brand that owns and manages luxury golf developments and resorts around the world. Since building and buying high-end resorts in Scotland, Canada, Florida and the Caribbean is an expensive game, recruiting top courses to join its management program might be the next growth phase for Cabot.
I've played three of the four Cabot-managed properties this year (Grand Bear in Mississippi being the other). The common denominator is that all three provide a premier golf experience, checking every box from well-stocked pro shops and good service to elegant clubhouses and highly ranked courses outside.
Cabot is jumping into the Las Vegas golf scene at an uncertain time. Potential water restrictions and the high costs of irrigating fairways and greens are threatening to make life difficult on course owners and operators. Meanwhile, the struggles of declining tourism in Las Vegas are affecting every business in the region. Both Cascata and Serket, owned by VICI Properties Inc., are blessed with stunning desert golf courses featuring incredible scenery, but they're also at a price point in high season ($225+ for Serket and $450+ for Cascata) that many golfers cannot afford. And they're both at least 20 minutes from the Strip, meaning a golfer really needs to be motivated to visit since many won't have a car. Golfers can play both with "Double Down" packages ranging from $525 and up in the summer and $675 and up in the fall.
What the Cabot group does provide is the connections to the right customers and the understanding of how to impress golfers who walk in the door. Most public golfers don't know who owns the golf course they're playing, or care a lick about who is managing it. They just want to have a good time - a Cabot specialty.
What it's like to play Serket
The new Serket name brings a sexier moniker and stronger branding. Serket (pronounced SIR-ket) is the ancient Egyptian goddess for healing and protection, especially against venomous creatures like the scorpion - a new logo that is sure to improve course merchandise sales. The father and son I played with bought a hat before the round. The new logo is everywhere: the scorecard, tee markers, golf carts, driving range and the leather bag tag given to players before the round. A 'Welcome to Fabulous Serket' sign that mimics the famous Vegas sign sits above the clubhouse near the driving range.
As for the course, the nines were flipped on the Rees Jones design around 2006, and then flipped back again following a 2017 renovation. The current setup forces players to take on the most dramatic holes early in the round. Holes 3 through 7 cut a path through scenic but intimidating terrain in the Mojave desert, including a box canyon on no. 7. No course delivers better long views across the Las Vegas Valley to the Strip, starting from the elevated second tee box and continuing throughout the round.
I'd put Serket's collection of par 3s up against great courses anywhere. The third climbs skyward two extra clubs, while the sixth plays a club less off an elevated tee. The 12th and 16th holes require daunting carries over a canyon and pond, respectively. Check out my photos above.
One of the best parts of the whole experience is marveling at the houses lining the course. You'll see all sorts of architectural styles in the tony Seven Hills and Anthem neighborhoods. They're rarely in play, sitting on the bluffs high above the fairways.
What it's like to play Cascata
Cascata, which means "waterfall" in Italian, belongs on the short list of America's most inspiring inland courses. A day at Cascata wows golfers from start to finish.
Walking into the Tuscan-themed clubhouse, golfers are greeted by a roaring waterfall pouring through a glass atrium and under a walkway leading to the pro shop. That waterfall used to flow down the foothills of the River Mountains outside above the driving range, but that portion was shut off because of the aforementioned local water issues. Every group is paired with a forecaddie who helps navigate the wild cart ride up and down the rugged terrain.
Cascata was originally built to rival Shadow Creek. Rees Jones spent hours in a helicopter first to find the 440-acre site in Boulder City and then to pick out the corridors for the best holes 3,200 feet above the Las Vegas Valley. He did his best to make the routing playable. The golf holes either climb up the mountain or fall off of it. Any sprayed tee shots go to live with the rattlesnakes in the desert. Every hole retains its own spectacle. You won't see another fairway or green. Several of the cart rides between holes 7 and 8 and nos. 16 and 17 are among the longest, and most memorable, in golf.
That stream cascading down the property features throughout the round, snaking along fairways and feeding ponds on multiple holes. Several moments stick with you forever, whether it's the 157-yard seventh surrounded by an amphitheater of canyon walls or the par-4 14th hole slithering along the water before plummeting to a pond-protected green. A new taco truck that serves as a halfway house fortifies hungry golfers along the way, although I declined to save room for dinner in the Cascata restaurant.
Back at the clubhouse, a bride and her bridesmaids were posing for photos outside as guests trickled in. The party was just getting started. I hope the couple's marriage turns out to be as magical as the setting for their wedding. Playing Cascata feels like a golf fairytale come true.
What's your favorite golf course in Las Vegas? Let us know in the comments below.
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