While Las Vegas is famous for it's gambling and for top star entertainment it is also a world class golfing city. Just look at the famous names who have designed courses here: Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Fazio, Pete Dye Designs, PGA Tour Designs, Schmidt-Curley and a host of PGA Players : Ray Floyd, Chi Chi Rodriques, Billy Casper, Greg Nash, Fuzzy Zoeller, and Johnny Miller.

And as further evidence of the impact of golf in Las Vegas, you can now earn a bachelor's degree in recreation with an emphasis on professional golf management at UNLV.

Golf and Las Vegas became associated in 1953 at the Wilber Clark's Desert Inn Hotel and Golf Course, when the winner was paid with a wheelbarrow full of silver dollars.

The "Tournament of Champions" ( TOC ), as it was called was the original forerunner of today's final tour event. Since then, Las Vegas has become deeply connected to tour golf. It was the only city in the U.S. to host the three major tours - The PGA, SPGA, and the LPGA - in the same year and with those tournaments returning to be played every year.

There are presently over 68 golf courses here for your pleasure all within the Las Vegas area: 32 public, resort and semi-private courses, 16 private courses (of which you can play 15), 3 par 3 courses, 2 specialty driving ranges, plus 13 courses within 1 hour or less drive.

That may seem like a lot of golf courses for Las Vegas, but with almost 1.4 million residents and growing with an estimate of over 125,000 golfers in the Vegas Valley, and 30 million visitors per year with 600,000 of those playing golf, many feel it is still not enough ( but then again - is there ever enough golf courses? ).

The weather, for the most part, allows golfing to be enjoyed all year round. With an average of 320+ days of sunshine, you probably will be able to play golf - whenever you are planning to visit.

And remember - no matter how bad your last shot was, the worst is yet to come.