Ballys-Mayweather-Golf

After 30 something trips to Vegas, here's my first attempt at a trip report.

Flights: Delta in Thursday may 2 and left via Southwest Sunday morning May 5.

Eats: This is one of the two trips I've taken solo to Vegas, so the dining part was a bit different than usual. When I'm with the boys it's usually a whole lot of Nathans and Sbarro at Bally's with one ridiculous steak dinner. When I'm with my wife it's normally a couple nice dinners. This time I ate a couple times at Burger Brassiere, once at Twin Peaks and twice had dinner at the bar at Mon Ami.

Burger Brassiere was good as it usually is. The Peaks I give about 6 months before it closes. Great concept almost everywhere but in Vegas, especially with the superior sports bar Blondie's about a 5 minute walk away. Mon Ami was delicious as usual. I think I had the filet au poivre both nights...so much for changing it up I guess.

Hotel: I only got out to Vegas twice last year, so I lost platinum status, and quite frankly the South tower, although looking like my grandmother's is much more spacious and laid out better than the North tower that I usually stayed in when I was platinum. Rooms are definitely due for an upgrade though, unless you enjoy amenities from 20 years ago. The food court is still being reconstructed, which my stomach thanked me for, as there were no late night Sbarro runs.

As always the Bally's staff were awesome. Rick and Donny at Sullys...let's be honest, none really better than these two. Po at the sports bar is always fantastic as well.

Golf- I played at two Walters golf course, Desert Pines and Royal Links. I attempted to get out of the Desert Pines reservation via advice from the board, but acted too late, and was locked into playing, or forfeiting my money.

The upside of desert pines. It's relatively cheap for Vegas. Its relatively close by. The greens were in excellent condition.

The downside-Everything else. To me, it's very artificial looking. It's extremely short, and I would say the yardages on the course are probably overstated by 30-40 yards a hole. The holes seem packed together, and it's not someplace I would want to play again. I decided to self-medicate with lots of alcohol as a result, and managed to shoot 82 hammered.

Royal Links on the other hand was better than expected. While the holes are fair to middling knockoffs of British Open holes, it didn't matter, because most of the holes were well designed outside of the context. Greens were lightning fast and well maintained. Course itself was in pretty great shape. I almost holed out of 14, landing my 8 iron within a foot, and lipped out, just missing my first career ace.

The downside? The wonderful smell of the very nearby Wastewater Treatment Plant. Also, the bunkers were relatively devoid of sand.

All in all I did really enjoy playing Royal Links. Shot an 83 here. Good times

The Fight- This was the reason I made a solo voyage out here. Both times I've come out by myself have been for fights. I saw Khan-Maidana a couple years ago, and now Mayweather-Guerrero. I got there for the beginning of the PPV, and saw Love-Rosado....which had a terrible decision for Floyd's protage Love, Leo Santa Cruz, who stopped his opponent, Mares-De Leon..which I thought would be fight of the night, but Mares fairly easily walked over him, and then the main event.

I can't stand Mayweather. I think his record is artificial as he picks opponents who are either not ready/on their down side /or no match. That being said, he's a wonderfully skilled fighter who clearly whipped Robert Guerrero's ass. A fun night at MGM

Gambling-I'm a low-low medium roller. I have a bankroll of a grand a day for gambling, and prefer Video Poker, Blackjack, Craps and sports gambling. I actually didn't play a minute of craps on this trip which is a surprise.

Video Poker was up and down. Big pluses were four aces (no kicker) at MGM and hitting my second royal at Sullys. The big minuses were both big wins were on quarters, and any time I jumped to dollars I got hammered. Playing the crazy volitile DDBP probably doesn't help.

Sports gambling was pretty much a wash, and the beatings I took at blackjack were not televised due to the graphic nature of the beatings.

All in all I ended up down about a grand for the trip. I was extremely lucky to hit that Royal, otherwise it would have been much bloodier.

I'll be back in early July for a couple days with the wife, and October with the boys for Columbus day weekend. Can't wait.

 

Nice report....we tried to warn you about Desert Pines, lol

 

You guys were absolutely right, and if I had acted a day sooner, I would have probably played TPC or Badlands. Walters is 1-3. Bali Hai is a huge waste of $ Desert Pines is the drizzling...and Royal Links is nice. Put that at home here in Massachusetts and it would be a 90-100 dollar course.

 

Thanks for the report. Where did you sit for the fight? How is it seeing fights of that magnitude live?
I was out there at the same time, and looked at tickets, but they were wildly expensive for seats where i don't think you'd even be able to see the ring. Instead, i played blackjack and got reports from people watching the PPV... "lemme guess, it went the distance, floyd was boring, but quick and good defensively and won unanimously". Yep.

 

We're you playing BJ at bally's? It's my fave place to play. I was playing there last weekend too. Love most of the dealers and the pit bosses.

 

Johnny:

I was in the middle of the 200's, which are the furthest sections away. However, the MGM and Mandalay are great places to view a fight. Even in the last seat of the arena you can view the fight without the fighters looking like ants. They have large video screens set up as well.

Atmosphere is always electric for the big fights.

Lambie:

I played at MGM. The dealer was very good at blackjack that night. VERY good.

 

NICE!
I found one of those a Ballys on Saturday night. Would do alright when a fave dealer was dealing but would win when she went on break. Overall a great time.