36 holes in 37 hours: Golf Trip & Circus Circus

If the title got anyone's hopes up for a whirlwind tour of Pahrump's finest brothels, I apologize in advance. Instead, a couple of opportunities to play great golf courses at incredible prices lured me to Vegas for the weekend. I left home Saturday morning at 7:45 and drove three hours directly to Primm Valley Golf Club at the state line, where I was playing in an outing of guys from Greenskeeper.org. We were playing the Lakes course, which is typically $89 but the organizer got us out for just $40. I bypassed eating breakfast in Barstow or Baker and arrived about an hour early, so I hit up Primm Valley’s bar/restaurant and had one of the best Bloody Marys I’ve ever had along with some pancakes and sausage. Nice way to start the day.



I’d never played a Tom Fazio designed course before, so that was a treat, too. I’m pretty picky about golf course architecture and I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed the layout here. Here are a few pictures from Primm Valley (Lakes):







One of my friends who was also playing in the event had already arrived in Vegas a couple days earlier, so after the round we then drove to Vegas together in my car. He had a free night at Circus Circus thanks to MyVegas, so we went straight there and checked in. We got a nice two queen room on the 14th floor of the Casino Tower. The room was very clean and perfectly average. I was a little hesitant to stay at Circus Circus, but those fears proved completely unwarranted. (I also just finished reading Grandissimo, so truth be told, I was sort of excited to revisit Jay Sarno’s second “palace,” especially on a “guys trip.”)



By the time we each showered, we were starving for dinner. I had suggested the Peppermill and my friend had never been there, so we headed across the Boulevard to fill our bellies. There were quite a few people waiting for tables, so we just grabbed two spots at the counter, which is probably more fun anyway. The frenetic pace of the cooks and waitresses is fun to watch, and you get to see all those giant plates of food paraded right past you. I ordered the Peppermill Burger, fries and a side salad with bleu cheese. My friend got some sort of BBQ Bacon Burger, onion rings and also a side salad with bleu cheese. My burger was very good but damn that salad is great! Between Primarily Prime Rib at South Point and Peppermill, they sure know how to make great, traditional bleu cheese salads in Vegas.



After dinner we wandered through Riviera for a few minutes, where I uneventfully lost the first $20 of an eventual $100 loss on the night. Seeing I have another trip in a few weeks, I didn’t plan to gamble much on this one-nighter. We then headed back to Circus Circus and Slots-o-Fun, but my luck never changed. All night it was just gradual losing with literally nothing positive at any time. Thankfully I was only playing nickel and quarter VP most of the night, so my $100 bankroll still stretched out over the course of a few hours. Six or seven gin and tonics later, it was time to hit the hay. Yes, drink service was good and consistent at Circus Circus, although the drinks seemed very weak.

Considering the dismal gambling results, perhaps the highlight of the night was venturing upstairs to the Midway, where I don’t think I’d been since I was about nine years old, more than 30 years ago. Right when I first got up there, the performance stage was playing host to an incredible Kenyan acrobat troupe called Zuma-Zuma. They were jumping rope, which was pretty impressive, but then they set up two lightweight rings on top of each other, and one by one, these guys would jump, run or roll their way through the ring without so much as brushing against it. It was really entertaining and I now plan to bring my kids here to catch Zuma-Zuma again when I return on a family trip in a few weeks.

Sunday morning we were playing Arroyo Golf Club at Red Rock. Rack rates are somewhere around $180 and even the “discount” sites sell their times for upwards of $85. Thankfully, my friend had reached a tier of the GolfNow.com rewards program that he had a free twosome, so that’s why we chose to play here. It’s an Arnold Palmer Signature course and was very scenic, with a great location very near the valley’s western mountains. The seventh hole is an elevated par three that offers a great view of the Strip some 20 minutes away. The skyline was shrouded by some smog, but otherwise I couldn’t have asked for two more beautiful days, weather-wise.









We finished around 2:00 and my friend headed back home to Southern California, but I decided to stretch out this mini vacation a little longer by taking the Four Queens up on their Chicago Brewing Company “game day” offer. Service was a bit spotty, but the food was delicious and the servers were both really nice. I had some delicious buffalo wings and the Chicago deep dish pizza. Knowing I had a four-hour drive ahead of me, I didn’t plan on drinking, but my bill came to $19 and change. The free play promotion is on a minimum $20 ticket, so the quick-thinking waitress suggested I get a beer to go, so I had a small cup of their blonde. I took my receipt to the player’s club window and got $23 in free play applied to my card.

I was hoping this would be one last shot to get something to pay off for me, but had no such luck. I played the $23 of free play into $15.50 in cash on JOB VP, and then decided to use that with the $10 match play coupon that comes with the Chicago Brewing Company offer. I did a quick hit at a blackjack table, got dealt a 13, hit and got a deuce, then hit again to land on 20 against the dealer’s 9. Of course, he had an ace underneath. Push. I lost the next hand when I had 15 once again and busted.

It was now about 4:00 and I knew I needed to hit the road pretty soon. I walked under the canopy for a few minutes and then returned to my car. I decided to drive the entire Strip on my way out of town, which took a while, but was fun. The sun was just setting and the city lights were coming to life, which is maybe my favorite time of day in Vegas. I also noticed MGM’s new sign is complete.







Thankfully, the drive home was smooth and uneventful for a Sunday night. All in all, the great golf deals made up for the shitty gambling results, and I'll be back for another shot in 12 days anyway! (Including two more rounds of golf, weather permitting.)

 

"We got a nice two queen room on the 14th floor of the Casino Tower"

You really should say "two queen BED room" just so people don't get the wrong impression of you and your buddy sharing the room. :evillaugh

Nice report and great photos. Lots of times golf course photos don't convey how nice the courses are. Yours did.

Great rate on Primm. We've played it several times. It is a great golf complex there. We are playing it Dec 8th again.

 

Thanks for posting - love the pics!!!

 

Nice report and great pics of the golf courses. How long of a drive is the Primm course from the strip?

 

Approximately 45 minutes.

 

Thanks for the pics of the courses. I was especially interested in the Arroyo, heard many good things but never seen pics so yours were very appreciated and yes it looks beautiful! By the sounds of your report, you're quite an avid golfer (like me). You may want to try a beautiful course on the opposite (Northern) end of your trip at Coyote Springs. It's a Nicklaus designed course that IMO is very challenging with greens you wouldn't believe (putted off the green twice). Thanks again for sharing...

 

coyote springs

I am not a golfer and have not driven to Vegas in few years, but when was using US93 to get to Vegas and I saw Coyote Spring being built I thought, who would build a golf course way out here. And a Jack Nicklaus design at that.

Did any of the housing planned ever get built.

Must of cost (lost) a fortune.

 

Funny you say that, because we were deciding between Arroyo and Coyote Springs for that round. Had it not added an extra hour to the drive home, we probably would have chosen Coyote Springs.