Las Vegas Paiute (Sun Mountain)

When discussing Dye-dedicated destinations, one cannot forget the public-access trove that exists just north of Las Vegas: The Paiute Golf Resort features 54 holes, all designed by Pete Dye, along with his son Perry and his niece, Cynthia Dye-McGarey. Sun Mountain was the second of the courses at Paiute, debuting a year after the Snow Mountain Course, and followed by The Wolf.

The latter is considered by far the most challenging 18 at the property, but the Sun is still considered more playable for the mid-handicapper than Snow due to its relative lack of water compared to the other courses at Paiute (although the closer at Sun Mountain is a classic Dye cape-style par four). Dye uses a different trademark signature to differentiate Sun Mountain, employing more railroad-tie bunkers to frame the fairways here. The course can hardly be described as “short,” as it checks in at more than 7,100 yards from the back tees.

The Paiute Resort was the first Native American-owned property to feature multiple golf courses, and they correctly chose not to stop at two!