Laughlin Ranch

Laughlin Ranch is just down the Nevada borderline from Las Vegas, where that state meets with Arizona and California at perhaps the warmest tri-state in the United States. David Druzinsky, who has done much of his work in the region, wanted to give the adventuresome something to write home about with the resort’s golf course.

Hole names such as “Hell’s Half Acre,” “Ghosts” and the less subtle “Deads” add to the concept. The most celebrated stretch on the course is on the eastern side of the property, playing up into the hills and then back down again (both “Hell’s” and “Ghosts” come as part of this stretch).

The hole most celebrated is No. 16 (“Separation Canyon”), which paints the risk/reward concept in rather black-and-white terms. Players can play from the elevated teebox to the fairway to the left, or the bold may consider attempting the 315-yard route directly at the green, almost all of it carry. The bridge that carries carts across the canyon that lies in-between the tee and the fairway gives emphasis to just how far your ball dropped if you didn’t make it.