Desert Golf: A Mesquite Adventure

Mention Mesquite, Nev., to a golfer, and their eyes light up at the mention of one of their bucket-list courses. This town of 23,000, perched an hour northeast of the Las Vegas strip, is recognized as one of the country’s premier golf destinations. When the opportunity arose to experience Mesquite’s iconic brand of desert golf firsthand, I packed my clubs, loaded a cigar caddy and headed for the desert. My home for the stay was the centrally-located Eureka Casino Resort.

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The transition from the neon circus and over-the-top everything of Las Vegas to the austere red mesas of Mesquite feels like stepping into an entirely different universe. Here, the backdrop isn’t flashing billboards but towering sandstone cliffs and plateaus that glow a warm amber in the late afternoon sun. The Virgin River winds through this high desert valley, creating an oasis that started as a sparse, Mormon settlement in the 1880s and in recent years has become Nevada’s fastest growing city. 

Mesquite represents everything that’s right about destination golf. With nine courses within a 10-mile radius, this isn’t a place where you’re limited to one signature track – it’s a golfer’s buffet, where each course serves up its own unique flavor of desert target golf. The town sits 1,880 feet above sea level, meaning your drives will carry a bit further in the thin air, though you’ll quickly learn that distance is far less important than accuracy when the desert lurks just off the fairway. 

Eureka Casino Resort: The Perfect Base Camp 

Walking into the Eureka Casino Resort is to discover a hidden gem. This employee-owned property combines a warm hospitality with all the amenities a golf traveler could want. What sets Eureka apart isn’t just its 210 well-appointed rooms and resort vibe – it’s the way the staff members take genuine pride in making your experience a good one, knowing they’re all stakeholders in the resort’s success. 

My ground floor suite featured a perfect little outdoor sitting area that became my spot for a morning cigar and coffee while checking email every morning before golf. The bed was comfortable, and the shower was great, but the highlight was the soaking tub with massaging jets. Playing desert golf in the summer will drain you but the soaking tub was my daily post-round salvation. The resort’s location provides walking access to Eureka’s casino but it’s separate enough to keep you insulated  from the gaming action. 

Dining at Eureka Casino deserves a special mention, particularly the recently renovated and expanded, Gregory’s Mesquite Grill. The restaurant elevates its cuisine with mesquite wood-fired preparation, a desert twist. But it’s the cocktail and wine program that blew my mind. The smoked old fashioned I enjoyed after our round at Wolf Creek was exceptional, with its balanced sweetness and a subtle mesquite essence providing the perfect punctuation to a day spent chasing golf balls across dramatic terrain. Joseph, the head bartender and mixologist, is world class. He made thoughtful recommendations for our group. Some would say he was too good at his job. 

Mason Street Courtyard, another Eureka eatery, offers casual fare that hits the spot after an early morning round. The menu is as diverse as you could want: Philly cheesesteak loaded fries, Cajun steak and shrimp risotto, street tacos, and a huli-huli chicken sandwich, and that’s just on the first page. The 10K apple pie, served inside a big coffee mug and topped with strudel ice cream and caramel sauce, takes it over the top. 

Wolf Creek Golf Club: A Video Game Come to Life 

No discussion of Mesquite golf begins anywhere other than Wolf Creek, and for good reason. Wolf Creek was the course in Tiger Woods’ PGA Tour video game for PlayStation and although I’ve never been much of a gamer, I vividly remember that one. Stepping onto the first tee gave me a wild case of déjà vu. 

As you navigate the course’s elevation changes and gawk at the view hole after hole, you can’t help but wonder how such a place exists. Designer Dennis Rider’s amateur architect credentials might have raised eyebrows among purists, but the result speaks for itself – since its opening in 2000, the course was named Golf Digest’s Best New Course in 2002. It also won Golf Digest’s Fans Choice Award in 2011, beating out Pebble Beach and Kiawah Island that year. The course is open to the public and has appeared numerous times on “Best Golf Courses You Can Play” lists in various publications. 

The course conditions during my visit were exceptional, with firm fairways and greens that rolled true. Gas-powered carts are mandatory – and necessary – as only an ultramarathoner would even attempt to walk this expansive moonscape. Everything about the course is tricked out – severe elevation changes and more blind shots than anywhere else I’ve played, but you know what? Golf is a game that is meant to be fun, and, in that department, Wolf Creek delivers in spades. 

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the attentiveness of the staff. I was impressed by the constant attention to hydration levels. There was never a shortage of complimentary water bottles. Before teeing off, during the round, and immediately after the 18^th green, there was staff offering water bottles and icy wet towels to cool you down. 

The pro shop misses no opportunity to get the Wolf Creek logo on an article of clothing or golf gear that you’ll fall in love with. It was difficult not to blow the merch budget on the first day, so I snagged a couple of hats, ball markers, and a headcover, put blinders on and moved on. 

Cigar smoking is allowed and encouraged in all outdoor areas of the course, around the clubhouse, and more importantly on the terrace of aptly named Terrace Restaurant. 

Featured Holes: 

The theatre begins immediately at the par-5 opener, where an elevated tee and wide landing area eases you into the proceedings. The downhill drive to a lush, bright green fairway is serene – a stark contrast to the dramatic desert canyons that surround it. 

While I don’t intend to feature every hole, it’s impossible not to talk about the par-4 2nd hole, with its eternal climb to the tee box that requires you catch your breath before teeing off. Once your heart rate returns to normal, you’ll notice that you have the first real decision of the round – aim left of the peak to a narrow sliver of fairway that could leave you a short pitch or aim safely to the right of it and potentially have an 8-iron. Pro Tip: Bring options up to the tee box, as you won’t want to climb down if you decide to change clubs. Trust me. 

The long par-3 3rd flips the script with a blind, uphill shot that requires the loft of an 8-iron and the distance of a 4-iron to reach the green. If your shot is right of the green, you’re dead, the ball rolls down 100 yards or so. Standing on the tee box, a deep ravine separating you from the fairway going diagonally away from you, you understand why some describe this hole as either brilliant or insane – can it be both? 

The signature par-5 12th hole offers a view of everything Wolf Creek represents. Playing at 560 yards from the tips, it boasts an elevated tee into a winding, narrow fairway 200 feet below. The hang time on a well-struck drive from this perch is mesmerizing, but the water down the left will be reachable for the longer hitters. The second shot is where things can get dicey, with the green nestled between two water hazards, forcing players to decide between going for it with a risky long iron or laying up. An errant long iron almost guarantees a bogey or more, but you didn’t fly all the way out here to play it safe, did you? 

Perhaps no hole captures Wolf Creek’s audacious spirit better than the par-5 17^th. It has all the tricks. It’s lengthy, playing 562 from the back, slants right then doglegs left, has a creek running across the fairway that is fed by a pond that protects the front and right of the green, and is riddled with bunkers throughout. The tee shot has probably the longest drop of any drive on the course. With the added distance, a good drive to the right side of the fairway that manages to avoid bunkers and desert will leave you with a shot at the green in two – but anything to the left side will require patience and three shots. In a course where every hole offers something memorable, this hole stands out. 

Oasis Golf Club – The Canyons: Palmer’s Hidden Gem 

While Wolf Creek grabs headlines, the Canyons course at Oasis Golf Club quietly goes about the business of providing some of the most thoughtful golf in Mesquite. The property’s first course, The Palmer, was designed by Arnold Palmer in 1995 for his good friend, Si Redd, the “king of the slot machines.” 

Oasis Golf Club’s second course, The Canyons, opened in 2005 and presents a different challenge from the other course’s bombast. Much of the course winds calmly through desert arroyos and a residential development, which can create some tighter fairways to hit to, but the length is manageable enough that you certainly don’t need a driver on every hole. This strategic element – choosing the right club for position rather than always reaching for the big stick – makes the Canyons a thinking player’s course and would make for a great introduction to desert golf. 

Featured Holes: 

The signature 9^th hole epitomizes the Canyons’ combination of beauty and challenge. The 175-yard par-3 is a deceiving test thanks to the severe downhill elevation change making it difficult to pick the right club. The hole plays over a creek and series of waterfalls en route to a large green. 

The Palmer-designed back nine’s opening salvo immediately announces a step up in difficulty. The 423-yard par-4 is the hardest par-4 on the course with this uphill two-shotter up a narrowing fairway with canyons on the right and the desert wilds of cactus, creosote and rocks to the left. 

The par-5 16^th is not particularly difficult, with its wide landing area off the tee and unprotected approach. But the expansive view of the flat top mesas from the tee box is quite unique – as if God himself came down and sliced off the tops of those peaks to give you a level view of the horizon off the tee. 

The Canyons allows you to play and have fun without feeling overly punitive. Then you look at the scorecard and notice the course claimed its pound of flesh, especially on the back nine. 

Conestoga Golf Club: The Thinking Player’s Test 

If Wolf Creek is Mesquite’s showman and the Canyons its subtle artist, then Conestoga Golf Club is its scholar. Conestoga is often considered the second-best course in Mesquite behind Wolf Creek, but in many ways, it provides the most complete golf experience of the three. 

Designer Gary Panks has created something special, a routing that respects the dramatic terrain while providing strategic options for players of all abilities. The layout occupies a special site in that part of it enjoys expansive vistas from its elevated back nine while the front nine delves deeper into a wild canyon area. 

The layout is at times audacious and has its tricked-out holes, but they’re doled out in a more measured fashion. There are forced carries over desert on numerous occasions, but the tee options have been thoughtfully set up with a total of seven tee options between Black, Gold, Silver, Silver/Copper combo, Copper, Copper/Jade lady’s combo, and Jade. 

But it’s the strategic element throughout Conestoga that impresses most. Many desert courses rely primarily on forced carries and visual intimidation, and Conestoga does plenty of that but it also rewards course management and execution handsomely. Above all, it was a blast to play. 

The service was, again, top-notch. There was a gentleman making his way around the course handing out mango-scented, ice-cold towels so that players could keep cool and smell lovely. Speaking of lovely aromas, cigars are welcome in all outdoor areas and as the sun dipped a little, it was time to enjoy an Illusione Fume D’Amour Clementes I’d been saving for this moment. 

Featured Holes: 

After a gentle welcome on the 1^st, the 2^nd hole immediately establishes Conestoga’s character. An elevated tee provides a commanding view of the surrounding property that makes it hard to keep your phone in your pocket. Down below, the desert island green awaits with a rock retaining wall around two thirds of the green, not unlike what you would see when the putting surface is surrounded by water; in this case it’s desert canyon. Playing 162 yards from the gold tees, the yardage book recommends you take off two clubs to account for the altitude. It’s a brilliant early taste of what’s to come. 

The infamous 4^th hole is not only the most memorable hole at Conestoga, but for me it was the most memorable of Mesquite. It’s the number 1 handicap on the course and it is known as “The Fence Hole.” On flat land and from the gold tees, this would be a 373-yard, dogleg right, par-4 with three bunkers protecting the green. However, this hole looks like it was sawed in half at the distance you would probably land your driver. Looking forward from the tee box, all you see is an old west wooden fence and beyond it, all you can see are the Virgin Mountains in the distance. The fairway just stops at the fence and drops off a cliff more than 30 feet where it picks up again. Cautious players hit less than driver here and try to get close to the fence, leaving them a 7- or 8-iron into the green. Confident and long drivers should just fade it down the left side; you’ll be rewarded with a decent chance at birdie. Pro Tip: The players behind you have no idea if you’re delayed on the lower portion of the fairway. Hit your second shot and move it along cowboy, unless you want to leave Conestoga with a Titleist tattoo. 

The par-5 6^th, with its three isolated fairway landing zones, is another unique layout that forces you to select your club wisely, then execute with little margin for error. To give you a sense of the type of hole it is, the first two landing zones each have a drop area in case you err into one of the gulches separating the landing zones. To complicate matters, the green complex is just that, complex. High-walled bunkers protect the front and back of the large, angled green. The wisest of players will plan their strategy for this tough hole from the green to the tee. Hit and hope is a recipe for losing a dozen balls to the canyons. 

Cigars in the desert 

I visited in July, when the heat is at its peak. Smoking cigars while golfing in 100+ degree heat is not ideal. In these instances, I prefer to save a good cigar for the post-round banter and beer session. For that, the covered area behind the 1880 Grille, Conestoga’s restaurant and bar, was ideal, giving us a view of the course, some much-needed shade, and a good selection of drinks to go with the smokes. Pro Tip: Plan your trip to Mesquite in the spring or fall, when the daytime temperatures are in the 70s and 80s.  

Mesquite may not boast dedicated cigar lounges as you’d find in larger markets, but the town’s casino- and golf-centric culture creates a surprisingly cigar-friendly environment. At Eureka Casino Resort, cigar smoking is welcomed on the casino floor and in the casino bars, creating a proper gaming atmosphere where a good smoke enhances the experience rather than detracting from it. I smoked on the casino floor every day during my stay and didn’t get a sideways look. 

It’s recommended that you bring your own selection of cigars to Mesquite as the retail options are limited but if you are out of your favorite blend, Mesquite Smoke, Vape, & Cigar houses a solid selection featuring My Father, Rocky Patel, Oliva, Drew Estate, and more. They’re located just seven minutes from Eureka Casino Resort on Pioneer Blvd. 

The lack of formal cigar lounges is compensated by the freedom to enjoy a smoke in the casino and golf environments. The relaxed attitude toward cigar smoking adds to the old-school Nevada charm that makes Mesquite special. 

The Mesquite Experience 

Three days in Mesquite reminded me why I fell in love with golf travel in the first place. It’s not just about checking courses off a wish list. It’s also about discovering the courses and experiences that weren’t on your list to begin with; courses that challenge your preconceptions and moments with old and new friends that stick with you long after the scorecards are forgotten. 

Wolf Creek’s audacious theater, the Canyons’ laid-back swagger, and Conestoga’s meticulous design each told a different story about what desert golf can be. Eureka Casino Resort provided the perfect backdrop for processing these experiences, whether over an expertly crafted cocktail at Gregory’s or during quiet moments smoking a cigar in my outdoor sitting area listening to the desert and watching the sunlight change the hue of those majestic mesas. 

The beauty of Mesquite lies in its honest simplicity. This isn’t a place trying to be something it’s not – it’s a desert town that happens to host some extraordinary golf, populated by people who understand that sometimes the best travel experiences are the ones you stumble upon rather than chase. 

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This article appeared in the Jul/Aug 2025 issue. Subscribe today to get the magazine in your mailbox.

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