Golf Digest rates Reflection Bay one of the "Top 100 Best Courses You Can Play," and it is one of the many reasons Golf Digest rated Lake Las Vegas Resort as one of the "Top 75 Golf Resorts in North America." With many holes playing along the 10 miles of shoreline on a 320-acre lake, Vegas' first Jack Nicklaus Signature Course that is open to the public debuted in 1998 to rave reviews and continues to be a favorite among locals and visitors.

The Golden Bear's signature paw print is everywhere on the 7,261-yard course: strategic (white sand) fairway bunkering that guards short cuts and challenges players to properly place tee shots, and greens well guarded by bunkers and/or water and also by their shape and slope, so that every hole demands strong iron play. Many fairway bunkers (more than 40) can be farther away than they appear (check the finely detailed yardage booklet), and many fairways narrow or turn precisely at that yardage gap between 3-wood and driver.

To help make the course playable for all skill levels, however, much water (on six holes) is taken out of play from the more forward tee boxes, while from any tees the layout bends and bucks and rises and falls through a wide series of landscapes: rugged arroyos, deep valleys, rolling hillsides and lakeshore. The closing holes on each nine stretch along the glittering Lake Las Vegas shoreline.

The downhill, 452-yard, par-4 seventh doglegs right, toward the lake, and a stream cuts diagonally across the fairway to guard the shortcut. The downhill approach offers one of Reflection's countless catch-your-breath-and-reflect moments. Mammoth white sand bunkers backed by the blue lake wrap around behind the green, while a lone deep bunker yawns in front. The 199-yard par-3 eighth plays to a green that juts out on a peninsula between colossal bunkers and the lake. The green of the 164-yard, par-3 17th sits literally out on the water. The 561-yard, par-5 18th plays slightly uphill and all along the lake. Deep bunkers split the fairway and also march up the right side all the way to the smallish green, which is backed by water. It's a treacherous and exhilarating finish to an unforgettable golf experience.

Course statistics:

	Rating/Slope	Out	In	Total
Tour	74.8/138	3674	3587	7261
Champ.	73.2/135	3427	3435	6862
Men's	70.3/128	3166	3225	6391
Resort	68.1/124	2896	2995	5891
Ladies	70.0/127	2599	2567	5166
Par		36	36	72

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