We played the Palms course in the afternoon which I would describe as an excellent resort golf course or a bit better. The Green fee is a very reasonable $40/50.

Having tried our own hand at long driving, that evening we went to an impressive local sports centre attended by a conference of 200 people. The site is the impressive home of the World Long Driving Championships which we will have all seen on TV. It was incredible!

We met the champion of two years ago Mike Dobbyns (pictured), a gentle giant standing 6ft 8 inches high! For those interested in the technical side of hitting the golf ball miles, Mike uses a 5 degree driver with 120 compression Slazenger golf balls. His third effort went straight just over 400 yards!

Our last day had an early start to play nine holes on the local Falcon Ridge course which can only be described as exceptional with a series of spectacular tee shots against a backdrop of desert beauty. I can't praise the course too much with a very high level of imagination used in the design. The green fee is $70/90 and well worth it, a highlight of the courses we played. The Costa Blanca hotel is only about a mile away but there is another much smaller very tasteful boutique hotel opposite the golf club which looked inviting.

After one last lingering lunch we then went back to the airport to catch the Virgin flight back to the UK, traveling home in Premium Economy. I found the flight out in economy more than adequate (near perfection) but coming back it seemed like luxury! I am off to New Zealand next year and I now know that a 24 hour flight in premium economy willbe no hardship at all - I was told Virgin Atlantic is known for it's premium economy standard.

Our tour guide for the trip was Connie Mancillas, a travel agent working for our hosts the Nevada Tourist Commission. Her organisation and attention to detail was quite first class with nothing, absolutely nothing, being too much trouble. She has a daughter who works for the Las Vegas Police Department Vice Squad - mum knows that she only finds out about a part of her daughter's work!

In conclusion:

There are over 100 courses in Nevada and all the ones I saw were all of an excellent standard. A great holiday would be to spend a day/night or two 'in town' and the same prior to the journey back.

In between there are no end of places to go to and courses to play. A mixed golf/site seeing tour would be great with areas of local interest including the Grand Canyon/Hoover Dam/Lake Mead/Bryce Canyon/Zion Canyon/Death Valley(golf at Furnace Creek)/horse riding/biking ... the list goes on and on.

A two centre holiday would also be a real possibility. In addition to Las Vegas one could use Los Angeles(only 4 hours drive)/Phoenix via the Canyon/Reno(train service to San Francisco)/Carson City which has many fine courses. The area is huge and the possibilities endless but most important of all the golf courses are not going to disappoint!

If you missed them -

Las Vegas Part I - Unique and Simply Spectacular

Las Vegas Part II - Play some golf in Vegas - some very good golf indeed