Shadow Creek Golf Course

Tom Fazio carved Shadow Creek out of the flat Nevada desert north of Las Vegas in 1989, importing roughly 21,000 trees and pumping in enough water to create what he calls a feat of 'total site manipulation.' Steve Wynn's reported $47 million construction budget, about $120 million in today's dollars, funded the most expensive course-build in American history at the time, with rolling hills, canyons, and waterfalls invented from scratch on what had been pure scrubland. The result has held its place near the top of every major ranking for three decades. Golf Digest has it third on America's 100 Greatest Public for 2025-26 (matching its 2005-06 peak) and 24th on the overall America's 100 Greatest list. Public access is gated behind a $1,250+ peak rate that includes the helicopter or limo from MGM properties, putting it firmly in the trophy tier, a single-round splurge most groups treat as the centerpiece of a Vegas trip.