Las Vegas National Golf Club has a well-preserved history, and perhaps no tournament field appreciates it more than the one assembled for this week’s Senior Desert Showdown.
As one of the city’s oldest courses, it’s no surprise that Las Vegas National has so many chapters to its story. It’s where the Rat Pack used to hang out, so the bar has chairs with nameplates of famous entertainers. (The club restaurant is aptly named “Rat Pack Bar and Grill.”) The movie “Casino” was filmed here, and Paradise Palms, the housing development where the course is located, was filmed here. of Where Hollywood stars lived in the 1960s.
“They’ll be a perfect fit,” general manager Joe Kelly said of how highly the senior amateurs value this venue. “They’re all going to know it. They’re going to be excited about how it fits in with the tournament, the history of Las Vegas, and the history of Las Vegas National.”
Las Vegas National is also the home of the Las Vegas Golf Hall of Fame, which attracts a wide range of golf fans. Of course, Tiger Woods will forever be wrapped up in the Sin City golf scene, considering he won his first PGA Tour title at the 1996 Las Vegas Invitational and, you guessed it, Las Vegas National.
Kelly explained that each hole’s plate helps tie all these elements together by telling not only the story of the celebrity who frequented the course, but also what Woods did on that hole during the tournament.
“It’s kind of neat because every hole has a little bit of history and tourists get excited about that,” he said.
Kelly, 74, who came to Las Vegas in 1978 and has been part of the golf scene there ever since, admits that while the Hall of Fame and the wall commemorating Woods’ victories certainly bring people to the golf course, that’s not all that Las Vegas National can offer.
“It’s really amazing that the Hall of Fame actually brings people to our golf course and when they play on the course, they say wow. We didn’t realize how great a golf course this is,” said Kelly, who has been with Las Vegas National for the past seven years. “I would really call it a Northeast-type facility. Wall-to-wall lawns, mature trees, a 64-year-old golf course. No desert landscaping or forced carry in the desert area. It’s a really clean track. It’s unlike anything you’d see in a desert area.”
In the Senior Desert Showdown, the winner wins by not hitting a shot from the fairway and by not hitting a shot into a wooded area. A year ago, Brady Exbar, a Las Vegas native and close friend of Kelly’s who helped bring the event to Las Vegas National, won the event at Paiute Golf Resort.
Exbar, a member of the Las Vegas Golf Hall of Fame, will return to the field this year at Las Vegas National, where he expects stiff competition. Brian Hoopes of Tempe, Ariz., is also in the running, and after a five-game winning streak earlier this spring that included back-to-back Golf Week wins in the California desert and the Trans-Mississippi Senior Championship, Hoopes is the man to beat in the senior division.
Other notable players in this division include Kevin Vandenberg and Todd Doss, who are ranked No. 1 and No. 3 (franking hoops) in the Golfweek Senior U.S. Amateur Rankings.
In the Super Senior division, Greg Good is also back to defend his title, as is defending Super Legend champion Richard Hunt.
