Now both in their 80s, Steve Wynn and Tom Fazio will forever be linked to advancing opulent resort golf in the Entertainment Capital of the World. They pulled it off twice in Las Vegas.
Wynn, the billionaire luxury casino and hotel developer who played a major role in shaping the Strip with his megaresorts, and Fazio, one of golf’s all-time great architects, teamed up to construct a golfing paradise out of a piece of barren desert land in 1989 at what is now Shadow Creek Golf Course.
The estimated cost of $45 million at the time was a record and stunned the golf world. Adjusted for inflation, that is $114 million — the equivalent of what it cost to build Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the baseball stadium for the Baltimore Orioles.
THE BIRTH OF SHADOW CREEK
“At first there really was no concept for Shadow Creek,” says Fazio, recalling his first meeting with Wynn. “He said, ‘I want to build a golf course as good as any in the world. I travel all over the world to play great golf. Why can’t I have one right here where I live and work?’ Those were the first words out of his mouth to me.”
It was clear to Fazio that Wynn wanted to build something distinctive and one-of-a-kind. But the property in North Las Vegas was more suited for roaming coyotes than golf holes.
“I thought, well, it’s just a pipe dream,” Fazio says. “I thought he was just one of those people who loves golf and, of course, everybody wants the best they can have — that’s a common denominator. But then he asked me a question no one has ever asked me before — no golf writer, nobody ever: ‘What makes a golf course great?’ Interesting, right? That was a pretty heavy question.”
Fazio kept that idea in the back of his mind as he set out to make golf architecture history.
“Now, how do you get that done? How do you create that?” he says. “There was no golf environment. There was nothing to work with. There was nothing there. So, you know what Steve says? ‘Why don’t we build an environment and put a golf course in it?’ That’s how brilliant he is.”
As concepts began to formulate, Wynn requested that Fazio build a scale model of the course prior to construction.
“It was like designing a house,” Fazio recalls. “It took some time, but it was a fun process and a great way to make it happen.”
Sod was shipped in from Chicago, and mature trees came from the high desert of Arizona and New Mexico. Fazio ended up moving an astonishing 12 million cubic yards of dirt to create dramatic elevation changes, along with man-made creeks and waterfalls in what many golfers described as a desert oasis. Fazio cut the property in half, lowering the north section by 20 feet and placing that dirt on the south part of the layout.
“We sort of put the golf course in a bowl and then dug all these ridges through it with some elevation changes, planted trees on it and put all the irrigation in — pretty simple, right?” Fazio says.
When it first opened, Shadow Creek was Wynn’s personal course, hosting players including Michael Jordan, Aaron Rodgers, Wayne Gretzky and Julius Erving. Now, guests of MGM Resorts International can book tee times that include a limousine ride to the course. However, the $1,250 green fee doesn’t include the caddie fee and tip. It remains the most expensive round of golf in the United States.
“It was expensive to build, expensive to maintain, but it’s one-of-a-kind,” Fazio said. “I still get letters from people, or people call me, who just played it for the first time and had heard about it and read about it for years. They say, ‘We expected it to be good, but it’s better than we ever thought.’”
AN ENCORE ON THE STRIP
Some 15 years later, Fazio returned for an encore when Wynn wanted another special course on what was formerly the Desert Inn Golf and Country Club land after building the Wynn Las Vegas resort. Fazio initially tried to convince Wynn to do a renovation project, but Wynn was having none of it.
“I said, ‘Steve, this golf course makes a lot of money and it’s right here,’” Fazio says. “He said, ‘Tom, you know that’s not what I want. You know what I want, just do it. We’ve already done it at Shadow Creek. Do the best you can do.’”
“Golf in Las Vegas has always been defined by imagination, and courses that Steve Wynn has built help to showcase that golf in this city can be much more than a traditional desert course experience,” says Scott Cowan, executive director of golf operations at Wynn Las Vegas.
With its proximity to the Strip, the setting for Wynn Golf Club is drastically different from Shadow Creek.
“You can see the big wheel and the Sphere off in the distance and the first thing you think about is, ‘I’m going to see the Eagles tonight and I’m playing golf right here,’” Fazio says. “You think, ‘Wow, is this real? Is this a dream? This must be a dream because it’s just so special.’ You feel like you’re right on the Strip, but it’s in its own forest.”
“The course gives players a perspective of Las Vegas that is very different from what they experience on the Strip itself,” Cowan says. “There are moments where players see the resort towers, the Sphere and the surrounding skyline, and others that take them through a lush landscape and elevation changes that transition into quiet pockets that are surprisingly removed from the city. That mix is part of the fun. One minute you are reminded that you are in the heart of Las Vegas, and the next you are focused on a shot over water or a green framed by landscaping and the stunning 35-foot waterfall on Hole 18. It is a very memorable visual experience.”
A round costs $800, Cowan says, which can vary by season, day and time. The golf experience includes access to complimentary Callaway rental clubs, nonalcoholic beverages in the cart and food from the Tee House during course play. Guests also have access to Wynn’s caddies, who help guide the round and enhance the overall experience.
“For many guests, the round becomes one of the most unexpected highlights of their visit,” Cowan says. “They may come to Las Vegas for dining, entertainment, business or just a weekend away, but end up playing with us and partaking in a round at one of the country’s most distinctive golf courses. It’s a memorable experience all around, and something we’re especially proud of.”
Fazio credits Wynn for creating destinations within a destination.
“He is a brilliant, unique individual,” says Fazio of Wynn, who also hired Fazio to build Fallen Oak, a golf amenity for the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. “The guy could have been anything — he could have been a nuclear scientist; he could have invented the atomic bomb. The guy is one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. The two Vegas golf courses are in totally different environments but as good as anything that you can find anywhere in the world.”
