Las Vegas, Nevada (May 27, 2011)–Everything old is new again, and here is one golf craze we hope comes back into style. Embracing its glorious 50-year history, Las Vegas National Golf Club–located minutes from the heart of the Las Vegas Strip–is encouraging golfers to walk if they want to in a Las Vegas golf promotion that began this week. The course is offering this opportunity to play the game as it was intended during limited hours but hopes to expand as the public demands it. —By Brian Hurlburt.
"It is my opinion, that, despite all the pluses that can be made for the advantages of riding in a golf cart, golf simply takes longer to play using a cart than it does when you walk," says Las Vegas National Golf Club GM Jack Stoberski, a guy with an old-school soul. "I used to play in less than 3 hours, when walking; try to match that today. We at Las Vegas National are betting that it will be the cart players that will slow down the walkers, not the reverse, and we’re willing to experiment with playing golf the old fashioned way. If we are right in our assumptions, we look forward to expanding the times of day that walking will be permitted." Here's hoping they are correct.
Want to play golf, riding or walking, at arguably the most historic golf course in Las Vegas, Las Vegas National? Click now to the official Las Vegas National Golf website to reserve your Las Vegas golf tee times. Also, when you visit their official website you can click to receive a free Players Card that allows you discounts and other special offers.
Las Vegas National Golf Club opened in 1961 and quickly became a host course of the LPGA Championship, a major for that tour, in addition to the PGA Tour's Sahara Invitational and the Tournament of Champions. Then in 1996, this Las Vegas golf course was used in the rotation of the PGA Tour's Las Vegas Invitational and a guy named Tiger Woods shot 70 on the course en route to his historic, first PGA Tour win. Las Vegas National Golf Club is also home to the Las Vegas Golf Hall of Fame exhibit which is free to the public during club hours.
Rates for the summer at Las Vegas National Golf Club are listed as low as $25 beginning after 3 PM for walking for visitors (locals earn a better rate) while all tee times for locals or visitors will always be below $100 this summer. Las Vegas National Golf Club is just minutes from the Las Vegas Strip and is an oasis style golf course with hundreds of trees that offer terrific shade during the summer. It really cools the round to be able to find shade every few feet. You can save off the rate by signing up for the official Players Card.
"When I started playing golf some 65+ short years ago, there were no such entities as golf carts, at least in the area that I grew up in, upstate New York," says Stoberski. "We played (walked) 18 in the morning, took a break for lunch, played 18 in the afternoon, went home for supper and then played 9 in the early evening. When golf carts first made their appearance in our area, there was a certain novelty about them, literally translated, a means to carry our beer and the ice to keep them cold for an entire round. Aside from that aspect, when we played a more serious game, I grew to dislike riding and much preferred walking, it forced me to concentrate on golf.
"The obvious advantages were when walking, you kept your mind on golf, either thinking about your next shot or what you did wrong that left your ball in a bunker or worse. There were no distractions such as clubs rattling around when you went over some uneven terrain, criss- crossing fairways to get your partner’s ball, yelling across the fairway when the cart was on the other side of the fairway and you decided that you didn’t have the right club and needed another one, being required to stay on cart paths at certain times, paying attention to where you are driving and the multitude of other factors that distract you from thinking about your next golf shot." Yes …