For the better part of 15 years, Boulder Creek Golf Club has hosted college golf tournaments and other big events. It has been a go-to destination facility for conference tournaments, UNLV women’s golf events and colleges in cold climates looking for a home-away-from home event. The proven track record has resulted in more and more tournaments annually and also to NCAA post-season events being held at the course in coming years.
“Number one, it’s enjoyable to see the competition between the young adults and what they do out here,” says Andy Schaper, PGA, and Boulder Creek and Boulder City Golf Club general manager and director of operations. “The Boulder Creek facility is built for it and it is a great facility for these events. We are proud to host these events, and, it has been about 15 years since we found this niche with college golf. And other courses in town are seeing that it’s valuable, as well.”
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The Las Vegas Shootout hosted by the Oklahoma City University men’s and women’s programs kick off a busy stretch in Boulder City Feb. 20-21. Several other tournaments will be played at Boulder Creek over the next couple months and also Boulder City Golf Club across the street. But some crown jewels of college golf will soon be teeing it up at Boulder Creek as the the course will host the Division III men’s national golf championship in 2024, the Division II women’s national golf championship in 2025 and the Division II men’s 2026 national championship.
“As we have gone through the years and hosted so many invitationals and also the conference championships, it just makes me feel good that we are doing the right things to now have the opportunity to host NCAA tournaments,” Schaper says. “It makes us proud of what we’ve done here to know that we are going host those events and be associated with an organization like the NCAA. We are very excited for the tournaments and it is going to be big. We also understand that the expectations increase, but we’re really looking forward to those weeks in 2024, 2025 and 2026. We will be ready, as always.”
Andy Crabtree is a former UNLV women’s golf assistant coach and now leads the Oklahoma City University men’s team. He has hosted events at Boulder Creek for several years. He also hosts an NCAA prospect camp at the course each December.
“Boulder Creek is a place that hosts many college tournaments and the reason they do is because they do them all very well,” Crabtree says. “They don’t just throw them together; they really make it a special experience for the kids. The kids are treated first class and all of the little details are taken care of and that adds up to a really good experience. There are so many little details that are cool that they do, like signs for each team on the range and that is a very welcoming feeling. Everything is very organized, so as a coach coming here to run an event, you don’t have to worry about anything. It all starts with Andy. What also makes the events at Boulder Creek very good are that Andy and his staff want us here. The kids sense that and that is a good feeling because in this day and age it can be difficult to secure a course and even when you do, sometimes you don’t feel as welcome.”
The Oklahoma City University NAIA event is at both Boulder Creek and Boulder City Golf Course. Other tournaments coming to Boulder Creek include the Las Vegas Desert Classic (March 5-7), the Jackrabbit Invitational (March 12-13), the California Pacific Conference Championships (17-19), the RMAC Conference Championships (April 23-25) and the WAC Golf Championships (April 28-30).
“I was thinking about all of this the other day, and it’s exciting to know that in this business, you never know what phone call or email you might get that puts you on path to do great events like the NCAA tournaments,” Schaper says. “Hopefully we are successful and everyone enjoys themselves. It’s kind of exciting to know what could come in the future as we continue to host these tournaments.”
Boulder Creek also hosts PGA Tour qualifying tournaments, high school golf tournaments, and top-level amateur tournaments including the Clark County Amateur, which is a Southern Nevada Golf Association major tournament.