Reflection Bay Golf Club at Lake Las Vegas is back open after with 18 hew paspalum greens, other enhancements that included water conservation efforts and other items. The course had a soft-reopening Sept. 13-14, 2023, and is open to the public Sept. 15.
Make Your Tee Times Now at Reflection Bay Golf Club
“We are excited to be back operating after four and a half months of being closed for renovations and to put in the new greens,” said Eric Dutt, Reflection Bay manager of operations. “Our members and some of their guests were the first to play the new greens and the comments have been overwhelmingly positive. I’m not sure I heard a negative comment. Most of the comments were that the greens were much better than they expected for such new greens and because they are a different turf type than we have had in the the past.
“We expect it will take us three or four months to really get the greens dialed in to where we want them, but they are good right now. We were thrilled to hear the comments. With the new paspalum greens, there will be learning curve for us, so we will err on the side of caution before we really start trying to increase the green speeds. But having said that, my goal is not to have speeds really over 9.5 to 10 on the Stimpmeter. As a resort course, we don’t need fast greens, so those speeds will be perfect. We also have a new fleet of E-Z Go carts, we renovated some more of the area upstairs in the clubhouse as part of our Cove Dining program and did some other nice enhancements around the facility and on the course. We look forward to showing it off to everyone over the next several months.”
Here is more about the new greens at Reflection Bay Golf Club
A few months prior to the reopening, Dutt shared his thoughts on the process.
“Reflection Bay is about 25 years old and it was closed for about four and a half years during the real estate downturn (about 2009 to 2014), so any golf course in that age frame—let alone with a long closure–needs some work,” said Dutt. “Our biggest challenge at Reflection Bay has been the heat, humidity, and, at times, poor water quality. We struggled in the summertime with the greens because of the bent grass. It was clear we needed to improve the greens, and we also made the decision to do a few other enhancements during the greens project.”
Craig Barlow, PGA Tour player and High-Performance Golf Institute director of instruction, supported the move to paspalum greens, having played several PGA Tour events on the surface.
“I think Reflection Bay is looking to be ahead of the times because the grass takes less water while still performing like other grasses,” Barlow said. “You can make them firm or soft, and the shot performance is pretty much like on other grasses I have played. Paspalum greens don’t have much grain in them, which is a bit different. Overall, I think they feel a little more like Bermuda grass than bent from my experience. The biggest thing is they are so durable. It is very difficult to find a ball mark on them. I think it is going to be a very nice change at Reflection Bay and golfers will enjoy them.”
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