For Las Vegas by Design Southern Nevada has a wealth of courses designed by famous links architects. By Kevin Iole Pete Dye (right) designed the three Las Vegas Paiute courses (above). LPGA stars Annika Pete Dye, in his own words, can be "diabolical" when designing a golf course. Not only is Dye the architect of some of the world's greatest golf courses, such as TPC at Sawgrass and the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island , but he's also designed some of the most difficult. However, Dye, the primary designer of all three courses at the Las Vegas Paiute Resort, doesn't want to be known as the Simon Legree of golf. While he devises challenges for the Tiger Woods of the world, he also considers high-handicap golfers like Mary Jones. "You have to know first of all who you're building these golf courses for," said Dye, who has created 10 of Golf Digest's top 100 U.S. courses. "And here's a problem you have. You have the pros and the top amateurs just hitting the ball so far. They're over 300 yards, easy, now. "But then, how do I account for Mary Jones? She's going to play the course, too, and probably on a more regular basis. And she might hit it 130 yards off the tee. That's a problem. I try to remember that I'm building the course for the people who are going to play it every day, not for a pro who might come in once a year to play four rounds in a tournament." That's what Dye was able to do at Paiute. The Wolf course opened in 2001 as one of the longest courses in the state - 7,604 yards from the championship tees. To some golfers, it can seem like 10,000 yards when the wind kicks up. But Dye designed Wolf for both the high-handicapper and the tournament player. The fairways are unusually wide where the average player's drives are going to land, but they bottleneck where the good players will hit their balls. Such an arrangement, Dye said, allows a high-handicapper to have fun playing while preventing a top\ player from overpowering the course. Jack Nicklaus shaped the daily-fee Reflection Bay course on the shore of Lake Las Vegas. He also created Bear's Best in Las Vegas. "If you make [average players] carry the ball over obstacles and give them a small landing area, you're going to keep them out there forever," Dye said. "We want the people to enjoy themselves, but we don't want them to take six hours for a round and lose a dozen golf balls." Dye is just one of the legendary designers who have created memorable courses in Southern Nevada. Others include former players, like Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Tom Weiskopf. Some are longtime members of the design fraternity, such as Tom Fazio, Robert Cupp, Ted Robinson, and Jay Morrish. Three are members of the same family: Robert Trent Jones and his sons, Robert Jr. and Rees. That group accounts for 39 of the courses on Golf Digest's top-100 list. In part because of those designers, PGA Tour player Craig Barlow, who was born, raised, and still lives in Henderson , believes the area deserves more recognition as a golf destination. "We're always going to be known for the casinos and the gambling, and that's never going to change," Barlow said. "But Las Vegas should also be known for golf. There are not only so many great courses here, but there are a great variety of courses. I think this is one of the best areas in the country just for golf." Nicklaus has designed three courses in the Las Vegas area. He oversaw two layouts at Lake Las Vegas in Henderson, the private SouthShore and the public Reflection Bay . In Las Vegas , he created Bear's Best, a collection of 18 of the best holes he ever designed. At Lake Las Vegas, Reflection Bay borders the resort's man-made lake. Barlow noted that Reflection Bay ranks both as a great course and as a "visual experience." Those words delight Nicklaus, who said aesthetics play a major role in his work. "Two things you look for in designing a golf course are beauty and making the golfing experience interesting," Nicklaus said. "When it's a nice day and you go on a picnic, you want to go to a nice place with birds, trees, water, whatever. The same holds true for golf. Second, you want to provide intriguing golf shots. You get the best of both at Reflection Bay ." Nicklaus isn't the designer of record for Mountain Falls Golf Club in Pahrump, but his Nicklaus Design laid out its back nine. Cal Olson, who received acclaim for his work at CasaBlanca in Mesquite, did the front nine at Mountain Falls . Arnold Palmer always had fun playing the game, which helps explain why he's the most popular golfer of all time. Still, he has made nearly as much of a mark designing courses as he did playing them. Palmer and his design group, headed by well-known links architect Ed Seay, laid out the Mountain and Palm courses at Angel Park in Las Vegas, both the public and private courses at Red Rock Country Club in Las Vegas, and the Oasis in Mesquite. Robert Trent Jones Sr. and Robert Trent Jones Jr. designed the private Southern Highlands 18, home course of the UNLV golf team. Rees Jones is known for redesigning U.S. Open venues, most notably Bethpage Black on Long Island. Rees Jones also has had an impact on upscale public golf in Southern Nevada. In the 1990s he designed Rio Secco, a Harrah's-owned course that has become a second home to some of golf's most famous players, including Tiger Woods, who use the facility to practice. Butch Harmon, known as one of the top teachers in the game, operates his golf school on the Rio Secco practice facility, and he frequently has big-name players out, among them ex-UNLV star Adam Scott and Henderson's Natalie Gulbis. Cascata, designed by Rees Jones, stands in the desert near Boulder City. Green fees range up to $500. Rees Jones also designed the Cascata Golf Club in Boulder City . Five years ago Cascata, which has a stream flowing through its clubhouse, was built by Caesars for the use of its hotel guests. Now owned by Harrah's, Cascata is open to the public, and you can play Jones' layout for one of the state's highest green fees - up to $500 a round. You can pay one of the region's two other $500 green fees at Shadow Creek in North Las Vegas . Celebrities from Bill Clinton to Michael Jordan have played the exclusive links, now owned by MGM Mirage. Tom Fazio designed Shadow Creek, which Golf Digest rated the third-best public course in the U.S. , along with casino mogul Steve Wynn. Although Fazio is one of the game's best-known designers, Wynn was not a passive participant and spent much time talking to Fazio about the impact of the sun and the angle of the lighting. Later Fazio designed the two Primm Valley courses in Primm, 43 miles south of Las Vegason the California border. Recently, Fazio and Wynn collaborated again, this time on the site of the old Desert Inn Country Club on the Strip. Wynn helped Fazio design the 7,042-yard course that bears the hotelier's name, the Wynn Golf and Country Club, behind his new resort-casino, Wynn Las Vegas. Hotel guests pay $500 to play the course. Other well-known designers who have shaped the Vegas links scene include Ted Robinson (Rhodes Ranch, Tuscany), Tom Weiskopf (The Falls at Lake Las Vegas), Robert Cupp (Silverstone, Angel Park), Jay Morrish (DragonRidge, Painted Desert), and Pete Dye's older son, Perry Dye (Royal Links, Desert Pines). No matter the setting, a course's architect usually attempts to balance the quality of golf with the skills of the golfers. Pete Dye said he wanted the courses at Las Vegas Paiute to represent a challenge, but he didn't want anyone feeling they were impossible to play. "If I can build a golf course where people can shoot their handicap, and they have fun doing it, I am satisfied," Dye said. "And I think that's...the case with [Wolf]. It's a fun course." He added, "If you play your normal game, you'll be able to get around the course at about your handicap and have a lot of fun doing it." Kevin Iole writes about golf and other sports for the Las Vegas Review-Journal.