If your Vegas adventure is more about green grass than green felt, base yourself at an MGM Resorts property. Guests of the various resorts, which include Bellagio and Aria, are eligible for rounds at the uber-exclusive Shadow Creek (main image).

The Tom Fazio masterpiece opened in 1990 at a reported cost of $47 million—a price that the designer once attributed to “total site manipulation.” In other words, all the rolling hills, the contours, and the mounding that you’ll see are man-made. “The course is unbelievable—it’s an amazing facility and in great shape,” says PGA Tour pro Ryan Moore, who lives in Las Vegas. “If you get the chance to play Shadow Creek, you have to go. It will be one of the best golfing experiences you’ll ever have.”

Fazio designed another Vegas classic that holds pride of place in an unlikely setting—just off the Strip. Tucked behind the Wynn and Encore towers, the Wynn Golf Club bounds over and through ridges and valleys, offering an implausibly serene experience in the heart of the city.

Farther from the Strip, Moore recommends a trip to Paiute Golf Resort, which is home to three Pete Dye–designed layouts. “They’re some of the best public-access golf courses anywhere,” he says.

Stay

Shadow Creek access is one of the many perks available to guests of Bellagio Las Vegas, where the elegant Spa Tower rooms and suites recently benefited from a $110 million renovation.

Eat

A detour to the city’s Arts District brings you to Esther’s Kitchen. Equipped with an open-fire grill and an $85,000 bread oven, the restaurant serves inventive seasonal fare with a strong Italian influence. Make sure to order at least one of the nine house-made pasta dishes.

Shared plates and Mediterranean flavors define the culinary journey at HaSalon at the Venetian Las Vegas. Carnivores will delight in beef carpaccio pounded thin tableside, bone-in rib eyes, and lamb kebabs, but the restaurant’s “vegetable creatures” are equally exciting and wildly inventive—think charred beetroot carpaccio and desert peach and ricotta bruschetta.