Wolf Creek Golf Club

Few courses anywhere in the American Southwest announce themselves quite like Wolf Creek. Built into the red-rock canyon terrain outside Mesquite, Nevada, the layout by Denis Griffiths opened in 2000 and immediately earned a reputation as one of the most visually dramatic — and logistically audacious — courses ever built. Massive elevation changes, sculpted sandstone bluffs, and fairways that seem to defy gravity combine to create a round that feels less like a round of golf and more like a tour through a natural spectacle. Golf Digest and other major outlets have consistently ranked it among the best public courses in the country.

Mesquite sits on the Nevada-Utah border along the Virgin River, about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas. The Mojave Desert landscape here is stunning — rust-colored cliffs, sparse desert vegetation, and wide open sky — and Wolf Creek uses every inch of it.

This is destination golf, full stop. Carts are essentially mandatory given the terrain, and first-timers are advised to set the scorecard aside and simply take in the ride.