Hitting the jackpot in Reno — on the course

RENO, Nev. - The big bird touched down and I braced myself ... and not just from the unconscionably loud, hammered guy in the cowboy hat hell-bent on steamrolling me and every other passenger in the 737 to get to the nearest airport slot machine.

No, the task at hand was much more daunting than Twelve-beer Tex.

I was setting out to play 72 holes in 72 hours in one of the nation’s best, most diverse and most criminally under-publicized golf regions, and my bags just weren’t quite big enough to hold all the Titleists, sunscreen and Advil I’d need to get through it.

And finding enough energy to handle all the other activities on the docket for Reno, the Carson Valley and all around Lake Tahoe — in addition to the seven or eight hours a day I’d be dedicating to the usually futile act of swinging a metal club and cursing myself — was going to be a challenge.

But as I found out, a weekend, a long weekend, or even an extended — and trust me, you’ll be wishing it was permanent — vacation in this paradise is worth any damage you might inflict to your lower back, wrists, knees and/or brain cells.

With 44 golf courses within 75 minutes, varying topography spanning the desert, tree-laden mountains and picturesque valley landscapes, every great outdoors activity you can think of nearby and gambling and booze everywhere you look, the toughest thing you’ll experience is finding the time to sleep.

Day 1: Reno, Nev.
This self-proclaimed “Biggest Little City in the World” still looks like a mini-Vegas when you head downtown, but you’ll be stoked to discover that the golf courses dotting the outskirts are as big-time as any you’ll find in any major city in America, and the weather always seems to cooperate.

A cool, sunny June morning turned into a typically blazing high-desert afternoon as we pulled into Red Hawk Golf Club in nearby Sparks, Nev., for a noon tee time on the Lakes Course.

Now, normally I’m not a huge fan of “condo golf,” and there are plenty of tract homes with barking dogs lining the fairways here, but this Robert Trent Jones Jr. design is so stout and so well-conceived that you almost forget that you’re in the middle of a development.

Slide show Coming up aces A look at golf’s hot stars, on and off the course more photos

There’s a little bit of everything for the serious golfer here, including tee shots over water, plenty of bunkering and greens that are mature enough to receive well-played shots, a nice alternative to some dry-climate courses where high approaches bounce off the greens like they’re superballs hitting asphalt.

And when that desert wind kicks up, you might wish you’d stayed in your hotel room and watched a “Judge Judy” marathon ... but back to golf, for now.

I missed a short birdie putt and parred No. 1, and as for the rest of the round, well, let’s just say that I had enough cerveza frio on the course to forget how difficult Red Hawk is and that I shot a number that’s less than my weight (I’m a relatively athletic 6-foot-3 ... you do the math). The important thing is that I had a blast on a course that’s challenging and well-maintained and worth trying again.

Another thing in Reno that’s definitely worth trying again is my dinner destination for the night, the Santa Fe Hotel on Lake Street, which filled me to the tonsils with succulent, more-than-plentiful family-style Basque cooking and basically rendered me useless and bed-bound by 10 p.m.

Day 2: Carson Valley/Carson City, Nev.
The food coma that I was forced into the previous night didn’t allow me to make the most of my night in my hotel/casino, the Atlantis, as much as I wanted to. Still, I had to wake up early for the “Divine Nine” in the Carson City/Valley area, which made all of that protein and rest pretty useful.

Photo By Rod Hanna The resort course at Genoa Lakes in the Carson Valley offers some of the most challenging, scenic golf in the United States.

The “Divine Nine” is a grouping of nine of the best golf properties in the area, and the good folks at Weidinger Public Relations had planned a day for us grizzled media types to experience two holes on each of them, with a little socializing and drinking of adult beverages on a chartered bus that zoomed us from course to course.

The entire day was a six-hour blur, but suffice it to say that there’s some fantastic golf to be played here. The elite courses for the serious players of the Divine Nine are the three layouts that comprise Dayton Valley and the two gems of the Genoa Lakes complex.

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