The most expensive tee time in golf is about to skyrocket in price

When Shadow Creek Golf Course debuted in North Las Vegas in 1989, the impossibly lush and impeccably manicured Tom Fazio design — with construction costs in the neighborhood of $60 million — dropped jaws all over the golf world.

Soon enough, so too did its green fees.

When the course first opened, it was available only to its owner, golf-loving Vegas developer Steve Wynn, and a tight circle of high-rollers. But in 2000, when MGM Resorts International assumed ownership of the course, it made tee times available to guests of designated MGM properties — for the princely sum of $500.

By 2019, that eye-popping fee had crept up to $600 before two years later jumping to a cool, even $1,000. For that buy-in, guests received a private limo ride to the course, a caddie (tip not included), a locker and, yes, 18 holes of golf on a landscape-engineering marvel that ranks 21st on GOLF’s latest list of the Top 100 Courses You Can Play.

Whether you can actually play Shadow Creek, of course, depends on your golf budget and/or tolerance for four-figure green fees. If either is limited, you won’t love this latest bit of news: Shadow Creek’s fees are on the move again.

The course is presently closed for over-seeding, but when it reopens on Oct. 19 the peak season fees will be $1,250, representing a 25% increase.

The bump, which was first reported Thursday by Casino.org, was confirmed to GOLF.com by an MGM spokesperson.         

Shadow Creek already held the top spot in the pantheon of America’s priciest green fees but this latest mark-up will leave a yawning gap between Vegas’ best course and its costly counterparts, which include the likes of the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, where fees run north of $800; Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course ($600); and Pebble Beach Golf Links ($595).

When asked the reason for the price hike, the Shadow Creek spokesperson did not reply, but presumably MGM believes there is demand, in part thanks to the nationally-televised exposure the course has enjoyed in recent years. In 2018, it played host to The Match: Tiger vs. Phil, and two years later was the site of the PGA Tour’s CJ Cup. Since 2021, Shadow Creek also has been home to the Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play event.