The Reno-Tahoe region of Nevada that is often overlooked. It’s overshadowed by glitzier Las Vegas to the south and other high-end mountain resorts in nearby states. Especially as an East Coast person, you never really think to go there. This trip was my third time to the Reno-Tahoe area and by far my best. I was part of the #TahoeRenoGolf media tour and was fully hosted during the trip. That said, I saw much of the best of the region and it just left me wanting more! Here’s a breakdown of what I got up to and where on my Tahoe Reno golf media tour.

Reno, Nevada

The first stop on my Tahoe Reno golf media tour was Reno and their fantastic, easily accessible airport. They call Reno the “Biggest Little City in the World”. That may be but it’s definitely rough around the edges in downtown. It’s reminiscent of Old Las Vegas a few decades ago. I say this because it has some nice things but a lot of room for improvement and investment. Reno is rugged but it’s interesting and fun.

I stayed a few nights at the Silver Legacy Resort Hotel and Casino. It’s part of ‘The Row’ of casinos. This includes El Dorado and Circus Circus where you can walk between them all indoors freely. The Silver Legacy has a lot of old charm and like Reno is a little rough around the edges. But it’s one of the top places to stay in Downtown Reno.

I stayed in a renovated room and thought it was really nice. I also liked the rooftop pool, especially at night. The casino was massive with a ton of bars and places to have some fun. I also loved the Top Golf Swing Suite where we had a reception and got to swing the sticks a bit on the simulator.

I didn’t get a chance to use the new and improved spa but it looked really nice. I did use the gym each morning and it was pretty good. All in all, I enjoyed my stay at the Silver Legacy and would recommend it if you were to stay in Downtown Reno.

Since I was on a Tahoe Reno golf media tour, of course played some golf in Reno. I played the challenger course at the Club at ArrowCreek. There are two courses at ArrowCreek; the Legends course designed by Arnold Palmer and Challenger by Fuzzy Zoeller.

The course and club are in the process of a major overhaul to an already awesome setup. They are expanding the clubhouse and amenities in the next 2 years and doing a massive course bunker renovation at the moment. Even with that, the course was tough, beautiful and had amazing views of Reno.

The course features some long forced carries, tough rough and diabolical putting greens. It’s a course where it really helps to have someone playing with you who knows the nuances of the course. Although I played well, I didn’t score particularly well because I had trouble putting. But I still loved the course and hope to see it again once it’s finished with the new bunkers.

Truckee, California

Truckee is about 30 minutes from Reno and you cross into California. It’s a beautiful little town en route to resorts like Squaw Valley and others in the Reno-Tahoe region. I highly recommend a restaurant called Moody’s right in Downtown Truckee. I had a killer dinner there and enjoyed time at the bar. All the food I had was excellent and they has some of the best tomato soup I’ve ever tasted. Check it out.

My main reason for going to Truckee was to play the Jack Nicklaus designed Old Greenwood Course. It’s a really great track and one of my favorite courses I’ve played designed by Nicklaus.

Old Greenwood was long but fair. I played really well and scored pretty well too. There is a lot of water on Old Greenwood and there’s a good chance you’ll find yourself in it once or twice!

Old Greenwood is a course where it also pays to really look around and behind you on the course because there are mountains everywhere. It’s a real stunner and very picturesque. The view up and back on 18 had to be my favorite shot of the day. The clubhouse is also really nice and has a great pro shop with nice gear.

Carson Valley, Nevada

I started my very busy day in the Carson Valley driving about 45 minutes from Reno to the Minden-Tahoe Airport to go gliding. I had never been gliding before and really wasn’t exactly sure what it was. But I like to be surprised and as usual, everything worked out well and I had a blast!

I went with a company called Soaring NV that operates out of the Minden-Tahoe airport. My pilot Dana was great. She really did a superb job and was funny to boot.

If you’re unfamiliar with gliding or how it works; here’s a the short version. The glider has no engine and simply glides in the air. It’s towed up into the sky by another plane that you’re attached to by a cord. I know this sounds crazy but once you see it in action it all comes together.

Once you take off, you remain attached to the plane until you’re up over 10,000 feet over the mountains that separate the Carson Valley from Lake Tahoe. Obviously the view is stunning but you’re still a little anxious until separation.

At 10,000 feet the pilot (Dana) detaches from the plane that goes the opposite way of us. All of a sudden you’re soaring at 10,000 with no engine. It’s amazingly quiet and smooth and you start to relax and just take it in. The whole ride is between 45-60 minutes depending on conditions. I highly recommend this; it was a highlight of the trip for me.

Nearby to Minden is the town of Genoa. Genoa is the oldest settlement in Nevada and a very cute place to visit downtown. It has all kinds of little stores and it also has the Genoa Bar-the oldest bar in Nevada. Of course I went in for a drink and a look around. It was pretty much as you’d expect and a great place to check out.

I stayed at a place called the Carson Valley Inn not far from the Genoa Bar. It was a nice place to stay with big rooms, a casino, indoor pool and small gym. It had that old west feeling and was central to the nearby attractions.

Just a 5-minute walk from the Carson Valley Inn is the Bently Heritage Distillery. I’ve done a lot of distillery tours and visits but this one was the nicest I’ve seen. They currently make vodka and gin with whiskey on its way.

It’s a beautiful old building, completely renovated with state of the art materials. A massive investment was made into the distillery and they aggressive plans to expand domestically and then internationally with their products.

I was able to sample a few of the vodkas and a gin. I have to say they were all excellent and I don’t often drink gin at all and rarely drink vodka straight unless I’m in Russia! Cheers to them and the excellent tour they put on for us.

To end the night, we did a little taste of Carson Valley restaurant tour. We started at Khristophers in Garnerville for appetizers, followed by Overland for excellent Italian food. We finished up the night at CV Steak for desserts back in the Carson Valley Inn. It was all very good and I was impressed as a New Yorker foodie.

I didn’t know much about the Carson Valley before this trip. There is a lot going on and it’s very beautiful from the sky and from the ground. There is a lot of space in this massive valley with some cool little towns along the way.

Tahoe South

I had an incredibly busy 2 days in Tahoe South for the Tahoe Reno Golf media tour. I started out driving straight to Edgewood Tahoe for media day of the American Century Championship that takes place in July. It’s the famous celebrity tournament that has really grown into something massive.

At the event was 3-time winner and former baseball all-star, Mark Mulder. He fielded a bunch of questions from the assembled media including a few baseball questions from me. Also, we had a conference call with Charles Barkley, Jeremy Roenick, Del Curry and others in regards to the American Century Championship and of course the NBA and NHL finals. Then it was time to play Edgewood Tahoe.

Edgewood Tahoe is simply an outstanding course. It’s beautiful, challenging and a true pleasure to play. The last few holes are the most famous along the water but I loved the layout of the course. It had tough par 4’s, tricky par 3’s and some reachable par 5’s. We even had a shot at $25,000 on the 17^th for a hole in one. I didn’t make one but actually came pretty close. It was exciting for a second!

Edgewood Tahoe is a pretty legendary course deserving of the praise it receives. It’s a great track and should be on everyone’s short list of courses to play. But I think my absolute favorite thing is the 9^th hole starts in California and ends in Nevada. That’s pretty cool and I can’t think of another hole that’s bi-state!

After golf, we had an awesome dinner at Capisce? It’s a few miles north of the course and an excellent Italian place. The raviolis are to die for and that’s coming from a New Yorker! I highly recommend it if you’re in Tahoe South.

I stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino right on the main strip, just next to Edgewood Tahoe. It’s similar in style to the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas but I thought a better layout with the casino and center bar. The rooms were comfortable, the pool nice and the gym more than adequate. I didn’t spend a lot of time there because I was so busy but enjoyed the stay and would stay there again.

After a morning hike at Van Sickle Bi-State Park, I drove up to play Clear Creek Tahoe. I admittedly didn’t know much about Clear Creek Tahoe but I sure was impressed with what I saw.

First, they have a tremendous practice facility. But even more impressive is their recreational area with a beautiful pool, with water slide, plus clay tennis courts, bocce, ping-pong and cornhole. It was a beautiful facility that you could spend days just playing and relaxing.

The golf course itself was pretty great. I really loved the Coore & Crenshaw mountain layout. Some of the holes were breathtaking like the signature 3^rd where you tee off from seemingly a mile high to the 500 yard par 4.

The course was tough because it is built on mountains so there is a lot of lean in fairways and greens. Speaking of greens, they were some of the toughest I’ve ever tried to putt on. There were a ton of undulating greens and seemingly random mounds and tiers on the greens. That said, it was a lot of fun to try although 3-putts were the norm. Otherwise I played pretty darn well.

In Conclusion…

I really had a blast on the Tahoe Reno Golf Media Tour. We played some fantastic courses but more importantly I got to really know a region and people I didn’t know very well in my past visits. I honestly loved my time in the Carson Valley and Tahoe South and got a new appreciation for Reno. I look forward to coming again next year and seeing even more!

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