Great golf blossoms in the Las Vegas desert

LAS VEGAS -- Like everything else in Sin City, the golf scene in the Nevada desert is lush with beauty and extravagance, a picture waiting to be taken at every turn.

There are several dozen courses to choose from, starting with the lavish luxury of the Wynn Golf Club, Shadow Creek and Cascata to the more affordable greatness of Rio Secco, Bali Hai Golf Club, TPC Las Vegas and more.

Walters Golf has created three themes unique to Las Vegas fairly close to the Strip, featuring the tropical setting of Bali Hai, the Carolinas feel at Desert Pines Golf Club and the British Open tribute holes at Royal Links Golf Club.

Las Vegas Paiute Golf Resort delivers remote desert golf at its finest with three brawny Pete Dye designs a half-hour's drive from the Strip. A canyon creates a dramatic stretch of back-nine holes on the TPC Las Vegas, a former host of the Champions Tour and PGA Tour. Rio Secco in nearby Henderson hosted the 2012 Wendy's 3Tour Challenge and is home to the original Butch Harmon School of Golf.

No American destination delivers a more diverse and talented array of caddies than Las Vegas. The pretty girls at Bali Hai and Royal Links, called Parmates, will add a spark to any foursome, and they're not bad at reading putts, too. The caddies at Wynn are PGA Professionals, so they know a thing or two about golf.

The best thing about golf in Vegas? Just wait until the sun goes down.