Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

In the shadows of Shadow Creek: ‘There’s no cleavage here’

Shadow Creek GM Mark Brenneman

John Katsilometes

Mark Brenneman, general manager of famed golf course Shadow Creek in North Las Vegas.

Mark Brenneman makes a curious but befitting observation about Shadow Creek Golf Course: “There’s no cleavage here,” he says while looking out at an 18th fairway so lush with green grass, you’d swear it was a painting. “It’s very understated.”

Shadow Creek might not be as sexy as a showgirl in a low-plunging gown, but she’s got curves. She’s gorgeous, not garish, more Pebble Beach than “Peepshow.” She’s Vegas, but not exactly Vegas.

“I think what people expect, because it’s Las Vegas, is something really over the top,” says Brenneman, Shadow Creek’s general manager. “They expect the Bellagio.”

Shadow Creek in North Las Vegas

Shadow Creek in North Las Vegas. Launch slideshow »

Donny & Marie 500th Show

Donny and Marie Osmond perform their 500 show at the Flamingo Wednesday, March 23, 2011. Launch slideshow »

Donny & Marie Osmond's 500th Performance

Donny & Marie Osmond's 500th performance at the Flamingo on March 23, 2011. Launch slideshow »

Instead, one of golf’s most mystique-rich courses is simple and secluded (despite being carved into the tough terrain near I-15 and Craig Road in North Las Vegas). For the first time, the public is being allowed to walk the heretofore-exclusive golf course for the 10th Annual Michael Jordan Celebrity Invitational set for Thursday through April 4.

The tournament is hosted by Aria, and tickets are on sale at the hotel’s “Viva Elvis” box office, the Aria Web site and the Michael Jordan Invitational site. Tickets are $25 for general admission on Thursday and Friday, $50 for general admission passes Saturday and Sunday, and $100 for general admission passes for all days. VIP passes are offered, too, which affords ticketholders to view the course from a hospitality deck overlooking the par-5 18th hole. (For additional tournament and ticket information, call 877-253-5847).

According to a news release, Jordan, Marcus Allen, Anthony Anderson, Jonathan Antin, Gabriel Aubry, Brian Baumgartner, Jerome Bettis, Drew Brees, Sophia Bush, Brandi Chastain, Chris Chelios, Roger Clemens, Larry David, Richard Dent, Shannon Elizabeth, Julius Erving, Jamie Foxx, Janet Jones-Gretzky, Wayne Gretzky, Ken Griffey, Jr., Bill Guthridge, Penny Hardaway, Hill Harper, Kevin Hart, Dennis Haysbert, Brett Hull, Toby Keith, Jana Kramer, Toni Kukoc, Spike Lee, Mario Lemieux, Greg Maddux, Danny Masterson, Paul O’Neill, Michael Pena, Mike Piazza, Maury Povich, Salli Richardson, Stuart Scott, Bruce Smith, John Smoltz, Alan Thicke, Chris Tucker, Winky Wright are celebs scheduled to attend this year’s tournament and peripheral events.

Conceived by Steve Wynn and created by one of golf’s greatest designers, Tom Fazio, Shadow Creek opened in 1989. The concept was simply to construct one of the great golf courses anywhere and to limit play to Wynn’s highest rollers. When MGM bought out Wynn’s properties a decade ago, it took over management of the course.

MGM Resorts guests are permitted to play Shadow Creek. Green fees are listed at $500, with includes limo service to and from the course set in a 320-acre crater out on Losse Road. It’s so artfully tucked away that even those who regularly drive that road don’t realize what is behind the 10-foot fence.

Stories abound from Brenneman, the former director of golf at Spyglass Hill Golf Course in Monterey, Calif., who is as understated as the course he manages today.

There was the time Bill Clinton couldn’t get a tee time at Shadow Creek. Not because the course was booked; groups usually tee off about an hour apart. But rather, Clinton was not staying at an MGM Resort property at the time, and after the issue was passed all the way up to then-MGM Mirage chief executive Terrance Lanni, word came back to Brenneman that Clinton would not be an exception to that treasured Shadow Creek policy.

“We couldn’t bend that rule,” Brenneman said, chuckling. “Lanni had to make that call. … After that, we got a call from Brian Mulroney’s office, and he wanted to play the course, too, and wasn’t an MGM guest. They said, ‘Well, he is the prime minister of Canada,’ and we said, ‘Well, we had the same situation with Bill Clinton …’ ”

A couple of years later, Clinton did play the course as a guest of MGM and played 18 with Brenneman in the foursome. At the fourth tee, after hooking his tee shot, Clinton turned to Brenneman and asked, “What am I doing wrong?” Brenneman explained that Clinton was pulling his left foot and opening his stance before making contact with the ball.

“Pretend you’re just throwing the ball down the fairway,” Brenneman told him. Clinton nodded -- and proceeded to make the same mistake on every tee shot thereafter, continually asking Brenneman, “What am I doing wrong?” Brenneman finally started standing far away from Clinton as the former president set up in the tee box so he wouldn’t be in immediate vision for the inevitable question.

President George H.W. Bush also has a locker at Shadow Creek, next to Clinton’s, and Bush the Elder keeps a fishing rod in the clubhouse so he can cast into the creek on the course.

“Playing with presidents,” Brenneman says, “is one of the perks of the job.”

Marie remembers Elizabeth Taylor

Marie Osmond met Elizabeth Taylor at an event at the White House when Ronald Reagan was president. Taylor was in attendance with her then-husband Virginia Sen. John Warner, and Osmond says she will never forget meeting Taylor face-to-face.

“Those eyes,” Osmond said during an interview after Donny & Marie’s 500th show at Flamingo Las Vegas. “They were so beautiful, just as everyone says.” So taken with Taylor’s blue eyes that Osmond asked that eyes in that very hue be created for her doll collection.

“She was an incredible woman,” Osmond said. “She was an inspiration. She showed so much courage in her fight against AIDS. She was one of the first celebrities to take up that cause, and I respect her so much for that.”

Charity event takes flight

Flightlinez, the attraction where people slide down a thick metal cord above tourists milling under the Fremont Street Experience, is partnering with FSE to hold a daylong fundraiser to benefit the family of cab driver Tesfaye Arze. Arze, 30, was killed March 4 during an attempted robbery. All proceeds from tickets Monday on Flightlinez (and it is a uniquely entertaining experience) will go to the Professional Drivers Association and Arze’s family.

Flightlinez tickets are $15 from noon to 6 p.m. and $20 from 6 p.m. to midnight.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow Kats With the Dish at twitter.com/KatsWithTheDish.

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