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WHICH nicely introduces Las Vegas. This incongruous conurbation has as its focal point a ribbon development -- the famous Strip -- that is a montage of eye-popping architecture ranging from the surrealistic to the ultimate in fantasy. It's a Disney land for grown-up children who are masquerading as adults.
Here the hotels come in many guises: you'll see towers by the score, a black glass pyramid with a base that would cover a football field, another with a replica of the Statue of Liberty, one with the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Dojes Palace in Venice and the Eiffel Tower, all in miniature -- OK, half-sized!
They're all part of hotels, the arteries through which pump the lifeblood of a ceaselessly throbbing resort, the millions of tourists who flock here each year to gamble at its palatial casinos and ogle the sights of the world's most unusual city, the place they call the entertainment capital of the world.
Las Vegas has 15 of the largest hotels known to man, and by large they mean with more than 3,000 bedrooms. Several have 4,000, the MGM has 5,000 and now The Venetian has opened a second tower with another 3,000 rooms to top score with 6,000!
Overkill? Don't believe it. Last year many ran at 87 per cent occupancy. They were virtually full every week. Hence the continuing development of new hotels and allied attractions, theatres, casinos, restaurants, that rake in billions of dollars a month.
In the last six months of 1998, for instance, $10 billion was spent on new hotel development. And by new they mean fresh from the ground up, but on old sites along The Strip. When a hotel reaches the stage of needing a lick of paint they simply implode it and cart away the debris! It's cheaper than up-grading and much quicker...
There are a thousand unmissable sights in Las Vegas but top of your list should be an after-dark helicopter tour. It ranked among the most spine-tingling experiences I've ever known. See it from above and you'll believe the story that Las Vegas at night is visible from outer space. It is an explosion of light and colour like no other on earth, or some way beyond...
But you didn't come here to ogle the sights, drool over gorgeous show girls and get rubber-legged; you came to play golf, right? That's available, too, in spades. Every architect worth his corn has made a contribution here over the years and the course list reads like the blue book.
There are 60 or so golf clubs in the Las Vegas city area and, like the hotels, they want for nothing (green fees are not cheap, either, but the price falls after 1pm in midweek). Expense was no object when these courses were laid out in the desert that encircles the city and the club houses in many instances border on the palatial.
I played the famed Desert Inn course, home for many years of the Las Vegas Invitational and some 50 other Tour events. In the early days it was on the outskirts, they say: now it's part of the city centre, the sole survivor of a group whose land became too valuable as hotel sites. I was suitably boggle-eyed.
Even more remarkable is The Royal Links, one of the newest and one that replicates 18 of the most famous holes of the British clubs which stage the Open Championship. Here you'll find the Las Vegas version of the Road Hole at St Andrews, the Postage Stamp at Troon and a swathe of other famous holes from clubs such as Carnoustie, Birkdale, Prestwick and Lytham.
They are most realistic, although all vary from the original in some small detail, and it's great fun, even for Britons who have played the originals. For those who haven't visited the great British courses the Royal Links provides an illuminating insight and first rate golf, although the emerald fairways are some way removed from those usually found at a British links. The greens are a touch softer, too.. You could fly a shot in with a wedge here, not recommended practice at Carnoustie, et al..
Caddies are obligatory, even with a cart, and they add to the experience of a unique day. The clubhouse, too, is a replica -- they say of a Scottish castle in miniature, with unalloyed luxury.
Green fees? At the Royal Links they range between $175 and $250, depending upon season, plus a caddie fee. That's more than the average, which is in the order of $90 to $130, but not over the top for what will be a unique experience. It will be a fitting climax to a short stay in one of the world's most unusual cities...
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