Best Private Golf Clubs in Summerlin: TPC, Red Rock, Summit & More
Four private and guard-gated clubs compared — access routes, course pedigree, and what the community around each one means for residents.
The best private golf clubs in Summerlin sit at one of the most concentrated intersections of championship course design and luxury residential real estate in the American West. Unlike the city's public-access courses — which you can book online this afternoon — the private clubs here require some form of membership, sponsorship, or community residency. But for golfers who qualify or are evaluating a move to Summerlin, understanding the distinction between TPC Summerlin, Red Rock Country Club, The Summit Club, and the incoming Amara matters considerably. Each offers a different version of private-club membership, and each sits at the heart of a specific kind of Summerlin community.
How we pick: We assess Summerlin's private clubs on course design pedigree, verifiable access information, conditioning standards, and the residential community surrounding each. We do not score or rank what we cannot play — but we can tell you honestly what each club is, who it serves, and what surrounds it on the ground.
1. The Summit Club
Tom Fazio opened The Summit Club's 18-hole, par-72 championship course in 2017 on 555 elevated acres at roughly 3,000 feet in south Summerlin. At 7,457 yards from the back tees, this is one of the longest and most elevated private layouts in Las Vegas — and one of the most carefully designed. Fazio's routing gives each fairway a sense of total isolation from the rest of the course, with several tee boxes framing simultaneous views of Red Rock Canyon to the west and the Strip glittering to the east. The course's international standing was confirmed in 2021 when the PGA TOUR's CJ Cup relocated from South Korea and staged its field here — the only glimpse professionals (or anyone outside the membership) has had of a course normally sealed behind invitation-only gates.
Access requires an invitation to join. There is no guest-fee program, no corporate outing slot, and no walk-in path. Memberships are tied to residential ownership within the development, and the real estate market reflects that exclusivity: a transaction in May 2024 set the all-time Las Vegas residential sale record. The surrounding Summit community is a joint venture between Discovery Land Company and Howard Hughes Corporation, and its 555-acre footprint is the most protected private address in Summerlin. For those evaluating the full picture — golf, real estate, and lifestyle — the Summit Club course page is the place to start.
2. TPC Summerlin
Bobby Weed and Fuzzy Zoeller designed TPC Summerlin in 1991, and the course's place in history was secured permanently in October 1996 when Tiger Woods won his first PGA TOUR title here at the Las Vegas Invitational. At par 72, 7,255 yards, with a course rating of 74.4 and a slope of 137 from the tips, it is a legitimate championship test — one that hosted the Shriners Children's Open each October through 2024, when bentgrass greens reached stimpmeter readings of 11 to 13 feet per second and the full tournament infrastructure transformed the property into a TOUR venue; the PGA TOUR event concluded after its 2024 edition.
TPC Summerlin is privately operated, with access primarily through membership or corporate outings (approximately $250 per round). The surrounding Tournament Hills community places residents immediately adjacent to the course, with fairway homes that look directly onto Bobby Weed's layout. For golfers who want the prestige of a PGA TOUR host venue — the one where Tiger announced himself to the world — TPC Summerlin is the most historically resonant private club in Summerlin. The complete picture is in the TPC Summerlin course guide.
3. Red Rock Country Club
Arnold Palmer and Ed Seay designed both courses at Red Rock Country Club — the private Mountain Course and the semi-private Arroyo Golf Club — on 738 acres at Summerlin's western frontier, adjacent to the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. The Mountain Course opened in 1999 at 7,001 yards, slope 136, and is reserved for members. The Arroyo Golf Club, completed in 2003 at 6,883 yards with a slope of 125, accepts daily-fee play — making Red Rock Country Club the one private club in this guide where non-members have a genuine access route.
The Arroyo is a touch more approachable than the longer private Mountain Course (slope 136). Its signature par-3 seventh — a 215-yard full carry over water to an island green — is one of the most memorable individual holes in Las Vegas golf, and the slope of 125 ensures the challenge is not cosmetic. For members, the Mountain Course delivers a more measured, strategic test with one of Las Vegas's best finishing holes. Approximately 80 percent of the community's roughly 1,000 homes have direct fairway views, making Red Rock Country Club as much a residential destination as a golf one. The Red Rock Country Club community and the broader The Ridges village sit nearby and are worth exploring together. Full course details are at the Red Rock Country Club review.
4. Bear's Best Las Vegas / Amara Golf Club (Coming 2026)
Bear's Best Las Vegas — Jack Nicklaus's 18-hole tribute course inside The Ridges, famous for its black-sand bunkers and replica holes drawn from Nicklaus's best designs around the world — closed permanently to public play in June 2025. The site at 11111 W Flamingo Road is now under full redevelopment as Amara Golf and Social Club, a private, members-only development backed by Mulligan Holdings LLC (Andrew Pascal and Mike Mixer) with a reported $300 million total investment. Jackson Kahn Design is redesigning the golf course from scratch, and an October 2026 opening has been reported, though not independently confirmed.
When Amara opens, it will add a fourth fully private club to Summerlin's portfolio — and one positioned squarely in The Ridges, one of Summerlin's most architecturally significant master-planned villages. Reported membership figures suggest an initiation fee of $250,000 and a cap of 265 members. For the full story of what is being built and what it means for The Ridges real estate market, see the Bear's Best / Amara Golf Club guide.
The Verdict
Summerlin's private clubs are not interchangeable — each one anchors a distinct community, occupies a different position in the design hierarchy, and offers a different version of what private golf membership in Las Vegas can mean. The Summit Club is the ceiling: Fazio design, invitation-only access, and real estate that sets records. TPC Summerlin is the most historically significant: a PGA TOUR host venue where Tiger Woods made history. Red Rock Country Club is the most accessible: two Palmer courses, a guard-gated community, and a daily-fee Arroyo route for non-members. And Amara is the wildcard — a $300 million private redevelopment that will reshape the conversation when it opens later this year. For the public-access alternative, our guide to the best public golf courses in Summerlin covers what is available without a membership.