Bear's Best Las Vegas, Now Amara Golf & Social Club

About Bear's Best Las Vegas

Bear's Best Las Vegas permanently closed to public play on June 30, 2025, after more than two decades as the strangest daily-fee proposition in Summerlin. The premise was tribute golf. Jack Nicklaus, working through Nicklaus Design, built 18 holes at 11111 W Flamingo Rd, inside The Ridges, and made every one of them a hand-selected replica of a Nicklaus design from somewhere else in the world. Cabo del Sol. Old Works in Montana. Castle Pines. It opened in 2001, the black-sand bunkers did most of the marketing, and from the back tees it ran past 7,100 yards, which was a good deal more course than the gimmick led people to expect. None of it is still standing. The site is being rebuilt as Amara Golf and Social Club, a private members-only club owned by Mulligan Holdings LLC (Andrew Pascal and Mike Mixer), with a reported total investment of approximately $300 million. Jackson Kahn Design is drawing an entirely new golf course from scratch. October 2026 was the reported opening target; the month is ending with no announcement from the club, though its careers page began listing jobs in October. You cannot play here.

Reviews of Bear's Best Las Vegas

Players liked it, and across two decades of public play the reviews stayed remarkably consistent. The replica premise did the heavy lifting. You could work through echoes of Nicklaus designs from Mexico, the American Southwest, Montana, and Colorado without leaving the Las Vegas desert. Purists rolled their eyes at that. The black-sand bunkers, modeled on the copper-smelting slag at Old Works Golf Course, were the signature and the most photographed thing on the property. From the back tees it held up as a real championship test rather than a novelty round, which is more than the concept promised. None of that survives. The property is a private construction project now, and the full story of what replaced it, Amara Golf and Social Club, is below on this page. If you played Bear's Best, we'd still like to hear what you remember.

Amara Golf and Social Club: the full account

First published June 8, 2026 as a standalone article; folded into this page October 27, 2026. Figures marked reported come from developer statements and press coverage, not from the club.

The course Bear's Best was

Every hole at Bear's Best Las Vegas was a copy of a hole somewhere else. Opened in 2001 as one of the first entries in Nicklaus's "Bear's Best" concept, the course gathered what the designer considered 18 of his finest holes from a portfolio of more than 270 courses worldwide and rebuilt them on 11111 W Flamingo Road, inside The Ridges. Signage at every tee explained which original the hole came from. Part museum, part championship test: past 7,100 yards from the back tees at par 72 with a slope of 147. Black sand was the signature, replicating the copper-smelting slag bunkers of Old Works in Anaconda, Montana; Mexico supplied Cabo del Sol and Palmilla, the Southwest gave up La Paloma and Las Campanas, and Colorado sent Castle Pines. Novelty got people in the door. The slope sent them home. Sitting inside a guard-gated luxury enclave gave a daily-fee operation a setting that read as private club, and few public courses in the valley felt less public.

The sale and the plan

Mulligan Holdings LLC bought Bear's Best in 2024 for a reported $30.5 million, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Behind the entity are Andrew Pascal, co-founder and chief executive of PlayStudios and a former president and chief operating officer of Wynn Las Vegas, and Mike Mixer, co-founder of Colliers International's Las Vegas operation. Renovation was never the plan. The owners said they would tear it down and start over, and the project carries a reported total investment of $300 million, a figure cited consistently by the Review-Journal and Club + Resort Business and attributed to the owners: complete demolition of the clubhouse, a full course redesign with Jackson Kahn Design, a new two-level clubhouse and 15 boutique villas. Final public rounds went out in June 2025 and redevelopment began in September 2025.

What Amara is being built to be

The positioning is health, wellness and golf rather than traditional country club. Inside the rebuilt clubhouse, as reported: a spa and fitness centre, a wine lounge, fine dining, a business centre and banquet space. Outside: a family pool with cabanas, four pickleball courts, a sports lounge, volleyball and a large event lawn. Count how much of that has nothing to do with hitting a golf ball; that is deliberate. On the golf side, Jackson Kahn Design is redesigning the 18-hole layout from the ground up, with a six-hole par-3 course and indoor simulators also planned. Nothing of the Bear's Best concept survives.

Membership is capped. Ownership has stated a limit of 250 general memberships plus 15 reserved for buyers of the villas, 265 in total. The initiation fee has been reported at $250,000, with monthly dues of about $4,000 covering family access including dependants to age 25, and initiation is reported to step up at each threshold of 50 memberships sold. Villa sizes are reported at roughly 2,000 to 6,000 square feet, with all 15 expected by the end of 2027. Golf and social facilities targeted an October 2026 opening. As of 26 October 2026 no date has been announced; the opening watch records what the club has and has not published, including the five positions its careers page now lists.

What it means for The Ridges and Summerlin real estate

The Summit Club already sits beside The Ridges and ranks among the most exclusive private golf communities in the West. Adding a second private club, this one oriented to wellness and social life, deepens an amenity stack few suburban communities anywhere can match, and for owners focused on long-term luxury values another low-capacity private club in the neighbourhood is broadly a tailwind. There is a loss buried in the upside: anyone who held Bear's Best tee times as a neighbourhood amenity no longer has them, and the conversion removes a public course from the immediate area for good. Which matters more depends on whether you are holding the house or playing the golf. The site is active, the investment is substantial and the ownership group has Las Vegas hospitality credentials, which many announced projects cannot say. Whether Amara delivers on its stated vision, and when, remains to be seen.

Sources

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Bear's Best sells for $30.5M · Review-Journal: course to become private club · Review-Journal: owners share $300M vision · Club + Resort Business: $30.5M sale · Club + Resort Business: $300M vision · Nicklaus Design: Bear's Best Las Vegas · PGA of America: Amara Golf and Social Club facility profile · amaragolf.com, read 26 October 2026.

Is Bear's Best Las Vegas Worth Playing?

No, and not for any amount of money. Bear's Best Las Vegas closed permanently to the public in June 2025, and the site is under full demolition and reconstruction. Amara Golf and Social Club takes its place: private, members-only, a reported initiation fee of $250,000, a membership cap of 265, no general public play at all. That cap is the number worth sitting with. A club sized for 265 people is not turning golfers away reluctantly, it is built from the start to keep them out. Anyone trying to understand what is going up here, and what it does to The Ridges and Summerlin real estate, will find the details further down this page. Anyone who just wants a tee time this week should look at the nearby courses below, which are all still open.

Good to know before you play

• The course is permanently closed: Bear's Best Las Vegas shut its gates to public play on June 30, 2025. The site is under active demolition and reconstruction — it cannot be visited or played.
• Amara Golf and Social Club is the successor: The site is being rebuilt as a private, members-only facility by Mulligan Holdings LLC (Andrew Pascal and Mike Mixer), with a reported $300 million investment and an October 2026 opening targeted but not independently confirmed.
• Amara will be strictly private: Membership is capped at 265, with a reported initiation fee of $250,000 and monthly dues of approximately $4,000. There will be no public access. The original Bear's Best daily-fee model is gone permanently.
• A new course design, not a renovation: Jackson Kahn Design is building an entirely new 18-hole layout from scratch, along with a new six-hole par-3 course and indoor simulators. The replica-hole Nicklaus concept will not be preserved.
• For golfers wanting a round in Summerlin today: The nearby courses listed below remain open to varying degrees of public and semi-private access.

Frequently asked questions about Bear's Best Las Vegas

Where can I find reviews and ratings for Bear's Best Las Vegas?

Read player reviews here on Summerlin.Golf and add your own, rated for conditions, value, layout, greens, pace, and staff. Bear's Best Las Vegas is also listed on GolfPass, GolfNow, Golf Digest, and Google Reviews. Keep in mind that the course is closed and under redevelopment, so anything posted on those sites is a memory rather than a report on current conditions. Check the official website for the latest status.

Is Bear's Best Las Vegas still open?

No. Public play ended on June 30, 2025, and the closure is permanent. The site is under full demolition and reconstruction, so there is nothing to play and no way onto the property. It is being rebuilt as Amara Golf and Social Club, a private, members-only facility.

Who designed Bear's Best Las Vegas and when did it open?

Jack Nicklaus, working through Nicklaus Design. The course opened in 2001 on a replica-hole concept, with each of the 18 holes modeled on one of Nicklaus's favorite designs from courses around the world, which is why no two holes on the property ever felt like they belonged to the same golf course.

What is replacing Bear's Best Las Vegas?

Amara Golf and Social Club, a strictly private, members-only club owned by Mulligan Holdings LLC (Andrew Pascal and Mike Mixer). The project carries a reported total investment of approximately $300 million. Jackson Kahn Design is redesigning the golf course from scratch rather than renovating what was already there. October 2026 was reported as the opening target; as of 26 October 2026 the club has announced no date, so treat the timeline as open.

Where was Bear's Best Las Vegas located?

At 11111 W Flamingo Rd, Las Vegas, NV 89135, inside The Ridges. That is the guard-gated luxury enclave on the southern edge of Summerlin, which explains a fair amount about what the site is becoming.

How much does Amara Golf Club membership cost?

A reported initiation fee of $250,000, plus monthly dues of approximately $4,000. Those dues cover family access including dependents to age 25, which helps if you have a household full of golfers and does nothing for you if you do not. Membership is capped at 265 total. Verify current pricing directly with the club, because fees are reported to step up at each threshold of 50 memberships sold.

What was distinctive about Bear's Best Las Vegas?

The tribute concept. Each of the 18 holes was a hand-selected replica of a Nicklaus design from elsewhere in the world, including holes channeling Cabo del Sol in Mexico, Old Works in Montana, and Castle Pines in Colorado. The black-sand bunkers, replicating the copper-smelting slag at Old Works, were the most photographed feature on the property and the detail most players still remember. From the back tees the course stretched past 7,100 yards at par 72 with a slope rating of 147, so the scorecard was never the soft part of the day.