Reno-Tahoe Always Delivers

By: Jim Moore

One wife ago, I spent a week in the Reno-Lake Tahoe area every summer. I was in my 20s then, and since I loved to gamble, drink and golf, sometimes to excess with all three, this area was perfect for me.

One wife and many years later, I'm 58, older but not necessarily wiser. I don't gamble as much, and when I do, I still lose. I'm a guy who thought the Seattle Mariners would win 100 games this year so don't ever take me to the track.

I don't drink as much either, and when I do go overboard, I'm reminded how stupid that is by the hangovers that last all day and aren't over by noon anymore.

But when it comes to golf, and golf in the Reno-Lake Tahoe area, I'm still that 25-year-old kid. I can't get enough, and I always want more.

On a five-day stretch in June, I played eight courses from the Carson City Valley to South Lake Tahoe, North Lake Tahoe, Truckee and Plumas Pines.

I have been on golf media trips before, to Thailand and Puerto Rico, but nothing matches the Reno-Tahoe Golf Trail because of the beauty and affordability. I also love the clean air, clean water and, OK, the fact that the high altitudes help you hit longer drives.

I like high-end courses as much as anyone else - and we played them - but I don't want this to be a "Look-at-me-and-where-I-played" kind of golf-travel story. I want you to feel like you're in the rental car with me as we start our tour in the Carson Valley and take several dirt-road detours along the way.

I might fail with this journalistic reach, but see that mini-mart over there? Get us a half-rack of Coors Lights and let's go!

Once you land in Reno, it's maybe 45 minutes to Genoa Lakes, a must-play links-style course in the scenic Carson Valley. How scenic is it? I found myself looking at mountains all day long because they surround you at Genoa Lakes.

We played the Lakes course, but there's another 18 holes a mile up the road, the Ranch course, so you can make a 36-hole day of it.

Genoa Lakes has a nice 19th hole, and I had a cold one on the deck, but don't miss the 20th hole, the Genoa Bar and Saloon, just five minutes away. It's the oldest bar in Nevada, opening its doors in 1853. Picture a bar in a Western movie, and that's what you'll find here. Very nice, highly suggested, a don't-miss place on the first day of your trip.

We had dinner at Jacobs Berry Farm in Gardnerville, which was Cool and Casual, both with capital C's. Get married or hold a family reunion there or take a tour of the old farm like we did.

When I saw our itinerary, I thought Lake Tahoe Golf Course was included on the trip to simply give the golfers who wanted to play 36 holes a morning option to go with Edgewood in the afternoon.

I showed up with low expectations and left with a much greater appreciation for Lake Tahoe Golf Course. I didn't like it, I loved it, so much that I returned the next morning to practice and have a Bloody Mary on the patio.

It looks like a place where the locals play. It also has a friendly staff and relaxed atmosphere. I'd even say the course is borderline fantastic, tree-lined, full of challenges and fun. I say this after shooting a 99 that featured four snowmen.

Go there. You won't be disappointed. If you have kids, there's a Foot Golf course here too, and you can play after 5 p.m. every day.

In the afternoon, we played at Edgewood, where they hold the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament in mid-July, better known as the event where Charles Barkley embarrasses himself every year.

I caddied for Barkley during the pro-am in 2007, and it was the highlight of my sports-writing career. It's the strangest thing. He hits good shots on the range but has a mental block that causes him to be an absolute circus when the shots count.

On par-3s, I tried to give him the right club for the yardage, but it didn't matter, he'd butcher a 7-iron or 5-iron or anything else I handed him.

He was great with his fans, cracking jokes all day long, but here's the thing I'll never forget - when I met up with him the night before in the high-rollers room at the High Sierra, he was playing 21 with Emmitt Smith and soccer star Brandi Chastain.

He was playing two hands with three chips on each hand. I'd never seen the color of his chips and come to find out, they were $5,000 chips. In the time it took to say: "Hi Charles, it's nice to meet you," I saw him lose $30,000 as the dealer drew out to a 21.

Edgewood is spectacular, situated on the south shore of Lake Tahoe, and it also has the nicest parking lot in the country. You've got this prime piece of property, yet here you are parking your car, basically right on the beach.

Quick story…took my golden retriever to Edgewood one year. He did his thing on the beach. I scooped it up with a coffee cup, put the coffee cup on the car next to mine while I got my dog back in the truck, and forgot to grab the cup. It was the Edgewood chef's car. He was upset. And boy did I hear about that later.

The next day, I drove up the west side of the lake - and even with construction along the way, it's worth going this way instead of on the east side because you pass Emerald Bay. I don't get the selfie thing, but everyone was taking them with Emerald Bay providing the best photo-bomb backdrop ever.

Old Greenwood is a Jack Nicklaus course, and I played the front nine with former L.A. Times sports columnist T.J. Simers. Right after he left, I pulled the golf cart around the corner and saw two smiling women who were pouring free shots of booze for golfers because it was "Whiskey Wednesday" at Old Greenwood. So try to play it on Wednesday -you won't be disappointed with the other six days either - and I stayed after my round to take advantage of the spacious practice area.

For the next two nights, I stayed at the Loch Leven Lodge a few miles from Truckee, and I can't recommend this place highly enough. Check out the photo with this story - you can almost dive off the deck in front of your room into Donner Lake.

Your room has a kitchenette and breakfast booth, and out front you've got mini-golf, barbecues and that always-inviting lake. I pictured kids and more kids having a blast here and parents trying to keep up with them.

Nearby, Coyote Moon has a hole that will immediately move into your personal top-10 of best par-3s you've ever played. Why? You'd be hard-pressed to find a more drastically downhill and dramatic par-3 where club selection is a guessing game at best.

Tahoe Donner is also a stunner, and it gets your attention right away - a par-4, 430 yards, uphill the whole way. I hit my first two shots left of left and took a 10; hopefully you'll get off to a better start.

Take time to visit downtown Truckee. Here's one of the factors that helps me determine if a little town is cool or not - if it has angle-in parking instead of parallel parking on the main drag, and that's what Truckee has, along with restaurants and shops galore.

Farther north, but not too far - just 45 miles from Truckee and 50 from Reno, the Graeagle, Calif., area offers tremendous courses, including Grizzly Ranch, Whitehawk Ranch and Plumas Pines, also called the "Jewel of the Sierra" and featuring Longboards Bar and Grill, a great restaurant that looks out on the valley.

If you have a dog like me, stay at the Chalet View Lodge and play at their nine-hole course with your four-legged friend.

At the end of the week, I didn't want to leave. I distinctly remember the sad feeling of returning my rental car at the Reno Airport but knowing that I'll be back again soon, next time with Wife No. 2.

Jim Moore was a sportswriter at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer for 26 years and is now a co-host on "Danny, Dave and Moore" on 710 ESPN Seattle.

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