Golfing In Atlantis?

Atlantis Hotel
Reno, Nevada
Part 1

by Anthony Scaggs

When I arrived at the Atlantis Hotel in Reno NV, I was convinced that it must have been a duplicate of my image of the fabled Lost Continent.

The doorman greeted me as though I was a visiting dignitary.

The bellman swiftly loaded my luggage and carefully packed my golf bag on the luggage cart. I was directed to the front desk where a cadre of well-trained and professional hotel staff awaited my arrival. They were efficient and thorough. Their polite, personable professionalism was only exceeded by their desire to complete all the necessary details of "check-in" as quickly as possible so I ("The Guest") could begin my visit to Reno.

NORTHGATE GOLF CLUB - Reno, Nevada

I arrived early at Northgate and stopped at the grill for breakfast prior to warming-up. I had a long talk with Lou Laverdy who is the Club Cook. While his handicap has not reached single digits, it is respectable. For the past four years, he has been playing at Northgate and assured me that "it does not get any easier."

"The first six holes are tough. If you can survive the first six holes then the beauty and challenge of the rest of the course will ease the pain."

One of the many things that Lou likes about Northgate is the GPS on all the carts.

From the Championship tees the Rating/Slope for Northgate is 69.8/126. The course yardage ranges from 5,521 yards at the Forward tees to 6,966 yards from the Tiger tees. The PGA Professional is Don Boyle and Doug Fine, the Golf Course Superintendent, maintains this beautiful course. Also, Northgate has two Assistant Professionals – Newt Crumley and Aaron Cudek.