The toughest course in the Reno-Carson City-Gardnerville Ranchos, NV-CA combined area is Championship at Incline Village Golf Resort, at slope 146 — ahead of Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course at slope 145 and Montreux Golf Country Club at slope 142.
All 24 courses in the area with a USGA slope rating for its men’s tees are ranked below, along with 5 more lists: hardest from the tips, longest, widest tee spread, oldest, highest above sea level.
Reno-Carson City-Gardnerville Ranchos, NV-CA is a combined statistical area as the U.S. Office of Management and Budget delineates it, crossing California and Nevada — the boundary is theirs, not ours. Each list counts only the courses in the area that publish that figure, so the totals differ between them. Slope and course rating measure difficulty, not quality — nothing here ranks how good a course is.
Toughest test
— all 24 courses with a USGA slope rating for its men’s tees
The highest USGA slope rating published for any of the men’s tee sets. Slope rates difficulty for a bogey golfer relative to a scratch golfer — a rated figure issued by the golf association, not an opinion about the course. Men’s ratings only, because a tee is rated separately for men and for women and the two scales do not compare; a course rated only for women is not in the running rather than converted.
Hardest from the tips
— all 24 courses with a USGA course rating for its men’s tees
The highest USGA course rating published for any of the men’s tee sets — the score a scratch golfer is expected to shoot. Men’s ratings only, for the same reason as slope: the men’s and women’s ratings of one tee are different measurements. It measures difficulty and nothing else; it is not a quality score and never orders these pages by how good a course is.
Longest
— the top 25 of 33 courses with a published scorecard
The longest tee set the course publishes, in yards from the tips. Compared against every course that publishes a scorecard — length is a measurement, not a verdict on the golf.
Widest tee spread
— the top 25 of 32 courses with two or more tee sets of different lengths
| # | Course | State | Widest tee spread |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carson Valley Golf Course | NV | 4,053 yds between tees |
| 2 | Sierra Sage Golf Course | NV | 3,526 yds between tees |
| 3 | Championship at Incline Village Golf Resort | NV | 2,782 yds between tees |
| 4 | Toiyabe Golf Club | NV | 2,355 yds between tees |
| 5 | The Club at Clear Creek | NV | 2,319 yds between tees |
| 6 | Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course | NV | 2,186 yds between tees |
| 7 | Wildcreek Executive Golf Course | NV | 2,183 yds between tees |
| 8 | The Hills Course at Red Hawk | NV | 2,126 yds between tees |
| 9 | Montreux Golf Country Club | NV | 2,115 yds between tees |
| 10 | Sunridge Golf Club | NV | 2,100 yds between tees |
| 11 | Washoe Golf Course | NV | 2,094 yds between tees |
| 12 | Somersett Country Club Canyon Nine | NV | 2,086 yds between tees |
| 12 | Somersett Country Club Championship | NV | 2,086 yds between tees |
| 14 | Dayton Valley Golf Club | NV | 2,057 yds between tees |
| 15 | The Lakes Course at Red Hawk | NV | 2,051 yds between tees |
| 16 | The Club at Arrowcreek Legend Course | NV | 2,024 yds between tees |
| 17 | Ranch Course at Genoa Lakes Golf Club | NV | 2,009 yds between tees |
| 18 | Wolf Run Golf Club | NV | 1,967 yds between tees |
| 19 | Comstock River at Empire Ranch Golf Course | NV | 1,909 yds between tees |
| 20 | The Club at Arrowcreek Challenge Course | NV | 1,899 yds between tees |
| 21 | Sierra River at Empire Ranch Golf Course | NV | 1,880 yds between tees |
| 22 | Sierra Comstock at Empire Ranch Golf Course | NV | 1,854 yds between tees |
| 23 | Silver Oak Golf Course | NV | 1,794 yds between tees |
| 24 | The Club at Arrowcreek Challenge Course | NV | 1,729 yds between tees |
| 25 | Dandrea Golf Club | NV | 1,648 yds between tees |
Yards between the longest and shortest published tee sets — how far the course moves to fit a different player. Courses publishing a single tee set are not in the running, because one set is an unmeasured spread rather than a narrow one.
Oldest
— all 25 courses with an opening year
The year the course opened, as published. Ranked oldest first. An opening year is not a design credit and not a renovation date — a course that opened in 1921 and was rebuilt in 1998 still opened in 1921.
Highest above sea level
— the top 25 of 34 courses with a coordinate we could sample
Height above sea level at the course’s own published coordinate, sampled from the USGS 3DEP elevation model. THIS IS A FIGURE WE DERIVED, not one the course publishes — anybody can re-query the same public dataset at the same coordinate and get the same number, but no scorecard states it. Because every course carries a coordinate, this is the only board here whose field is nearly the whole database rather than the courses that publish a particular figure. Elevation changes how far a ball carries; it says nothing about whether a course is good.