Frustrating, exhilarating, infuriating, stimulating — what is it about hitting a little ball with a stick for several hours that attracts such powerful conflicting emotions?

Why do so many people nod in appreciation whenever someone announces the (probably) apocryphal quote: “I’ve spent most of my life golfing. The rest, I’ve just wasted”?

My own clubs sit in a bag in the nearest closet, in the dark, where they can stay until they’ve fully understood their many sins and insults to me.

If there was a redeeming element to “The Match: Tiger vs. Phil,” it was that golf fans finally got a chance to see Shadow Creek Golf Course, the perennial No. 1 on Golfweek’s Best Casino.

Casino Golf Courses Near Me

Maybe that’s too harsh. In actuality, I keep them there mostly because I regularly need to sneer at something, and my wife has proven to be a less than cooperative target.

On the plus side, I have learned that our sofa is quite comfortable. Never too old to learn something new, I always say.

Aside from making fun of golf (our way of showing it we care maybe a bit too much about it), the one great pastime of golfers everywhere seems to be finding that “perfect course.” My owndefinition of “perfect” is a course where I somehow lose fewer than a dozen balls on the front nine.

My handicap is that I think I’ll ever get better.

However we define that perfect course, eventually we’ll turn our attention to those provided by the resort casinos.

Resort casinos aren’t just hotels with casinos attached. They are (or intend to be) destinations. To that end, they attempt to provide every amenity, every luxury — in short, everythingand anything that might entice you to come there and stay a few days.

A golf course — particularly one that is many quality levels above the usual public courses at which most of us spend our weekends practicing our profanity — is one of the most powerfulattractions a resort can offer. If Tiger Woods has played there, even better.

Casino Golf Course

So let’s take a look at the best of these casino golf courses. Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson may not have played at all of them, but you can bet at least one of them probably has.