NEW TOP VEGAS HOT SPOT

Siegfried & Roy's Secret Garden

The Mirage Resort Hotel and Casino
3400 Las Vegas Blvd., South 

Since opening in 1997, the Secret Garden reveals Siegfried & Roy's most cherished and well-guarded secret: the world's most exotic animals can live side by side with one another and with mankind. Through the Secret Garden, Siegfried & Roy seek to renew the public's sense of responsibility to preserve nature. The haven represents what is possible when humans and animals work, play and share their lives together. Rare exotic animals reside within the Secret Garden: the Royal White Tigers of Nevada, the White Lions of Timbavati, gold heterozygous tigers carrying the gold and white gene, Africa and Asian leopards, a black panther and a snow leopard. The newest addition to Siegfried & Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat is Java, a seven-week-old male baby leopard. The brown and black spotted cub is on display in a special nursery created for him in the Secret Garden. Java is born to Asabi, his Asian mother and Mu-gamba, his African father.

Rio Secco Golf Club

2851 Grand Hills Drive
Henderson, NV  

There are more than 60 golf courses in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, ranging from clever little par-3 layouts to fully-blown PGA class links, but only one has a Tiger that roams it more than any other course. The Rio Secco Golf Club Resort is arguably the most demanding and dynamic course in this golf mecca, and Tiger Woods is one of the few players to have tamed it, holding the course record at 64. Located in the foothills below Black Mountain in the city's southern suburb of Henderson, the Rees Jones-designed layout winds through steep canyons and arroyos, and up and down desert plateaus for almost 7,400 yards. Rio Secco is a resort course owned and operated by Harrah's and was designed for the use of Rio Hotel guests, although the public can play it. Tiger's former coach, Butch Harmon, one of the most famous coaches in golf, runs a school of golf that shares the course's driving range. In fact, one story holds that Tiger was tuning his swing at the school with Butch and Harmon had to take an important phone call, so he recruited Tiger to take over and teach his class of corporate hackers. High season for golf in Las Vegas is September to June, so expect Pebble Beach-caliber greens fees approaching $350 per person.