The attraction opened in May and fills up on weekends with tourists and locals, 70% of which describe themselves as non-golfers, as other golf properties in the city face challenges due to competition, water costs, and shrinking tourism. Bali Hai Golf Club is among the sites being considered for a 65,000-seat domed stadium for the Oakland Raiders.

Since Topgolf Las Vegas opened in May, the attraction has been a magnet for tourists and locals alike, with the four-level property filling on weekends. Its 105,000 sq. ft. feature more than 100 climate-controlled hitting bays, two pools, five bars, a concert area, private event space and, in true Las Vegas fashion, VIP cabanas and suites, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

If visitor volume is any indication, the new attraction is a hit, especially among beginners. About 70% of Topgolf guests describe themselves as non-golfers, and the Las Vegas flagship expects 1 million visitors in its first year, said Adrienne Chance, director of corporate communications, the AP reported.

That raises a question about southern Nevada’s golf industry: Will the new attraction’s popularity parlay into renewed enthusiasm for traditional courses?

The local golf market has withered from its ‘90s heyday, when the population was soaring and bulldozers were busy grading desert land for pristinely landscaped, opulent courses. Just as the recession toppled the local housing and construction markets, it strained golf courses reliant on discretionary income. Shrinking income stunted travel, affecting the pool of golf-playing tourists, and caused locals to close their wallets. Add astronomical water costs to the equation, and the financial strain on regional courses was heavy, the AP reported.

Golf course owners reacted by reining in expenses, whether it was watering less, cutting some services or reducing landscaping efforts, said Christopher Cain, director of University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ PGA Golf Management Program. Time has healed some recession-generated wounds, but golf experts largely agree it isn’t the thriving business it once was in Las Vegas, the AP reported.

“I think we’re at a balancing point,” Cain said. “There may be a couple of properties that we may lose to development, and, if we do, that’s what the market decides.”

Southern Nevada is home to roughly 60 golf courses, the majority of which have public access. The only new course on the horizon is part of a luxury real estate project in Summerlin.

If construction equipment arrives on other courses, it will likely be for redevelopment. Last year, developer EHB Cos. bought the Badlands Golf Club,  and shortly after purchasing the course, developers unveiled plans to turn the acreage into estate lots and luxury multi-family dwellings, outlining their rationale in a letter sent to the city of Las Vegas in February. It cited the state of the course, deferred maintenance and water costs, drought conditions, significant decline in golfers and green fees and an oversupply of courses. EHB seeks major modifications to the area’s master plan as well as zoning changes, which would allow redevelopment to move forward, the AP reported.

It’s not an isolated tale. The owners of Silverstone Golf Club shut down the northwest valley course after purchasing it last year. And the owners of Royal Links Golf Club want to convert that land into housing. They say if it were zoned residential, the $13.5 million value would shoot up to $24.2 million, the AP reported.

Meanwhile, Steve Wynn has proposed redeveloping much of the golf course behind his Strip resorts into a 38-acre lagoon complex called Paradise Park, set up for water-recreation activities and surrounded by a white sand beach, a boardwalk, restaurants and a new hotel tower.

The Bali Hai Golf Club has emerged as a potential site for a 65,000-seat domed stadium for the Oakland Raiders, joining four other sites as leading locations for the project, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

Development partners Las Vegas Sands, Majestic Realty and the Oakland Raiders told committee members they have made initial contact with the operators of the 18-hole golf course south of the Mandalay Bay resort about the possibility of building there, the Review-Journal reported.

The other sites that are preferred by the developers are 113 acres at the Wild Wild West truck plaza; a 62-acre site west of Mandalay Bay; and two sites on or near the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, campus, the Review-Journal reported.

The Raiders have promised to pursue relocation to Las Vegas if a stadium financing plan is approved by state lawmakers. The project will cost an estimated $1.7 billion to $2.1 billion and, as proposed, would have a public funding component. The stadium also would house the UNLV football team and events that are too big for existing Las Vegas arenas, the Review-Journal reported.

Although the developers haven’t rejected them, three other sites haven’t received as much scrutiny and are considered secondary options: the 36-acre Rock in Rio festival site owned by MGM Resorts International; the Wynn Golf Club east of the Wynn Las Vegas and Encore resorts; and Cashman Center, a 50-acre site in downtown Las Vegas that houses Cashman Field, the current home of the Las Vegas 51s minor-league baseball team, the Review-Journal reported.

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman made an impassioned plea to the developers to reconsider the Cashman option. Majestic Realty’s Craig Cavileer said he would schedule a meeting with city officials next week. Developers hope to have the list of prospective sites narrowed to two by the committee’s next meeting, August 25, the Review-Journal reported.

The Bali Hai site first came to light Thursday. It was the unnamed 10th location developers referred to at the committee’s July 11 session. The golf course land is owned by McCarran International Airport and leased to Walters Golf, the Review-Journal reported.

Committee members noted that the Bali Hai location could face the same type of scrutiny the Trop 42 land has had because of its proximity to the western ends of the airport’s parallel east-west runways. Developers would be required to file for a Federal Aviation Administration review if the project exceeds a height of 200 feet. Because the site is near the end of the runway, there may be even greater scrutiny, the Review-Journal reported.

The 105-acre Wild Wild West site has the largest footprint of the four, and the Rock in Rio site has the most expensive land value at $128.6 million for 36 acres. The 61 acres at UNLV has a land value of $30.4 million; the Wild Wild West site, $35.4 million; and the 50-acre Cashman site, $5.3 million, the Review-Journal reported.