Eric Dutt
Vice President of Las Vegas Golf Course Operations – Caesars Entertainment
Rio Secco, Cascata, Butch Harmon School of Golf
Eric Dutt began playing golf in Las Vegas at the age of six, working at a golf course at the age of ten and has been in the golf business since the age of 21 after playing collegiate golf at Purdue from 1977-1981 where his team won the 1981 Big Ten Collegiate Conference Title and Dutt won three individual titles in his four years as a Boilermaker. Dutt won the Nevada State Amateur at the age of 17.
His golf career since that time includes Tournament Operations Manager for PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, and PGA Senior Tour events in Las Vegas from 1985-1995 and as the General Manager who opened the Badlands Golf Club in Las Vegas in 1995 where his team generated 51,000 rounds of golf in its first year of operation. He served as Director of Marketing for Walters Golf overseeing all marketing/advertising for three Las Vegas golf courses from 1998-2000.
In 2000 he was tasked with taking over Rio Secco Golf Club for Harrah’s Entertainment, a high-end resort course in Henderson, NV that was generating 13,000 rounds per year and losing over $2M each year. Within 18 months the course was at break even. In 2007 Rio Secco ran 39,000 rounds through the course with EBITDA of $2.1M. In 2005 Harrah’s acquired five additional golf courses in their acquisition of Caesars Entertainment, one of which, Cascata, was located just outside Las Vegas. Dutt took over Cascata in 2005 which at that time was losing some $4M yearly. Cascata has been named a TOP 100 Golf Course by virtually every golf publication in the country since and the Zagat Survey voted Cascata the best “Overall Golf Experience” in the United States in 2009. He currently oversees all golf operations for Rio Secco, Cascata and the Butch Harmon School of Golf for Caesars Entertainment who own and operate numerous hotel properties in Las Vegas. He frequently is asked to assist Caesars with its golf operations in Atlantic City, Biloxi, and Tunica, MS, Southern Indiana and its golf course and Butch Harmon School of Golf facility in Macau.
Dutt and his team’s specialty is golf related special events and his courses have hosted numerous such as Tiger Woods and his Tiger Jam Golf Outing, The Wendy’s Three Tour Classic at Rio Secco, aired on the Golf Channel featuring three teams, one from each professional tour, The Butch Harmon – Greg Maddux Celebrity Charity Classic, The George Strait – Butch Harmon Wrangler Tough Enough To Wear Pink Charity Tournament, the WAC (Western Athletic Conference) Men’s Golf Championship, The UNLV Men’s Spring Collegiate Championship, The Jonathan Ogden Charity Classic, The Natalie Gulbis Charity Classic, The AJGA Finale with Butch Harmon and Natalie Gulbis, The Ernie Els 4 Autism Finale to name a few.
Rio Secco is also home to the Butch Harmon School of Golf and Dutt works closely with Harmon on golf school marketing and operations as well as Harmon’s charitable initiatives. Dutt serves on various golf related association boards in Las Vegas and Nevada, including acting President of the Nevada Golf Course Owners Association, and was inducted into the Las Vegas Golf Hall of Fame in 2008. Dutt is married (Cari), still enjoys playing occasional golf, horse related activities, fly fishing and spending time with his two grandchildren (Daphne & Oscar).