While Palm Springs has dozens of courses worth traveling all the way from the Northwest to play, one course you wouldn’t have even crossed the street for at the turn of the century was Indian Springs Golf Club (760-200-8988, indianspringsgc.com), on the border between Indio and La Quinta. Now it’s a hugely popular layout with golfers from the cold, wet, white North, thanks largely to a redesign in 2000 by David Ginkel, who didn’t so much rework the existing course as dig the whole thing up and start again.
“It really wasn’t in very good shape,” Ginkel says.
That’s putting it mildly. The greens were reportedly as hard as rocks, the fairways completely bare, and any golfer that came near the place was merely passing by on his or her way to La Quinta, about five miles to the south. Owner Neil Finch, who bought the course in 2008 after spending years as general manager, used to joke there were 102 courses in the area and Indian Springs barely made the top 100.
Ginkel spent $4 million over seven months moving well over a million cubic yards of sand and dirt to create the new layout. Now, it attracts 35,000 rounds a year and is a favorite among women, though it’s a good, fair challenge for everyone. It’s also one of the Valley’s few sub-$100 rounds. Giving good value is a big deal for Finch, who prides his course on “great greens, great conditions, and great service.”
You’ll find all that plus two of the best courses in California at perennial favorite Indian Wells Golf Resort (888-753-1270, indianwellsgolfresort.com), which was recently named 2014 California Golf Course of the Year by the California Golf Course Owners Association. It’s also the only property in the Golden State to have two courses in the top-25 of GOLF magazine’s “Best Courses You Can Play” and Golfweek’s “Best Municipal Courses.”
Indian Wells may not be what the forefathers of American municipal golf envisioned when they opened the Bronx’s Van Cortlandt Park G.C. in 1895, and with a $144 green fee and the benefits of an $80 million renovation in 2007, it definitely isn’t cut from the same cloth as Jefferson Park, Jackson Park or West Seattle. But it is a muni nevertheless.
The Celebrity Course, designed by Englishman Clive Clark, has an adornment of artifices that may seem over-the-top in the context of today’s trend towards more minimalist design, but one absolutely cannot deny that it is pretty as a picture. Oregon native John Fought was a little more restrained when building the Players Course, which the 1977 U.S. Amateur champion modeled on some of America’s classic courses, such as Riviera, Augusta National and Winged Foot.
“The bunkering is more Riviera than anything else,” says Fought. “Beyond that, I tried to create some interesting strategy, because I think the Golden Age designers did that so much better than designers from any other era. The greens do not have levels, but rather subtle movements that make putting interesting.”
Also a Troon-managed property (Time Par: 4:33), Indian Wells possesses a roomy clubhouse featuring the acclaimed VUE Sushi Bar and the VUE Grille and Bar, which opened in November 2013. Vue is also home to the desert’s largest selection of whiskies and bourbons.
Indian Wells, Classic and Shadow Ridge are widely considered the cream of Coachella Valley public golf, along with the two La Quinta landmarks — La Quinta Resort and Spa (laquintaresort.com, 760-564-4111) and PGA WEST (pgawest.com, 800-742-9378). At the former, you can play Pete Dye’s fabulous Mountain and Dunes courses (each $119 midweek in January), while the latter features six layouts, including three — the Nicklaus Tournament, Greg Norman Resort and Dye’s wildly entertaining TPC Stadium Course — open to public golfers. A mid-week morning round on either the Norman Resort or Nicklaus Tournament Course in January also costs just $119, while the extra thrill of the Stadium Course (and the chance to lose more balls on one of the most challenging courses in the U.S.) is worth an extra $20.
If you can combine your round with a stay in one of the 620 newly renovated casitas and suites, or any of the 98 villas at the historic, 45-acre Waldorf Astoria-owned La Quinta Resort, then your winter golf getaway will be all the more memorable.
Another facility that makes many people’s “best of” lists is Desert Willow (760-346-0015, desertwillow.com/CGW14), in Palm Desert — another of the Valley’s I-can’t-believe-it’s-not-private venues. Built by the City of Palm Desert and designed by Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry, with assistance from PGA Tour player John Cook and local landscape architect Eric Johnson, Desert Willow possesses two courses — Firecliff, which extends to 7,056 yards and opened in 1997, and the more lenient, merciful Mountain View, which opened a year later and reaches 6,913 yards.
If you plan on making Desert Willow your winter home, we strongly recommend you purchase a Desert Willow Platinum Club card. It costs $329 but the benefits are considerable – all sorts of pro shop, driving range, and clubhouse discounts, plus savings on green fees of up to $100.
The Golf Club at Terra Lago (760-775-2000, golfclub-terralago.com) on the north side of I-10 in Indio, is another venue you should find some time for. Both the North and South Courses opened in 1999 and were designed by Brian Curley who, in recent years, has been making something of a name for himself in China alongside design partner Lee Schmidt. Formerly Landmark G.C., Terra Lago hosted the Skins Game from 1999 to 2002 — the winners were Fred Couples, Colin Montgomery, Greg Norman (who won all 18 skins and a cool $1 million) and Mark O’Meara.