If the Coachella Valley is your usual winter hangout, you’ve probably tried all the best courses, but those coming for the first time, or here for just a week or two, need to know where their winter golf budget should go. Besides SilverRock and Desert Willow, we would also recommend Nicklaus Design’s Escena Golf Club, just the other side of Highway 111 from the Palm Springs International Airport. Opened in 2005, the course all but closed a few years ago as it battled the recession, but it rebounded in a big way and is now back to something like its best.
The Classic Club (760-601-3600) — one of the few Coachella Valley courses north of I-10, one of even fewer without any houses bordering its fairways, one of just a small handful with Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary status, and the only one with a 63,000 square-foot clubhouse — opened in 2006, and is an underrated Arnold Palmer design, though it was actually Vicki Martz that completed much of the design work. An all-too-rare female course designer who sadly passed away earlier this year, Martz worked at Arnold Palmer Design for 25 years before establishing her own firm in 2010.
In 2005, Palmer told Golf Digest, “She designs really good golf holes.” Some of her best are found here at The Classic Club.
The course was built by the Berger Foundation (husband and wife H.N. and Frances C. Berger built a real-estate development and banking empire in Southern California, and established a philanthropic foundation in 1961), and donates thousands of rounds a year to charitable causes. It hosted its first Bob Hope Classic in 2006.
Operated by Troon Golf and consistently in superb condition, The Classic was meant to be the Hope’s permanent home, but the pros didn’t much like it after strong winds turned the 2007 final round into a six-hour wrestle. It lasted only three years. Winds that strong aren’t common, though, so you’re more likely to have to battle warm sunshine and a gentle breeze than chilly, powerful gusts.
The two courses at the Indian Wells Golf Resort (760-346-4653) – Celebrity and Players – should also appear high on your to-play list. The Celebrity was the resort’s first layout and was designed by Englishman Clive Clark. You might think a Brit would build a modest, understated course emphasizing the ground game, and you would be exactly wrong. The Celebrity, which opened in November 2006, is anything but low-key, with an assortment of colorful flower beds, streams, ponds, elaborate bunkers, waterfalls and carefully positioned boulders.
The architecture snob relishing the current trend for more natural, Golden Age-style designs (guilty) would surely look down his nose at anyone who likes this sort of thing. But, the Celebrity is an incredibly enjoyable course that mixes sound strategy and shot-making demands with all that brass and glitz. Many are the golfers who begin the round feeling cynical and suspicious, and walk off 18 very pleasantly surprised.
On paper, John Fought’s Players Course — which opened almost exactly a year after the Celebrity — looks much more agreeable to the old-dog skeptic and, sure enough, it delivers magnificently. Fought proved his talent to Washingtonians at Trophy Lake and Washington National, and much of the quality and character of those two courses — Washington National especially — is on display here.
Owned by the City of Indian Wells, this is another exceptional municipal facility. And, like The Classic Club, the 53,000 square-foot clubhouse is a little over the top, too. There are also four high-end hotels on-site, making it a very popular stay-and-play destination.
Then, there’s the extraordinary La Quinta Resort & Club and PGA WEST (760-564-4111, laquintaresort.com) which, between them, offer five exceptional public-access courses — The Stadium, Greg Norman Resort Course, and Jack Nicklaus Resort Course at PGA West, and the Mountain and Dunes Courses at La Quinta.
Together, the quintet recorded 93,000 rounds last year. A round on any of them is a treat, but the ultimate boast is a trip round the Stadium, now officially called The Stadium Course at PGA WEST, having dropped its TPC affiliation at the start of the year.
When Pete Dye’s hazard-strewn minefield opened in 1986, it was deemed too malicious by the pros (a slightly earlier version of the ones that didn’t like the wind at The Classic Club). Dye has been back to temper and soften some of the more extravagant features, but it remains an anxiety-inducing ordeal, albeit one where competent golfers up for a challenge will have the time of their lives.
Every hole has a memorable obstacle you must navigate, and trouble lurks everywhere. There are numerous water carries and, to be honest, after the fourth or fifth, you may start thinking, “Really? Again?” But, if you know what to expect (don’t say we didn’t tell you), pick a judicious set of tees from which to play, choose a sensible line — and hit the ball solidly, of course — then it will certainly be one of the best golf experiences of your life. If you’re having an off day, however, the Stadium Course will shame you.
It’s hard to know where to put the Stadium Course in your schedule. But, as with all the other courses mentioned above, you’ve got to put it somewhere.
A Bellingham native by way of England, Tony Dear is a regular contributor to Cascade Golfer. In 2017, he was honored with the Northwest Golf Media Association’s Distinguished Service Award.