In March of last year, I took my first vacation centered around playing golf. Although I played one round during my vacation to Kauai in 2005, this trip was my first-ever golf vacation. My wife and I traded one of our timeshare weeks to stay at the Desert Oasis Resort in Palm Springs, just a 5 hour drive from our home on the Central Coast. While my wife and I enjoyed time together shopping and dining, I also got to sneak out for 5 straight days of golf! Prior to this trip, I'd only played golf on back-to-back days a total of 3 times.


Silver Rock in La Quinta by golfslo at flickr.com

In all honesty, Palm Springs isn't really my cup of tea. As more of a nature lover, it's a little too upscale for my liking. However, being situated at the base of the snow covered Mt. San Jacinto, made for quite an impressive desert setting. The deeply weathered summit of Mt. San Jacinto stands 10,800 feet above sea level, and is the second highest mountain range in Southern California. That's a pretty impressive backdrop from the 500 foot elevation in the desert, making for the largest elevation gain from base to peak in the continental U.S.

I'm particularly drawn to this mountain since my in-laws own an old cabin in Idyllwild, which we love to visit. Idyllwild is located one mile high on the other side of the mountain, among the majestic Ponderosa and Sugar Pines and Incense Cedars.

With so many golf courses to choose from, I decided to whittle the list down to only those with 4 and 4 1/2 star ratings from Golf Digest Magazine. I also tried to pick a couple courses I could walk.

I decided to start off easy at the Tahquitz Creek Golf Resort - Resort Course (Whites 69.9/123). The Resort Course was designed by Ted Robinson Jr. and opened in February of 1995. The course is a links style desert layout, and like many of the courses in Palm Springs, is lined by homes on many of it's holes. I joined three other singles - all walkers. One of the golfers was in his early 60's, retired, and lives year round in Palm Springs. He plays Tahquitz Creek regularly during the months that all the tourists are in town, but spends the hot, but quieter, summer months playing 36 holes a day at all his favorite local courses. I can't imagine playing 36 holes a day in temperatures over 100! Anyway, the guy could play golf! As I remember, he shot 1 over on the front and 2 over on the back. He shared with me later in the round that his son plays on the Nationwide Tour, so I imagine they both play a lot of golf. Even though from the whites the course was easier than most of the courses I play at home, I had a rough start and came in with an 88. However, I was playing to about an 9 then, rarely breaking 80 and still getting scores in the high 80's perhaps 1 or 2 rounds out of every 10.

My next stop was Indian Wells Golf Resort in Palm Desert. I joined a threesome and played what was then called the East Course (Whites 70.1/131). I think it's now been redesigned and renamed. This is the first course I'd ever played where you get young guys taking your clubs and parking your car as soon as you pull in. A men's club tournament was going on when I got there, so I had to wait a couple hours for my teetime. I used that time to get in some good practice on their very nice range and putting green. That seemed to make a difference. I played well and shot a very respectable 80. The course difficulty was about the same as the two courses I play the most at home. Overall, I loved the course, but the pace of play was horrible. They were putting foursomes out every 7 minutes! That was a little painful, given the $125 I'd forked out to play.

The next day, I headed over to Silver Rock Resort in La Quinta, a new course that will soon be home to the Bob Hope Classic. This turned out to be my favorite course. The area around the course was still undeveloped and it sat right up against the region's rocky foothills. The course didn't have any homes bordering its fairways, but instead was lined with native desert sand and flora. Sand traps were everywhere! Again I walked, but joined a delightful threesome (1 couple and a friend) from Pennsylvania in carts. They were playing the whites (72/130), so I did too. I played another great round, avoiding all but 1 bunker, coming in with an 81. I was pretty happy to record an 80 and 81 for my last 2 rounds on relatively difficult courses I'd never played. I highly recommend this course.

A first trip to Palm Springs isn't complete unless you try your hand at the PGA West Stadium Course in La Quinta. Many golfers believe there may be no greater challenge in the game of golf than the PGA WEST Stadium Golf Course, designed by Pete Dye and ranked in The 100 Greatest Courses in the U.S. by Golf Magazine. Nine of the holes have water very much in play, and almost every hole displays Pete Dye's tremendous bunkering. It's no wonder the Stadium Golf Course has been the site of so many high-profile events, including The Skins Game, The Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, The Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf, and the PGA Grand Slam of Golf. I hooked up with 3 young guys visiting from San Diego who insisted on a milder challenge, so I again played from the whites (70.4/135), still nothing to sneeze at. Amazingly, I landed only 1 or 2 greenside bunkers and 1 lake. I even hit the green in 1 on the fabled 17th island green (which we played from the back tees). My good play continued and I finished my initiation at PGA West Stadium with a respectable 81. Next time I visit La Quinta, I plan to play the PGA West Nicholas course, which was recommended to me by the friends from Pennsylvania.

I ended the trip at Desert Dunes Golf Club, a Robert Trent Jones, Jr. course over on the windy side of the freeway. Desert Dunes is widely considered one of the best layouts in the Coachella Valley. Mr. Jones took maximum advantage of the natural sand dunes and native desert vegetation when creating this timeless masterpiece. Perfectly situated to provide some of the most stunning views of the surrounding mountains, this championship course was one of my favorites and is known as one of the best golf experiences in the area and a favorite among both locals and visitors. I thoroughly enjoyed it's natural setting with fairways lined with native desert shrub and chaparral. The views offered of Mt. San Jacinto were stunning. I arrived early to save on greens fees and avoid the common 40 mph winds. I walked the course, playing again from the whites (70.2/124), with another single from the Midwest. My partner shared my appreciation for birding and we quickly started identifying the many desert birds during our round. Before I knew it, I realized I was only 1 over on the front! Being one of my first experiences with such a good start, I faltered on the back and shot 42, still managing a 79 - my first sub-80 round on vacation and a pleasant way to end the trip!

Labels: Courses, Golf Destinations, Golf Vacation, Palm Springs, Rounds