Golf In The California Desert

Thanks to friends, my wife and I are spending a couple of weeks golfing in the southern California desert.

First let me say that this area, from Desert Hot Springs and Palm Springs to the Palm Desert and Indio is packed with golf courses. This may be the highest concentration of golf courses anywhere in the US in such a small area. I don’t have the statistics, but I it’s every bit the equal of Phoenix. Second, everybody I’ve met so far uses Standby Golf to book tee times at reduced prices. With this service you call anytime after 4 pm to get low cost tee times for the next day. From what I can tell, most every first rate course in the area uses this service.

The first 3 days here we played Terra Lago - the old Landmark Golf Club and home of many skins games, Desert Dunes and The Classic Club - site of this year’s Bob Hope Classic. All three courses are in the middle of the valley that sits between two desert mountain ranges. Where there isn’t a watering system, you see only dirt, sand, stones, and scrub brush. All these courses sit in the middle of the valley. You definitely know you’re in the desert.

All 3 use lots of gentle undulations to sculpt the holes. In many cases the fairways are banked on at least one side by earthen berms. Bunkers are everywhere, but in general the sand is course and compacted. I was particularly surprised by the traps at The Classic. I heard the sand was soft and fluffy during the Hope, but somehow it’s developed a hard crust in many areas since then. Terra Lago has a little water, Desert Dunes a bit more and at The Classic water is everywhere – to the left, right and sometimes straight ahead. It almost seems out of place in the desert, but the many waterfalls and flowing streams are a welcome counterpoint to the surrounding desert.

Terra Lago had recently aerated their greens, as a result they were slow and not predictable. Desert Dunes looked like they were cutting back on their watering. The greens were true, but definitely not top notch. The Classic Club, on the other hand, had beautiful greens that were lightning fast. Get above the hole and you’re going to add at least a shot to your score.

All of these 3 courses are somewhere between links and parkland style. I guess you could call them desert links. The Classic Club had very few straight holes, many of the fairways trace shoreline arcs. At times, this puts water into play on almost every shot. If you can’t control your direction, make sure you bring plenty of balls!

On all 3 courses we played the gold or white tees, which seemed pretty fair for male golfers with handicaps between 10 and 20. Playing the back tees at The Classic radically changes the course. If you can’t carry your drive 289 yards, don’t bother even trying.

The Classic Club is definitely the hardest, which can mean it’s less enjoyable if you don’t have your A game. Desert Dunes was my least favorite, the upkeep just wasn’t where it should be. I enjoyed Terra Lago a lot. It’s not overly penal and has an interesting links type feel to it. All of these courses grow serious fangs when the wind blows, almost to the point of being unplayable.