MACKENZIE
Fan palms in the Coachella Valley Preserve

California 100 · a trip

The desert in season

Pete Dye's island green, a muni that is not one, and a pool

2 nights · fly PSP · 30m to the first tee · 7h 50m from SF by car · green fees $602–732 a head · 1 of 3 played

Fan palms in the Coachella Valley Preserve · blmcalifornia · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
directions ↗

Winter golf in the desert is a Californian institution for a reason: it is 72°F, the sky is a lid, and the courses are as green as the mountains are brown. The Stadium course is the headline. Pete Dye built it in 1986 to be the hardest course in the country and the pros complained until the tour left; the island 17th is where Lee Trevino made the ace in the 1987 Skins Game, and the pot bunker on 16 is deeper than you are tall. Firecliff is the city of Palm Desert's own course and the best-conditioned muni in the state, Hurdzan and Fry through dunes and desert wash. SilverRock is the Arnold Palmer course that hosted the Bob Hope, big and wide against the Santa Rosas, the easiest of the three to score on and the one to open with. The rest of the trip is the pool, the mid-century houses, and arguing about who hit it closest on 17.

PSP#13#26#39
PSP ✈ then #13 → #26 → #39 · the dashed line is the order, not the roadmap National Geographic, Esri, Garmin, HERE, UNEP-WCMC, USGS, NASA, ESA, METI, NRCAN, GEBCO, NOAA

the courses

  1. #13PGA West — StadiumLa Quinta · $251–298 · C+ value · 7h 50m from SF · 19 mi from PSPplayed
  2. #26Desert Willow — FirecliffPalm Desert · $206–229 · A- value · 7h 50m from SF · 10 mi from #13to play
  3. #39SilverRockLa Quinta · $145–205 · A- value · 7h 50m from SF · 8 mi from #26to play
PGA West — Stadium from above · Esri, Maxar, Earthstar Geographics

#13 PGA West — Stadium

Desert Willow — this is the Mountain View course, Firecliff's sister across the clubhouse
Desert Willow — this is the Mountain View course, Firecliff's sister across the clubhouseChristopher Hurdzan · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

#26 Desert Willow — Firecliff

SilverRock from above · Esri, Maxar, Earthstar Geographics

#39 SilverRock

the rest of the weekend

The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, up to 8,500 feet
The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, up to 8,500 feetDon Graham from Redlands, CA, USA - God bless it! · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

the logistics

airport
PSP Palm Springs, 30m — directs from SFO, OAK and SJC in season; nobody drives the 7h 50m
sleep
a rental with a pool in La Quinta or Palm Desert — four people, one house — or La Quinta Resort beside the Stadium course
when
November to April. Overseed shuts the courses for a few weeks in October; summer is 110°F and the rates fall by more than half for the brave. Avoid the two Coachella weekends and Stagecoach in April unless that is the trip.
  1. Fri · land by noon, SilverRock in the afternoon with the Santa Rosa mountains on top of you, dinner in Old Town La Quinta
  2. Sat · PGA West Stadium. Alcatraz is the 17th; everyone puts a ball in the water and someone makes par. Pool until dark
  3. Sun · Desert Willow Firecliff in the morning, then the Palm Springs tram to 8,500 feet for the view and the cold, fly home