La Quinta
The Oasis of The Desert
By Ryan Byers
Tournaments at PGA West & La Quinta Courses
- PGA Tour Bob Hope Classic
- PGA Gran Slam of Golf
- PGA Club Professional Championship
- PGA Tour Qualifying School Finals
- Senior Skins Game
- World Cup of Golf
- California State Open
- Wendy’s 3 Tour Challenge
The JW Marriott
The JW Marriott Palm Desert is home to two magnificent palm tree-lined gof courses designed by acclaimed architect Ted Robinson. The Palm and Valley courses circle the amazing property. The 36 holes are always in prestine condition and feature a lot of scenic lakes surrounding the courses. The resort itself is a dazzling array of expansive pools, a indoor/outdoor lake complete with gondolas that you can take a relaxing tour of the resort, or use it as your personal taxi to one of the fine dining restaurants on property. The resort is complete with a sizzling night life that includes a lobby bar, a lounge as well as a night club. For more information on rates and packages please contact www.marriott.com.
Rich in golf history, La Quinta (120 miles east of Los Angeles) features breathtaking public and private golf courses, including the esteemed La Quinta Resort and Spa as well as PGA West, Bighorn Golf Club, Hideaway Country Club, Madison Club, and Andalusia at Coral Mountain.
Opened for business in 1926, La Quinta Resort & Spa has been a get-away destination for golf enthusiasts as well as Hollywood entertainers ever since. With five championship public golf courses all within a few miles of each other, you are assured a wonderful golf experience.
On the La Quinta Resort & Spa grounds, sharing a grand clubhouse are the La Quinta Mountain Course as well as the La Quinta Dunes course, both designed by legendary course designer Pete Dye. The Mountain Course is famous for its unique build in which many holes are literally carved directly into the Santa Rosa Mountain range. The elevated tee box on the signature par 3, 16th hole, with its dramatic elevation change, is one of the most beautiful panoramic views in the entire desert.
The Dunes Course is a Scottish style links golf course with a tremendous amount of bunkers as well as water hazards. Both of the La Quinta courses have received some spectacular acknowledgements having been selected to the list of Golf Magazine’s Top 100 Courses You Can Play, Golf Magazine 500 Best Holes in The World (16th hole Mountain Course), Travel & Leisure Golf Southern California Top 10 Resort Courses, and Golf Digest Top 75 Golf Resorts, just to name a few.
There are three PGA West courses that are available to the public and affiliated with the La Quinta Resort & Spa. The PGA West Norman Course was built in 1998 , and as the name suggests, the designer is PGA great Greg “The Shark” Norman. The Norman Course is a traditional desert course with lush and very well maintained fairways, greens, and tees. The PGA West Nicklaus Tournament Course was designed by golf legend Jack “Golden Bear” Nicklaus. His name stands not just for superior golf, but superior course design. With four decades of design experience and close to 350 courses in more than 30 countries, Nicklaus Design is now viewed throughout the world as the industry leader featuring elevated tees, rolling fairways, deep sand bunkers, large multi-tiered greens, and forced carries over water.
The most nationally recognized and most difficult course in the desert is The PGA West TPC Stadium Course. With a lofty 76.1 course rating and slope of 150, this course will be sure to give even the best of golfers quite the challenge. “Golf is not a fair game, so why build a course fair?” asks Pete Dye, TPC Stadium course designer. The signature par three, 17th hole is known as Alcatraz, cleverly named as it has an island green.
As the host to tournaments such as The Skins Game and The Battle at Bighorn (featuring Tiger Woods), Bighorn Golf Club (www.bighorngolf.com) is the most well-known private club in the desert. Not far away, at the base of the Santa Rosa Mountains sits 36 holes of peaceful and quiet championship golf at Andalusia At Coral Mountain (www.andalusiaatcoralmountain.com). The two courses are surrounded by amazing custom built single family homes which make Andalusia the perfect place to live and play. The Hideaway Country Club (www.hideawaycc.com) has 36 holes of spectacular golf surrounded by a private gated community with a variety of beautiful custom homes and golf villas. With 18 amazingly designed and manicured holes designed by Tom Fazzio, The Madison Club in La Quinta (www.madisonclubca.com) is considered one of the most prestigious private clubs in the United States. Private equity membership at the Madison Club is by invitation only and limited to just 225 property owners from the surrounding spectacular custom built homes and golf villas.
