Hey guys. My foursome is going to Palm Springs next month for a long weekend (Thursday to Sunday). Here's what we have lined up:

Thursday afternoon -- Classic Club or Desert Willow Firecliffe (haven't decided)
Friday -- PGA West Nicklaus or Classic Club in the morning and PGA West La Quinta Mountain or Shadow Ridge in the afternoon
Saturday -- Silverrock (36 holes)
Sunday -- leave for home

What does everyone think? Are we missing anything? What about Desert Willow Firecliffe or Shadow Ridge? I'm a little concerned about La Quinta Mountain because I've heard that it's just okay. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

e

La Quinta Mountain is a good course. A handful of truly awesome holes. But if I had to choose between LQM and Desert Willow Firecliff, I'd go with the latter.

Either Desert Willow course is better than Classic Club. No comparison.
Your Friday courses are good.
If you're staying out in La Quinta then I guess Silverrock is worth playing.
If you're staying in Palm Desert I can recommend courses you might enjoy more than Silverrock.

We're staying at the Marriott (the one where Shadow Ridge is located).

Is Silverrock not that great? We were kind of banking on that being the grand finale for the trip, which is why we are playing 36 there on Saturday.

I've heard great things about Firecliffe, so we'll definitely play there.

I'm all ears, and we're far enough out where we can change the times around, so please keep the suggestions coming. Thanks.

e

O.K.
For your Thursday round I would play where you're staying, Marriott Shadow Ridge. It's a good layout of holes and worth playing.
If Marriott Shadow Ridge is unavailable then try Indian Springs. Not many visitors know about Indian Springs, but it's a fine layout with some of the best greens in the desert, they keep the greens cut low and running fast.
I like your Friday playing PGA West and La Quinta Mountain.
For Saturday I would play both Desert Willow courses. Desert Willow keeps their courses in excellent shape and they have a nice clubhouse where you can relax and have a meal between rounds.

Desert Willow is a great deal, awesome course
Mountain Course is great, especially from the tips
Shadow Ridge also very solid, a bit tight to the hotel on some holes for my liking

I'd go desert willow, and get on the mountain course if you can

I played the Firecliff course this January and it was okay. I also played Classic Club which is a great course.
If you want sort of a bargain, play at Terra Lago - North Course. I really loved that one for the water holes they have.

any private connections???

The Madison Club
Andalusia
The Quarry

played silverrock and desert willow firecliff about 3 weeks ago and both great course, i dont think you can go wrong with any courses out there

If you are already at PGA West, I think you have to play the Stadium course. No doubt you have to have some game and enjoy the fact that if you don't hit it exactly where you want, you will be in trouble. Was in Palm Springs (actually Indian Wells) in November 2004 and played it a week before the Q-school. For me, it was the highlight of the trip.

To me, the Stadium Course at PGA West is pretty close to a "must play". It is very difficult (especially with wind) and there are a lot of unusual lies and bounces. It borders on unfair in some places with blind shots and deep bunkers but it is the course that my golf buddies and I still talk about the most. Don't expect a career score but you might hit some career shots that stay with you a long time. I enjoyed the Nicklaus course at PGA West as well, quite different from the Stadium so it makes a good 36 hole pairing.

I have to agree with the prior posts regarding both of the Desert Willow courses. Nice courses, very well maintained, and very good service and "feel". Nothing spectacular but everything very, very good. Saved this one for last on our last trip because it leaves a good taste in your mouth.

Played Silverrock in 40+MPH winds the first day of our last trip and struggled to break 95 (I'm a 6). It was so windy it was hard to get a feel for the course, I was just trying to get through it. Nice views of the mountains and seemed to be well maintained with a nice but not unusual layout. I don't think that the course is particularly windier than others in the area, it was just the day we hit it.

For what its worth, the place we found the most happening at night on our trip was at the nightclub in the Marriott at Desert Springs, so you are staying at a good place.

Someone else told me about the wind at Silverrock. When did you play it? We are scheduled to play 36 there on Saturday, and that could be a problem if it's normally windy out there.

Played Silverrock at the end of February. It is right next to the mountains so the winds were not only very strong but really swirling, making it impossible to predict what it would do with your ball.

The courses in that area of PS are in what the locals call the "wind belt". They'll be windier than the courses in the southern part of the area. Classic Club and Silver Rock definitely fall into this area. The good part about it though is when we played Silver Rock the wind picked up and everyone seemingly went home! We played another 18 and we were the only players on the couse! 3 of us played another 18 holes in 2 hours!

As others have suggested, PGA West Stadium is a must play. Stick to the right tees and don't get suckered into trying shots you can't play and you're OK. Otherwise it's HARD.

Another suggestion is Tom Doak's Stone Eagle if you have connections. Its different then any other course in the area (in a very good way).

Stone eagle is my fave if you can get on.

I also recommend the firecliff course- some good fun holes there.

For some reason, I really also like monterrey country club. It's not the most exciting course, but I just like playing there. I believe it's private though- not positive, because I've always played it with locals.

JMHO, but you cannot go all the way to Palm Springs and NOT play PGA West's Stadium Course. It is really a must play. That would be like going to the Playboy Mansion and not going to the Grotto. Your rotation of courses is excellent however. The Stadium will test your game, your intestinal fortitude, and your state of mind. It is a true test, an unfair test and an unforgetable test all rolled into one. I've played there about 25-30 times and I've loved every minute of it.....good and bad.

I'd just make a few minor changes. Play the Stadium Course at PGA West and skip the Nicklaus Course. Definitely play the Mountain Course at La Quinta. Back nine is spectacular, and they recently refurbished/rennovated the place. Really nice. Desert Willow's Firecliff Course is really nice. The other course there, the Mountain View?? is kinda boring. It's ok, just not very memorable.

The Classic Course and SilverRock courses are very controversial. Locals loathe both of them, they are, IMHO, incredibly boring. They could have been much, much better but they are what they are. The PGA Tour plays there so out-of-towners go ga-ga over them, but honestly speaking, they're a waste of time and money if you ask me. Play there if you want to pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself that you played where the big boys play, otherwise skip it and smile knowing that these courses will never show up on anyone's Top 100 courses to play list. The Stadium Course and Mountain Course were both at onetime a Top 100 golf course.

Shadow Ridge is very, very nice. Excellent addition to the desert. Great flavor of holes, much like Desert Willow's FireCliff course. The Celebrity Course at Indian Wells is another course you may consider.

www.greenskeeper.org

above website will give you a list of all the desert courses, aeration schedules, rates, etc.

Check out Pete Carlson's golf shop after your golf. Unbelievable store with lots of great stock and awesome prices.

Here is a link to a topic that I posted in with some pictures of Palm Springs courses that I played during a golf vacation last summer.
http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/index.php?sh...amp;hl=pga+west
Here are some courses that I really enjoy in the Palm Springs area.
-Shadow Ridge
-PGA West (Stadium / Nicklaus)
-LaQuinta (Dunes / Mountain)
-Desert Falls
-Landmark Inn (might have a different name now) North & South courses. They had the skins game there for a few years.
-Cimarron Golf Club (terrible course in the summer because there are no trees). The executive course is very nice as well.

Wow, thanks for all the replies guys.

As for PGA West Stadium, we played it the last time we were in Palm Springs in 2002. We liked it, but found it a little too difficult for our games. We thought we'd try some different courses this time around.

So, to sum it up, the general consensus seems to be that Desert Willow Firecliffe and Shadow Ridge should definitely stay on the list. As for Classic Club and Silverrock, it sounds like we need to watch out for the winds if they're blowing, and the courses themselves are just so-so. To be honest, I've been studying the layout of these courses on Google Maps (satellite view), and the thing that appeals to us about the Classic Club and Silverrock is that they are in the middle of nowhere, carved into the desert, and are more desert golf than resort golf. We don't mind if the holes aren't the most interesting in terms of elevation changes, doglegs, etc. We understand that we'll lose some of that with a more desert-style course. If I'm off on that point, someone please correct me.

The only course we're really torn on is La Quinta Mountain. We currently have a time to play there on Friday afternoon, and we're thinking of dropping it and playing Shadow Ridge instead. The thing about La Quinta Mountain is that everyone says the front 9 is kind of boring with a lot of houses lining the fairways, and although the back 9 is much nicer, the real beauty doesn't kick in until 15 through 17, and then you're done. Again, please correct me if I'm wrong.

So, unless you think we're really wasting our time with Classic Club and Silverrock, here's what we have:

Thursday afternoon -- Desert Willow Firecliffe
Friday morning -- Classic Club
Friday afternoon -- Shadow Ridge
Saturday -- 36 at Silverrock

The only day that we have some flexibility is Saturday at this point. Let me know if anyone has any further thoughts. Thanks again for all your help.

e

I would much rather play the LaQuinta Mountain course than the Classic Club IMHO. It is O.K. but it is open to the wind that normally blows there down the 10 freeway. It is very flat also and to me all the holes look the same.

Hey guys. Thanks again for all of your input. We went on our trip last weekend. We played 90 holes in 2.5 days. I thought I would give a brief report on the courses and my thoughts.

We played Desert Willow Firecliffe on Thursday afternoon. Great, great course. Really enjoyed it. Interesting holes, nice clubhouse, friendly staff. Really couldn't have asked for anything more.

On Friday morning, we played Classic Club. All I can say is wow. First, we definitely lucked out with the weather. Apparently, a few days before we arrived the winds were howling (25 sustained gusting to 40-45). That would have stunk. As it was, though, we had absolutely perfect weather. 90, sunny, light and variable winds. The course was phenomenal. The holes were really interesting. The greens were, dare I say, near perfect. The facility was beautiful, staff was friendly. Basically, it was everything you would want in a golf experience. It was definitely pricey, though. At $165, it was, by far, the most expensive round of the trip. As it turns out, we got stuck behind a slow group and the round ended up taking around 5 hours (which, although long, wasn't ridiculous). In order to accommodate us, they asked us to come back the next morning at 1/2 price. We already had a time at another course for the next morning, but the pro shop called the course and cancelled for us (making sure we wouldn't get charged for late cancellation). Now that's service.

Friday afternoon we played Shadow Ridge (where we were staying -- which, by the way, is perfect for a golf vacation). The course was nice, very, very nice. It was no Classic Club, but we enjoyed it nonetheless. Interesting holes. Good condition. Excellent pace of play. Nice price.

Saturday morning we went back to Classic Club. I don't know how this is possible, but it was actually even a better experience than the day before. We were virtually the only group out on the course. Also, we arranged to have the same forecaddie that we had the day before. Not every group gets a forecaddy, but I must say that it was a nice thing to have.

Saturday afternoon we played La Quinta Mountain. For the first 3 holes, we were all scratching our heads in disbelief because we found it to be an absolute DOG PATCH. Now, I'm sure this might offend some people, but seriously, those first 3 holes were burnt out, on top of each other, and not interesting at all. Also, the front 9 of the Mountain course is adjacent to the Dunes course (I think that's what it's called), so there are literally holes and golfers everywhere. It reminded us of an episode from the Simpsons where they go to the community pool and there are literally people covering every square inch of the pool. We were not impressed at all. Holes 4-6 were a little more interesting as they are up against the mountains (on the left side of the holes). However, all you need to do is look right and see that you're not far from the pasture you just left consisting of holes 1-3 and the Dunes course.

The rest of the front 9 is equally unimpressive. One of the holes (a par 5, the 8th hole I think) runs along the driving range and there's a big net to your left to make sure that golfers on the range don't hit balls onto the course. That's really not something I want to see when playing a championship caliber course. Anyway, enough about the front 9, let's get to the back.

The first few holes of the back 9 are fine. They seemed incredible compared to the front 9, but in truth, they are just fine. There are very nice houses on both sides of holes 10-13, and the holes are pretty good. Again, nothing to write home about here.

So, as we headed to the 14th hole, and were generally disappointed with our experience so far, we were greeted with the most majestic sight we've ever seen on a golf course. Holes 14-17 are literally carved into the mountains. Now this is what we came here for. "Incredible" is an understatement. However, it was too little to late (at least for us). The 18th hole is a short par-5, heading back into the pasture area, and it brings back all of those painful memories from some of the holes on the front 9. In short, I guess we were glad we played there, but we'd never go back. Oh, and by the way, the clubhouse could use some work. The locker room was, well, a little gross.

We never did make it to Silverrock. We definitely intend to get over there the next time.

Thanks again for everyone's help. Post up any questions that you have.

e

When I was out there we stayed at the marriott and played shadow ridge, which I really enjoyed. Then we played pga west stadium, which was an awesome course. And we closed out the week at bighorn. I dont know if youll be able to get on bighorn, but the first two I would definitely recommend.

I just saw that you already played, my bad