1st time back out to Palm Springs since March 2020 before pandemic. Golfing in Palm Springs is always a treat. Great pristine golf courses, friendly people, and great food. My brother booked us a... Continue »

1st time back out to Palm Springs since March 2020 before pandemic. Golfing in Palm Springs is always a treat. Great pristine golf courses, friendly people, and great food. My brother booked us a Stay/Unlimited Play at the Westin Rancho Mirage with unlimited golf and $20 breakfast credit and 2 complimentary drinks at the bar. The hotel was at 10% occupancy. The golf staff and hotel staff were excellent and everyone was working hard and accommodating. The course is right on the property. Resort style course. Lots of amenities including a bowling alley and large pool with cabanas. All the usual Pete Dye humps and bumps and visual intimidation is there, but toned down for the average hotel resort guest. My brother said they removed a lot of bunkers. I still think there are plenty of bunkers left! Pro shop was well stocked and check in was pleasant. Greens were very smooth running at 9/10. The fairways were in great shape and the only weakness of the course was the rough was not pristine. The bunkers had no rakes and compact sand. Layout was a great mix of unique long and short holes with trouble everywhere....not to mention a lot of white OB stakes. Tee boxes were level and pace of play was 4 hrs on day 1 and 3.45 on day 2. Enjoyed our day and look forward to coming back next time.

Played today on a warm Saturday morning. I teed of at 11:10 and I played with 2 nice ladies by the names of Donna & Kathy and our 4th was guy by the name of Eddie and had just arrived a few days ago... Continue »

Played today on a warm Saturday morning. I teed of at 11:10 and I played with 2 nice ladies by the names of Donna & Kathy and our 4th was guy by the name of Eddie and had just arrived a few days ago from Korea. Both ladies played off the Silver or white tees while I played Gold and Eddie played the back tees. The ladies were local and were very good players and very knowledgeable about where to hit it to. I have seen this all too many times someone like Eddie mid 50’s playing from the back tees and barely able to drive it 200 yards. Unfortunately he struggled all day, too bad he was a very nice gentleman. The course was in very nice shape some divots on some of the tee boxes but all were filled in with mix. There are still no rakes in the bunkers and lots of footprints, but I just moved my ball out of the footprint marks. The greens were very nice and the rolled true. On a side note, one of the ladies and myself were smoking my little cigars and a homeowner (older gentleman) who was walking his dog, came over to us while we walking off the 2nd green and said “there is no smoking on the course”
She told him to keep on waking and that they sold cigars in the pro shop.. Strangest thing. Anyways, it was a great day with good company and I played well, so all is good. There were a whole lot of people at the pool which is good to see people back and the music playing. The course is in great shape and I highly recommended it..

Played The Westin Mission Hills (Pete Dye course) on January 2nd and 3rd as part of a stay and play package. Tee'd off just after 10am on Saturday and just after 9am on Sunday. We had free use of the ... Continue »

Played The Westin Mission Hills (Pete Dye course) on January 2nd and 3rd as part of a stay and play package. Tee'd off just after 10am on Saturday and just after 9am on Sunday. We had free use of the practice facilities and complementary range balls during our stay. The check-in process was a breeze and they even offer a shuttle from the parking lot to the golf shop if you don't want to make the lengthy walk. I'll do one review for both rounds since the course and weather conditions were identical each day.

The COURSE: First off, let me start by saying this is one of Pete Dye's most underrated designs on the West coast. I grew up playing on a Dye designed track so I might have a greater appreciation for his work than other golfers. Regardless of your thoughts about the late great Pete Dye, this track is in PRIME winter condition for the desert. The TEE BOXES (8/10) were great on all par 4's and 5's. They even moved some of the tees around between the Sat. and Sun. rounds to give the holes a different "look". The par 3 tee boxes were a bit beat up due to unfilled divots. The FAIRWAYS (9/10) were in amazing shape and had the perfect amount of green tint to them. Not to firm but not slow. There was only one fairway that was soggy (#18), the rest all played the same speed. Minimal bare spots as it looks like someone on the golf maintenance staff has been filling divots. The ROUGH (9/10) is dormant which is common in the Winter out in the desert. It actually gives the course a great "look" with the green/brown contrast (I uploaded some photos). Some parts of the rough around the green were bare which made for tight tricky lies. The BUNKERS (8/10) were in great shape and all very much playable. I found myself in both fairway and greenside bunkers over the two rounds. Most bunkers had the perfect amount of sand in them, a few were on the heavy side. The GREENS (9/10) were pure and the perfect speed for resort play. Hardly any ball marks were visible since they play a bit firm. The overall speed of the greens was very fair (I prefer them a bit faster but they were not slow by any means). If I had to guess, I'd say they were rolling about 11 on the stimpmeter. Downhill chips and putts were quick and the uphill ones you could be a little more aggressive with. The undulation of the greens on this track is tricky but not too challenging.

NEGATIVES: The only thing I would say left a sour taste in my mouth was there was no marshall monitoring pace of play and the snackbar was closed even though the golf cart GPS promotes a hot dog and beer special at the turn. Other than that, no complaints.

CONCLUSION: The stay and play package offered by Underpar was a steal. The going rate of just the hotel room by itself was more money than what we paid for our entire stay and play package (2 days of unlimited golf and 1 night stay). The hotel room was spacious and the bed was extremely comfortable. They have several nice fire pits around this massive property. There was also some live music on Saturday night from 6-9pm on the outdoor bar patio. The Westin is doing COVID right. Wish we had more time to take advantage of the pools and outdoor fitness facilities (looked very nice) but this was a GOLF trip hahaha. We can't wait for our next opportunity to revisit the desert and play some different courses.

Rode the Golds (6158/69.5/125) in slightly over 3H on a GH Hot Deal mid day. Matched up with C.J., very nice guy to play with who could bomb it. Then replayed in 2.5 H as a single. The weather was kin... Continue »

Rode the Golds (6158/69.5/125) in slightly over 3H on a GH Hot Deal mid day. Matched up with C.J., very nice guy to play with who could bomb it. Then replayed in 2.5 H as a single. The weather was kinda hot, even by my standards. Slight breeze, sunny and 123 when I was finishing. Did not trust my car, so verified online, which said 122. It was blazing. Surprisingly, the course was in borderline excellent condition considering the high hasn't been under 100 out here in a good while. Resort only partially open, so the course was not busy. Unusual to see so many open parking lot spaces. Tees were the weak link. No divot mix, so not a shock that many tees needed divot repair. Several also had some of the thinnest Bermuda on the course, while others were lush. No issues finding a level lie. Bermuda fairways were lush and nice to play from. Firm, but I could still make decent divots. Bermuda rough was just a 1-1.5" higher version of the fairways. Pretty consistently lush and well maintained, good to chip out of. 90% of the sand traps were excellently maintained. Decent sand. 10% of the sand traps had massive water over runs from sprinklers running continuously to deal with the heat. Bermuda greens were about as good as you are going to see in the middle of the summer in this heat. Firm, good coverage, relatively smooth and medium to medium fast. Very few ball marks, I could not find my ball mark about 1/3 the time. Customer service always good here. No on course services with COVID-19. Rakes, water and divot mix removed, doodles in the bottom of the cups. Pro Shop closed @ noon, Cart barn closed @ 3pm, so I walked the last 3 holes to finish with a rare round in the 70's. Nice all grass range and practice area. Carts have GPS to the F/M/B of the green. Fun course, recommended.

Played here July 13.

Lovely course. Always a treat playing in the desert vs playing the usual LA muni stuff.

Greens were slow as they looked punched a few weeks ago. The fairways and condition... Continue »

Played here July 13.

Lovely course. Always a treat playing in the desert vs playing the usual LA muni stuff.

Greens were slow as they looked punched a few weeks ago. The fairways and conditions were typical nice. The sand was still a little cocaine like which is helpful, because what you dont blade out in 2 you can snort.

The range was nice and the staff was helpful.

Bring water and your own cooler as this is not available because of the Covid.

It was hot finishing at 1030am. I mean like, hell hot.

For the first time in three months, we ventured out to play some golf. Needless to say, I was pretty excited to tee it up. We played on Saturday, June 6th. The weather was surreal at 80 degrees, at... Continue »

For the first time in three months, we ventured out to play some golf. Needless to say, I was pretty excited to tee it up. We played on Saturday, June 6th. The weather was surreal at 80 degrees, at 11 a.m. I don't know that we'll ever come across weather like that at this time of year, again. The resort was closed, due to you-know-what, so the usual bustling activity was nonexistant.

This course has always been one of my favorites in the area. It winds through housing and villas, but they are set back a bit from the playing area. One aspect about this course that might surprise people is that it is somewhat undulating and has quite a bit on contouring. As an example, we actually hit close to a foursome in front of us, due to the fact that they were all gathered in a swale in the fairway, and we had no idea they were down there. At times, the contouring can take your ball off of the fairway, but I also noted that the stadium effect could kick an errant ball back into play. The bunkers are of varying shapes and sizes, and that adds to the enjoyment of the course.

Often times, Pete makes you think twice before you attempt to blast your tee shot. The fairway bunkers are well-placed, and most all of them have some depth. Of course, the shots over water add to the sweat factor, too. The shaping of the lakes into what would normally be fairway and rough make you think about how much water you really want to carry.

The green complexes are superb. There's quite a bit of contouring around the greens, and the number and placement of the bunkers (and their depth) just add to the challenge. There's also a few green complexes where the water comes hard up against the edge. Anything slightly off will end up in the drink, as the shaping draws the ball down to it. Beware.

The course is in good shape, overall. There's a few "summer spots" on the fairways, but you can still play off of them. The rough is short and very playable. The bunkers were all groomed, except for the areas where previous players had hit their shots. The greens were smooth and had no divots. They played at medium speed and were consistent. Of note, the eighteenth green was burned out for some reason, but it putted smoothly. It's the only green on the course that has that look, and the staff must be annoyed by that fact, as that hole is one of the more iconic holes in the area. Recommended. Enjoy!

Played 6/3 only thing keeping it from perfect was a few dried out hard pan bunkers. They sold their sister course "Gary Player' and we played there 6/4, fairways and greens good, but bunkers no so g... Continue »

Played 6/3 only thing keeping it from perfect was a few dried out hard pan bunkers. They sold their sister course "Gary Player' and we played there 6/4, fairways and greens good, but bunkers no so good...also KiKuyu grass is showing up all over the Gary Player which needs attention now or it will be a problem..

Played here 5/28 on our 1st day of 2 days of golf in Palm Springs. Weather was nice with a high of 88 degrees with some wind. Played with Underpar special with unlimited golf. We were able to compl... Continue »

Played here 5/28 on our 1st day of 2 days of golf in Palm Springs. Weather was nice with a high of 88 degrees with some wind. Played with Underpar special with unlimited golf. We were able to complete 36 holes. The course was in very good condition. Amazed how they can keep the fairways and greens so nice. The rough was showing some thinning due to heat. The sandtraps had sand but were compacted. A ball hit on the fairway did roll and the greens were fast but true.

Beautiful course and friendly staff. Driving range is irons only.

Rode the Golds (6158/69.5/125) using Forelinx late afternoon. High 80's, breezy and hazy with a 2.5H POP as a single.

With only two par 5's, this is not among my favorite area layouts. While most ... Continue »

Rode the Golds (6158/69.5/125) using Forelinx late afternoon. High 80's, breezy and hazy with a 2.5H POP as a single.

With only two par 5's, this is not among my favorite area layouts. While most of the landing areas are generous in size, there are several par 4's where Driver is probably not the prudent club off the tee for many golfers. Plenty of OB and water to keep players on their toes. This course would be difficult to walk as numerous tees are a long way from the last green.

The tees were mostly level, well maintained and nice to play from.

The fairways were lush and well maintained with few unfixed divots.

The Bermuda rough is far from lush with scattered areas of hardpan. The mixture of weeds and semi dormant Bermuda is NOT good to play from. Not high but still penal because the lie can wary so widely in a 1 square foot area.

The sand traps have good quality sand but are at best okay. Inconsistent depths and they never are maintained on this course as well as most comparable courses in the area.

The greens were smooth and putted medium speed. So firm they barely have any ball marks and you have to account for some run out even on high iron approaches.

The customer service is always excellent here. No drink cart late in the day, but plenty of water stations on the course. Good facilities, well stocked pro shop. Complementary range balls although the all grass range tops out @ 220 yards. GPS to the front/middle/back of the green only. Fun but not a great layout IMO. Only recommended if you get a deal, not currently worth their rack rate.