Played the course Saturday August 1st. First off the staff is the best in the Coachella Valley. Everyone was very nice and always offered assistance. They had multiple stations with water bottle for u... Continue »

Played the course Saturday August 1st. First off the staff is the best in the Coachella Valley. Everyone was very nice and always offered assistance. They had multiple stations with water bottle for us on this 110 degree day. The course was in great condition and pace of play was pretty good. They had a massive storm two days before and the celebrity course was closed so everyone had to play the players course. The staff did a great job to accommodate everyone. All in all it was a great experience and I will definitely be back.

Played 6/6/15 at 2PM for under $50.

Loved it.

I'll keep it simple. The conditions are *virtually* flawless (we are, after all, in a severe drought). The service and facilities are excellent, tho... Continue »

Played 6/6/15 at 2PM for under $50.

Loved it.

I'll keep it simple. The conditions are *virtually* flawless (we are, after all, in a severe drought). The service and facilities are excellent, though they seem to close kind of early at 5:30pm. The course is big, epic, fun, and features some amazing views. It's challenging, but you can recover from bad shots because there's room in most cases. The landscaping is both clever and functional. Bunkers were great, greens were great but did get a little bumpy late in the day. Water stations with ice machines were everywhere and clutch on a 95° day. Touchscreen GPS in the carts was the best I've used.

The finishing holes are amazing. 18 was my only double of the day but I still loved that hole, so that should speak to how good it is. It's an instant favorite. Don't think twice about it, just go play it.

After playing Celebrity, we decided to take on the Players.

major difference - no flower beds to entice the eyes, greens a little bit faster, course is less forgiving. same great service from ev... Continue »

After playing Celebrity, we decided to take on the Players.

major difference - no flower beds to entice the eyes, greens a little bit faster, course is less forgiving. same great service from everyone.

after 9, it does not return back to the snack bar so make sure to stock up before you tee up.

would recommend playing after Celebrity.

It’s been a week since our GK Event at Indian Wells Golf Resort, Players Course, I’ve read many reviews and given that I too played the course, I must say I completely agree. The golf course is in exc... Continue »

It’s been a week since our GK Event at Indian Wells Golf Resort, Players Course, I’ve read many reviews and given that I too played the course, I must say I completely agree. The golf course is in excellent condition. Rather reiterate the details of the conditions, I’d like to share my experience from a golf group organizer's perspective.

Last year Indian Wells Golf Resort did such an exceptional job with our GK Event, I immediately considered returning to the course for another event soon. This year, they once again were impressive.

It begins with very professional client services leading up to the event and constant follow-through on their part. Once I arrived everything was ready exactly as I asked for it. I was particularly impressed with the multiple number of Indian Wells GR staff members ready to assist me. From a logistics standpoint, the guest parking, valet parking and bag drop are convenient. In addition the driving range, cart station and practice putting green are grouped together making check-in and launching of the event very easy. I personally like this for having a good visual on my players and having them easily accessible to engage in conversations.

At the first the tee the starter was eager and ready to fill players in about the course and start you off in cheerful way. On the course, they had multiple refreshment stations and the on-course food/beverage service is present throughout. During play the Marshals are active doing their job to keep the pace moving and give you insight about the course (such as in this case areas for free drops). Upon completion of the course the bag service if quick to help and make sure your bag is stored in case you want to spend time in the clubhouse.

For our event we had a private room that was set up well for our dining and post golf scoring. We had the southwest buffet that was excellent with exception to the churros which tasted stale. A private bar was set up just outside our room for the option of patio drinks. There were always many food and beverage staff on hand to serve.

All in All, I’ve run outings at 50+ facilities and Indians Wells Golf Resort is right up at the top. This is an exceptional facility I know Greenskeeper.org will be returning too again.

Thanks again to all the GK’ers that came out to support this event. It will go down as one of my favorites. Can't wait for 2015.

Great challenging course. Greens were surprisingly slow. But great condition a lot of bunkering. Some tight holes and you will use all the clubs in your bag for sure! Bring your "a" game to this co... Continue »

Great challenging course. Greens were surprisingly slow. But great condition a lot of bunkering. Some tight holes and you will use all the clubs in your bag for sure! Bring your "a" game to this course.

Had a blast playing here on a beautiful sunny December day with the GK Crew.
Course was beautiful with the views of the mountains, flowers, and water. Makes searching for a lost ball more of a nat... Continue »

Had a blast playing here on a beautiful sunny December day with the GK Crew.
Course was beautiful with the views of the mountains, flowers, and water. Makes searching for a lost ball more of a nature walk than a negative. Course itself was in great shape. Both fairways and rough were a pleasure to hit out of. The bunkers I were in were of great consistency and played like a true bunker. Greens slowed up during the round. Not a great idea to practice on their putting course and have that speed stuck in your head for the greens during the round.
Layout was great. A new design every hole. Carts had good info on them and a nice touch screen to see when you may want to hit to and the distance to that spot and from that spot to the pin. All in all a great place to golf for a special treat and even more so at another annual winter Palm Springs GK event.

Late to the review party and most of the comments have already been detailed. Wonderful venue for a GK event and service, course, weather, and company all great. Thanks to my playing partners AMSMike,... Continue »

Late to the review party and most of the comments have already been detailed. Wonderful venue for a GK event and service, course, weather, and company all great. Thanks to my playing partners AMSMike, rudyclub, and cassiusclay for an enjoyable round and putting up with my too-intense focus on my score. Greens, fairways, rough, sand, tees were all in wonderful condition. We all had difficulty adjusting to the slower greens, and even by #18 we were still leaving putts short. I didn't find the green lines hard to read, I just didn't adjust my speed, so never really made a putt all day. But I never had a bad lie in the fairway all day, and rough was consistent to hit from. Sand coverage was good, although one bunker I was in had only a thin playable layer over a wet base.

Saw the cart girl frequently, the starter was helpful and courteous, and service and food at the after-party was great. And we've all talked about the annoying marshal. My impression is that Players in general has less water in play than Celebrity (forced carries, etc.) and I think the greens on Players have less significant undulation. Both are fun designs and very playable.

I was glad to be standing up after 18 holes this year, and look forward to my next round at IWGR and the next GK Event.

Indian Wells was my first official GK event and thanks and kudos go out to Johnny and anyone else who assisted him in organizing the day. It was very enjoyable and well run. There are enough reviews s... Continue »

Indian Wells was my first official GK event and thanks and kudos go out to Johnny and anyone else who assisted him in organizing the day. It was very enjoyable and well run. There are enough reviews submitted such that one can get the sense of how nice the course conditions were so I'll be brief. To get the negatives out of the way, I'll second some of 1Plus1's comments. About yardage markers: are physical markers considered déclassé for a course of this level? Something as basic as 100, 150, and 200 yd stakes or monuments would have been great when I grabbed a few clubs and walked to my ball while my partner took the cart (and yardage reading) to his. I like to pace off yardage and, like 1Plus 1, also may have seen two or three marked sprinklers all day. As far as the driving range, it's well set up but the capacity is inadequate for this multi-course facility. I also thought the self parking was a little confusing. On the plus side was everything else. In addition to the previously mentioned praise and descriptions of the course conditions and event organization, the greens might have been considered slow if you were expecting racier, 10 or 11+ stimp speed, but in more absolute terms, I thought they were at least medium by most standards and very nice to putt on. I thought the layout was a fair and challenging test. There was room to manage your way around to a good score if you kept your shots in a reasonable vector. If you hit a bad shot, there were several ways to lose a ball and pay a penalty—but I don't think unfairly so. The clubhouse facilities are impressive and I found the staff to be courteous, helpful, and appreciative. The food was tasty and if there's a way to screw up a cold beer, they didn't manage to find it. Thanks to Vince, Mattias and Kevin for their good company. We all had our moments of posing after some nice shots, as well as having episodes of unravelling, but the temperaments were consistent throughout. I don't know if I'll ever grow up, but if I do I want to have a swing tempo like kg1781. Good times.

As far as I'm concerned, the December Palm Desert Event is the one I look forward to with great anticipation each year. It usually means a quality golf course, full field, the chance to chat with old ... Continue »

As far as I'm concerned, the December Palm Desert Event is the one I look forward to with great anticipation each year. It usually means a quality golf course, full field, the chance to chat with old acquaintances while forging new friendships, and an opportunity to get away from the rigors of everyday life for three or four days. And, as expected, this year's get-together at Indian Wells Golf Resort held true-to-form. Before I proceed with my review, I want to thank Sal, Nat, and Mark for providing such excellent company and making the round as enjoyable as I could have hoped for. The scores may not have reflected our best efforts but everyone managed to hit some great shots as the afternoon unfolded and there were plenty of laughs to be had...both during and after the round...and that's a tough combination to beat. I'll try not to get into too much detail here (no promises though) since there are/will be multiple reviews posted but I hope to bring attention to a few points that resonated with me. Obviously, the overall condition of the golf course was excellent: plush carpeting from tee to green with not a bare spot to be found. The turf has filled in nicely from the overseeding process which meant excellent fairways lies but punishing circumstances if you ventured into the rough. I found it difficult to get the club on the ball, especially one with a lower loft, as the ball had a tendency to settle quite easily. Greens were on the slow side but still rolled at a smooth pace and, like many courses in the area, require some experience in order to get the correct read. They also held well-struck shots although with just six greens hit in regulation, I wasn't able to take full advantage of that fact. Bunker sand was a hit-or-miss proposition and very deceptive, as alluded to by my playing partner 'Itslikeimsayin'. Plush fairways and tee boxes are fine and dandy but not being able to complement that with consistent sand shot conditions...especially with the number of traps that come into play...is a definite blemish and cannot be overlooked. The layout of The Player's Course isn't much different from the adjacent Celebrity Course yet I would probably lean towards the latter if I had to state my preference. Both tracks feature a fair amount of elevation changes with rolling and canted fairways that often mean having to deal with a fair amount of uneven lies. A few repetitious holes would be my biggest gripe but the redesign is a big improvement from Ted Robinson's original offering. Big greens with multiple pin options, as well as tee box placement, mean the course can play quite different from day to day. It may be someone's idea of golf nirvana but I doubt I'd make a point to play here on my own. It may have been dictated by the lay of the land on Hole #1...reminiscent of Celebrity's Hole #9...but the contouring of the fairway can quickly turn a good shot into a poor one...and a lost ball as well. A severe left-to-right slope means having to bail out way left, which is fine if you can hit a soft fade back into the fairway...otherwise, you're in the rough with a difficult approach into a green that features the same left-to-right slope. Not a good hole in my opinion...especially the first one of the day. Some enticing risk/reward Par 4s can be found here as well as a couple of reachable Par 5s for the long hitters but these same holes still offer a good chance for birdie should you choose to lay up to a comfortable wedge distance. Just be sure to have the correct distance..and this is where my next issue arises. Having purchased a yardage book prior to teeing off, I was extremely frustrated that the sprinkler heads designated in the guide were no where to be found. I walked down a 40-yard stretch of one fairway trying to locate a yardage plate and came up empty, when I should have seen four or five of them. In fact, I think I found just three markers during the entire round. I also believe a golf facility of this scale should provide enough practice range acreage to accommodate those wishing to warm up prior to play. The existing area may be suitable if there was just a single course here but with two layouts available, there were plenty of people having to wait around for a spot to open up, although it did thin out around 11:30 or so. And with all that turf available to hit from, why were we relegated to having to contend with a restricted area that was more sand-filled divots than solid turf? They could have easily taken the guide rope and moved it back 5 yards and it would have made a considerable difference...especially when you took note of how much of the practice tee was off limits. It may be a minor point to some yet when you consider the cost to play here and the atmosphere Troon Management strives to project, it was a major letdown. And I'll also make mention of the inadequate parking facilities...is everything Valet Only out here? I had to ask one of the attendants what my options were after cruising the parking lot a couple of times. He told me I could park adjacent to the practice range in the Renaissance Hotel lot or he'd offer complimentary valet service. I chose the lot so keep that in mind should you be faced with the same dilemma during a future visit. As I stated in my opening remarks, the GK Event couldn't have been any better and I'm most appreciative of all the effort and labor Johnny pours into these functions but as far as Indian Wells Golf Resort is concerned, I was disappointed when all things came under consideration. I realize expecting perfection is unrealistic...and I most certainly didn't approach this event with that criteria in mind...but there were too many drawbacks that took the luster off this place. And I'll leave the behavior of the marshals for another time...