Still my favorite course in Palm Desert, even in negligible conditions.

I’ve played this course on multiple occasions, mostly in the warmer months, but also in the peak season. I’ve played in scram... Continue »

Still my favorite course in Palm Desert, even in negligible conditions.

I’ve played this course on multiple occasions, mostly in the warmer months, but also in the peak season. I’ve played in scramble tournaments here as well as a regular round with family. In all honesty, this course is by far the most consistent and most enjoyable course in the Coachella Valley, and is definitely my favorite spot to get a round in.

For being in such a warm climate, this course holds up very well year-round, and usually the conditions never change. I was very impressed by the conditions of the fairways and roughs at this time of year.

However, I have two major issues with the course conditions. For some reason, the greens were in unbelievably bad shape, I’m not sure if the grounds crew forgot to water the greens or cut them too short, but they were rock hard and slick as ice. I knew after 3 putting for bogey on the first green that the greens would be unreadable. To give you an idea of how fast the greens were, a perfect shot from 130 yards out on the 6th hole hit the front of the green and rolled all the way to the back. Additionally, every bunker had zero sand in them, and were nearly impossible to get out of.

An issue I have with the facilities at the course, and not the course itself, was that there is no snack bar, and there is one snack-cart for BOTH courses at the JW. Understandably, the initial Covid shutdown had caused the course to have to close the snack bar for safety reasons, however at this point there is no reason for it to be closed. And with the hotel not allowing outside food or drink to be brought to the course (which they are very strict about), I can tell you that people were falling apart by the time they reached the 18th green.

Overall, I would have paid $100+ to play somewhere else. The course is in Average shape, and for the amount of options that are in the area, there are multiple courses that I would have rather played at.