Played the Golds (6643/71.5/126) in 3H, 45M. Paired up with Craig & Drew for a very fun round. The weather was 70ish, clear and calm. The customer service was excellent all around. Plenty of water s... Continue »

Played the Golds (6643/71.5/126) in 3H, 45M. Paired up with Craig & Drew for a very fun round. The weather was 70ish, clear and calm. The customer service was excellent all around. Plenty of water stations on the course and the Drink cart was out making the rounds. Fairly tight layout, alot of OB can come into play quickly on any errant shots along with some water on select holes. The tees were lush and well maintained, only a few of the par 3's needed divot attention. The over seeded fairways were lush and very well maintained. Few unfixed divots. The dormant Bermuda rough has good coverage and is mowed down close. Not penal, very playable. The traps were decently maintained with dark brown sand/dirt. They usually play better than they look, but have inconsistent depths. The large greens were smooth and putted medium fast speed. Firm but still held well struck approach shots. Not alot of tiers to navigate, most just slope from back to front with no huge breaks. An oddity for a 36 hole sister course layout is that the Player and Dye courses are close to a mile apart and all the facilities (pro shop, driving range, etc.) are completely separate. The Player has good facilities. A conventional, old school Palm Springs layout, the exterior of the course is surrounded by homes &/or streets on all sides. Really solid course, much better than average. Recommended.

Played the Golds (6643/71.5/126) in 3H, 15M as a single. POP was great after I played through the 4some in front of me. The weather was 60ish, overcast and breezy. I like the Player course because i... Continue »

Played the Golds (6643/71.5/126) in 3H, 15M as a single. POP was great after I played through the 4some in front of me. The weather was 60ish, overcast and breezy. I like the Player course because it is not too hard nor too easy with 18 solid holes of golf. Expect conventional, old school Palm Springs in layout design with good practice facilities. The exterior of the layout is surrounded by homes &/or streets on all sides. While not a tight course overall, desertscape surrounds many holes, so lost balls/OB can come into play quickly if you venture very far off many fairways. There is also numerous holes with some water to keep you focused. No GPS on the carts is a definite minus for a Troon facility. The tees were lush and well maintained. Only the par 3's needed divot attention. The fairways were lush and well maintained with few unfixed divots. Nice to play from. The rough is dormant Bermuda cut down low. Usually good to play from and great for POP. The traps were decently maintained with dark brown sand/dirt. The greens putted medium fast and smooth. Firm but still held well struck approach shots. Not alot of break on these greens, no big tiers or mounds to navigate on this layout. The customer service was exceptional from check-in all the way to being dropped off in the parking lot after the round with clean clubs. Plenty of water stations on the course and the Drink cart was out making the rounds. Solid course, Recommended.

Played the Golds (6643/71.5/126) in 4H, 20M with Mark and Joe. The weather was 80ish, clear and calm. The tees were lush and mostly well maintained. The par 3's were chewed up and needed divot atten... Continue »

Played the Golds (6643/71.5/126) in 4H, 20M with Mark and Joe. The weather was 80ish, clear and calm. The tees were lush and mostly well maintained. The par 3's were chewed up and needed divot attention. The fairways were lush and well maintained with few unfixed divots. The rough was semi lush, occasionally thin. Even though not high, it was still penal because it is Bermuda and clumpy. The sand traps were just okay with dark brown sand/dirt. The greens were fairly smooth and putted medium speed. Firm but still held well struck approach shots. Not alot of break on these greens, no big tiers or mounds to navigate on this layout. The customer service was excellent in the pro shop and the starter. Plenty of water stations on the course and the Drink cart was out making the rounds. The Player course is a conventional, old school Palm Springs layout with good practice facilities. The exterior of the layout is surrounded by homes &/or streets on all sides. Fairly tight course, lost balls/OB can come into play quickly on any crooked shots along with some water to keep you interested. No GPS on the carts is a -. Solid course, not great by Palm Springs standards, but better than average. Recommended.

Played the Golds (6643/71.5/126) in 5H, 5M using Underpar with mendel. The weather was 70ish, clear and WINDY... 20-30 mph wind most of the afternoon. The Player is a fairly tight layout, alot of los... Continue »

Played the Golds (6643/71.5/126) in 5H, 5M using Underpar with mendel. The weather was 70ish, clear and WINDY... 20-30 mph wind most of the afternoon. The Player is a fairly tight layout, alot of lost balls/OB can come into play quickly on any errant shots along with some water to keep you honest. The tees were semi lush and well maintained. Only a few of the par 3's needed divot attention. The Bermuda fairways were semi lush and well maintained. Few unfixed divots. The rough was semi lush, occasionally thin. Even though not high, it was still penal because it is thick. The sand traps were mostly decent with dark brown sand/dirt. However, a few had been flooded by over watering in certain areas and needed attention. The greens were fairly smooth for Bermuda and putted medium speed. Firm but still held well struck approach shots. Not alot of break here on these greens. The customer service was excellent in the pro shop and restaurant. The starter was questionable. On a day the course was packed, he insisted on having the group in front of us play as a 2some and then us play as a 2some, sandwiched in between multiple 4somes. It made a 5+ hour round seem even longer, the 4some playing behind us was almost always on the tee by the time we were teeing off. It should be noted that after a 5+ hour round, that we played another 9 in less than 1.5 hours with no one in front of us. Plenty of water stations on the course and the Drink cart was out making the rounds. The Player course has good facilities. A conventional, old school Palm Springs layout, the exterior of the course is surrounded by homes &/or streets on all sides. Really solid course. Not great by Palm Springs standards, but much better than average. Definitely recommended, even though on this visit, the Dye course was in better condition.

Great round Saturday, got a smoking deal for $35 on golfnow. Teed off at 12:45 and barely finished. POP was very slow on the front but moved along on the back, MLK weekend, so there were a lot of p... Continue »

Great round Saturday, got a smoking deal for $35 on golfnow. Teed off at 12:45 and barely finished. POP was very slow on the front but moved along on the back, MLK weekend, so there were a lot of people out there

Course is in pretty great shape. Teeboxes were perfect, level and mowed to perfection. Fairways were excellent, always had a good lie. Rough was not too penal, they just let the bermuda go dormant and it was fluffy. Greens were very good, held shots very well. Quite a few ball marks, I fixed 3-5 of them every green, c'mon people, fix your fricken ball marks! Sand traps were pretty awful, seriously affected the rating. I found 2 and they were pretty much hardpan, but that was from the rains, I'm sure. It rained quite a bit the last few days, but the course drained very well. If you didn't find a bunker, the course would be rated a solid 8.5 to 9.

Overall, I'd get on out there, especially if you can find the great deal like I did. The layout is great, lots of water and some elevation changes. Houses are prevalent, but they are set back from most of the fairways. It's a great track.

Played the Golds (71.5/126/6643) with 140ver & a hilarious couple from Eastern Washington Sunday mid day. POP was around 4 hours. In over 100 degree heat, the constant 1 club wind was welcome for once... Continue »

Played the Golds (71.5/126/6643) with 140ver & a hilarious couple from Eastern Washington Sunday mid day. POP was around 4 hours. In over 100 degree heat, the constant 1 club wind was welcome for once. I covered the course conditions in my review on the prior round here. Excellent from tee to fringe. Greens only so-so. Let me start by stating that I have always had excellent interactions with any Troon run facility. Customer service, course conditions etc. have always been top notch @ numerous Troon courses I have played over the years. I am writing this review to address 2 things that were COMPLETELY unsatisfactory about this visit. First, received an e-mail from Troon that LPGA Q school ended on Saturday and that the course would be set up on Sunday the same as the final round of Q school. That the greens would be quick and course conditions excellent etc. Come out and test your skills on a course set up for pro conditions was the gist of the e-mail. It looked like they had tried to get the Bermuda greens quick earlier in the week and actually scalped them in numerous spots, especially around the edges. Overall, the greens were not close to good and calling them average even for August in the desert is being kind IMO. I guess the translation to their promotional sales pitch was that no course maintenance workers had mowed anything in at least a day, because both the greens and the tees were getting hairy in the spots that had not been previously scalped. There was a reason everything was the same as Q school, because it appeared nothing had been touched. 140ver & I each drove well over 150 miles out there on an AD deal good for either the Dye or Player Westin courses to specifically play the Player on Sunday the 28th based on the Troon e-mail promotion. We did NOT want to play the Dye course because we knew the greens there were aerated about 10 days ago and were not likely to be good. We planned for AD @ the Player and started before 7am. After playing 36, we go to the restaurant to grab lunch and it's locked @ 245? Okay, no problem. We then go to the pro shop to check in for round #3 and it is also locked. We have our AD receipts, #1 is wide open, so we self service and start another round. On hole #4, the cart guy comes and gives Mike gruff because we teed off w/o checking in with the pro shop. I was on the other side of the fairway, but Mike told him we tried, but pro shop closed. Cart guy wants us to quit right there, Mike informs him we had already previously paid for AD, so cart guy says we can finish that 9? We finish that 9 a little after 4pm. We go check with the cart guy, who basically orders us off the course and says we will have to go over to the Dye course if we want to play anymore. So we head over to the Dye, where the greens were even worse than expected, and played until dark. I have a huge problem with a course offering a "play AD special" then closing sometime before 2:45 pm w/o warning. I also have a huge problem with them enticing you to play a specific day, telling you how great the greens will be and you find them to be uncut with many previously scalped spots. I talked in great detail with them about the AD voucher when making the tee time after receiving their e-mail. We spoke in detail with the Pro Shop and the Starter about our plans to play AD when checking in for our 1st and then 2nd 18's. So there was ample opportunity for SOMEONE at the course to inform us that we would be kicked off if we wanted to play past 3pm? If this were a local course down the street and not a Troon run course it may not be worthy of comment. However, when we were both driving 2 1/2 hours plus each way based on not 1 but 2 misrepresentations, it needs to be commented on.

Played 45 on 8/28 with Nickesquire and, as usual, there's not much to say after reading Nick's and Mendel's review. BUT, while the greens here didn't bother me as much as previous reviewers - thought... Continue »

Played 45 on 8/28 with Nickesquire and, as usual, there's not much to say after reading Nick's and Mendel's review. BUT, while the greens here didn't bother me as much as previous reviewers - thought they were at least average for the desert this time of year - what got me out there was the email from Troon that the LPGA qualifier was just over, come out and test your skills, the greens would be quick and true. No where close to quick and true was in the eyes of the beholder. Everybody understands advertising and puffery, I guess I just expect a little more honesty from Troon. Otherwise the course was in great condition. Player is a much more scenic course that the Dye course and that front side is pretty tough if you don't hit it over 250. The cart guy said they were keeping Player closed on the weekdays in the summer and even though the shop door says they close as 5:00, everything but the cart barn was locked tight at 3:00. For me our second round pairing was uncharacteristically entertaining. Don't think I've ever played with anyone who played barefoot with custom painted toenails - and that was Joe, a Mr. Clean lookalike. Gayla, his 5' 2" female playing partner, just bombed the ball, and they knew how to have fun. Playing from the women's tees Gayla was consistently 40 yards past even Nick. Don't bet you wife here, the difference between the golds and the ladies tees had to be at least 900 yards. Okay, I'm rambling.

Played the Golds (6643/71.5/126) in 4H early with 140ver using UP. Paired up with a nice husband and wife from the Bay area. The weather was already well into the 90's and clear with a little breeze, ... Continue »

Played the Golds (6643/71.5/126) in 4H early with 140ver using UP. Paired up with a nice husband and wife from the Bay area. The weather was already well into the 90's and clear with a little breeze, better than expected. A conventional, old school Palm Springs layout, the exterior of the course is surrounded by homes &/or streets on all sides. OB can come into play quickly on any errant shots along with some water to keep you honest. The tees were shaggy lush with only a few of the par 3's needing divot attention. The fairways were lush, well maintained and nice to play from. Few unfixed divots. The rough was lush, occasionally thin. Very playable from a lost ball perspective, just long enough to penalize you on anything but shorter irons in most cases. The traps were decent with dark brown sand/dirt. They played better than they looked. From tee to fringe the course was in excellent condition. However, the greens were a HUGE disappointment. They were bumpy and at best medium slow with many scalped areas around the outer extremities. Not alot of break on these greens, they were firm but still held well struck approach shots. Not terrible, but rating them average is being nice IMO. Far worse than previous visits. The Player Course has good facilities. No holes with a wow factor, but a very solid layout that is fun to play. Not great by Palm Springs standards, but much better than average. The customer service was excellent all around. Plenty of water stations on the course and the Drink cart was out making the rounds. I would not hesitate to recommend this course.

Played the Mission Hills Player course today (Sunday). Outstanding conditions as far as fairways and rough. Rough was lush and the ball had a tendency to sit down but not so bad that you could not a... Continue »

Played the Mission Hills Player course today (Sunday). Outstanding conditions as far as fairways and rough. Rough was lush and the ball had a tendency to sit down but not so bad that you could not advance it. Bunkers had enough sand to be able to slip your club through (except for the greenside bunker on 18, which I fortunately was not in, which I can only best describe as muck. Played the gold tees, some of the tee boxes, the grass was a little long, but there was plenty of room to set your tee. Customer service was Troon usual, which is outstanding from as soon as I parked I heard the golf cart with one of the attendants ready to take my clubs before I even stepped out of the car, to check in to the attendant riding with you in the cart to the car to put the clubs in your trunk. The Player course is a fun track to play especially because of the conditions, but I wouldn't say there are any blow away holes, but playing the golds at 6600 yards with a lot of long uphill par 4's can be a stern test of golf, but I never really feel beat up after playing. If you are looking for a course to play in the Coachella valley, keep this one on your list. Hat Tip to Nicksquire for mentioning the greens. How can I forget to write about them. As he described the greens were in horrible shape. I think they put most of the pin placements in the extreme front of the greens so that players would not walk on them. Not familiar with what turf is used, but the had white sprout things that pockmarked the greens. Putts basically held their line, just felt on some putts you needed a bazooka to get it to the hole.