Played the Palmer Private course on the Saturday of MDW. I was told by the folks in the clubhouse that this weekend was probably the most crowded they had been all season! Didn't impact us on the priv... Continue »

Played the Palmer Private course on the Saturday of MDW. I was told by the folks in the clubhouse that this weekend was probably the most crowded they had been all season! Didn't impact us on the private course as we teed off at 830 AM and played in 3 hours and 20 minutes. Pretty impressive. I now have played all but the Weiskoff Private course at PGA West. This includes Stadium, Nick Tourney, Nick Private, Norman, Mountain & Dunes. I would say that the Palmer Private probably ranks as #1 of all the bunch. Conditioning was excellent as expected, with Bermuda greens starting to take hold and rolling actually quite fast and smooth (beware of the grain). The front nine routes through some of the homes and is a great mix of risk reward par 3's and 4's with a few beautiful tee shots over water towards the La Quinta mountains. But the real enjoyment starts on the back 9. I would say the back 9 at Palmer is the best 9 hole stretch of all 8 courses out here at PGA west (second best being front 9 at Nick Private). Starting from hole 10, the course routes towards the La Quinta mountains and then holes 14-17 play adjacent to the Canal/Mountain providing some great risk/reward tee shots and approaches. 18 is a phenomenal par 5 back to the clubhouse where David Duval famously made an eagle to secure the PGA win and a 59. What a fantastic experience teeing it up here. Dont pass it up if you get the invite!