We had lunch on the patio afterward. All of the servers were wearing masks. The menu had a lot of options outside of burgers! Lots of appetizers and fun things to eat like chicharrones. We kept our order simple because we had plenty of food to keep eating through at home. Our fridge and freezer had broken down a few days prior to our golf day, and I wanted to make sure we ate through as much as we could. My tuna tacos were a perfect order to tide me over, and Justin ordered the chicken burger which looked amazing.

It was a pretty lovely experience golfing at Predator Ridge, as usual. The only thing that wasn’t so nice was that there was a Player’s Assistant who was constantly around and then started rushing our party as we were on the last few holes. Our friends are really good at golf. Justin and I normally play pretty fast, and I’m super mindful to keep up. There was no one ahead of us, and the party behind us fell behind pretty quick. Yet the Player’s Assistant would come by and let us know that there was 1 hole ahead of us. And came by again and told us there were 2 holes ahead of us. All this time, there was no one behind us!

I’m not sure what kind of “course flow management” this is, but it definitely added unwanted “pressure”. I ignored it because it honestly made no sense. We were on the 16th hole by then, with no one in front or behind us. Afterward, when I mentioned to another friend that I wanted us to play here on their next visit in August, she mentioned how they were made to hustle the same way (maybe by the same Player’s Assistant?) and they were made to skip holes! So now I’m a little wary of returning so quickly because the green fee is on the upper end and I just don’t want to be hassled like that.

Eventually, we’ll get around to checking out the Sparkling Hill Resort & Spa. But since we’re in a pandemic, we are choosing to stay close to home (read: stay home). And we heard that many of the amenities at their acclaimed spa are closed. So for me, what’s the point? Sparkling Hill is also dog-friendly, and it’s only mountain-view rooms. I think those rooms face the golf course, but if you’ve seen the views that Sparkling Hill offers… the mountain view is really the last view you’d want while staying there. I want to enjoy the in-room soaker tub with views of the lake at sunset!

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There is a valet when you arrive at La Quinta Resort & Club. The club is also in a gated neighborhood. When we arrived and drove through the parking lot, we found a super close parking spot, and hopped out quickly to grab our own golf bags to bring to check-in. I mentioned in another post to remember to bring money for tips and gratuity in Palm Springs. We still didn’t have any cash on us, so we hurried before anyone could help us.

We headed into the pro shop for check-in. There were lots of nice things to browse, and the clubhouse looked really nice. The practice range at La Quinta Resort & Club is gorgeous. The views are beautiful in front of you, as well as behind you because there’s a nice water feature. There was a loudspeaker calling for the different parties up to their tee times.

La Quinta Resort & Club’s website describes the Dune Course in the following way: This 72-par course, designed by Pete Dye, offers traditional rolling-links style golf with Scottish and Irish flair, characterized by rolling mounds, manicured fairways and thick rough. Length, strength and finesse are key to scoring well on this course, which has hosted the PGA Club Professional Championship, and the Californian State Open.

At this point in time, I do not know what rolling-links style golf is, but the Dunes course was nice to play. Unlike the Gary Player Signature course with their rough, the rough here was as described, thick. There were a couple holes where if you hit it into the rough, your ball was gone.

We had an afternoon tee time and were able to make it to the 15th hole by the time it got too dark to play any further. While it would be nice to play a morning round, we loved the colours and the sun setting above the mountain range. The lighting was beautiful, and the course was a blast to play. It’s a Pete Dye designed course, so he’s a bit of a trickster at times with the way he’s set everything up. Bring a strong chip game.

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We ended up playing four times over the course of our vacation, at three different courses. The first thing I want to say is, remember to bring money for gratuities! We never use much cash and I forgot to pack our American pocket money so that was at home back in Canada. I felt a little awkward because there would be people helping carry and load our bags onto the carts, as well as clean our clubs after our game, and I’ll admit I didn’t tip … because I didn’t have any cash! I felt so bad.

We played at the following clubs around Palm Springs, and really enjoyed our experience at each one. These are considered resort courses, read: easy courses, so they are perfect for playing on vacation. We thought the courses were very forgiving, so if you haven’t played in a while or just not very good, it’s a really nice way to experience golf. The views are stunning, and the course designs were great. We also realized that we have it really good in Kelowna for golf, and that some of the courses we play at home are hard AF!

• Gary Player Signature Course at Westin Mission Hills Golf Resort & Spa
• Pete Dye Course at Westin Mission Hills Golf Resort & Spa
• Dunes Course at La Quinta Resort & Club

We brought our own golf clubs because we had the option of extra baggage with our vacation booking. When we did our research, it also looked like the most economical choice anyway. We didn’t know how many rounds of golf we were going to be able to get in in our week in Palm Springs. We didn’t know the quality of the club rental, or the selection, or price, so we decided to bring our own equipment down. Just make sure you have a big enough rental car. With 2 dog carriers, 2 checked pieces of luggage, and 2 golf bags, our rental SUV ended up being quite full. It looked like our hotel also offered golf club storage, but we didn’t take them up on that and instead just stored the clubs in our room.

Upon reflection and with the recent experience of air travel and transporting our golf clubs, it might be time to upgrade our golf bags because they are a million years old and weigh a ton. They both also have kickstands, and mine has always been a bit confusing for golf helpers to deal with, so it may be time to get lighter bags without stands. We recently bought golf carts because there are courses at home we like to play at, like 2 Eagles in West Kelowna, that are very walkable. So between having hand carts, and playing at courses that require power carts, it really makes sense.

Some of the courses in Kelowna allow you to take the power cart into the parking lot, so you can load up at your car. None of that is acceptable in Palm Springs. You can do valet or someone will greet you in the parking lot and help carry your bags over. When you wrap up your game, someone will help wipe your clubs, as well as the unload/load. When we played at the Pete Dye course, since it was on the property of the hotel, we got to take the golf cart back to our room, with supervision by one of the golf helpers of course! Otherwise, at the Westin they have a golf cart shuttle, so you can be picked up or dropped off, and not have to lug your golf bag so far.

We had a really fun time golfing around Palm Spring. We’re already looking forward to the next time we can golf there, and it’ll be a matter of coaxing our parents into playing with us! We mostly played in the afternoon, so the light was especially stunning on the landscape. We enjoyed the mild December weather, but do make sure to pack some warm layers because the temperature can vary so much in December. And throw some little heat packs into your golf bag, like the ones you can use for skiing. One of our fellow golf couples gave us some in one of our games, and they were such a nice little lifesaver!

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Arriving at the Gary Player Signature Course

When we showed up at the course, someone had greeted us in the parking lot. He drove over with a power cart and started loading us up. We got checked in and headed over to their practice range to warm up. The range offered nice expansive views.

The Experience

The experience of golfing was super fun at Gary Player. We played on Christmas Day, so it was a bit quiet. There was a beverage cart going around, but there was no opportunity to buy any food. We didn’t get very hungry while we were playing anyway. The bathrooms are called comfort stations, and I thought that was super cute.

Course Design

The course design was really nice, and we really liked how the rough was just as nice as the fairway! The rough not part of the fairway, which is where you mostly want to be on when golfing. The rough is often higher, thicker grass. In Kelowna, the rough on the golf courses is sometimes unkept and it’s impossible to find your ball on some holes (cough cough Predator Ridge). Or you just don’t want to venture into it to play because of snakes, holes, poison ivy, etc. the list goes on. The rough at Gary Player was so nice that it really makes for a forgiving and easy course to play. If you can’t hit your ball straight, there are lots of slopes along the course that help channel your ball back onto the fairway.

Thoughts

Golfing is a funny sport. It has a high barrier of entry. And I know there are some people who get a little stressed out playing, especially if you’re playing at nicer courses. But if I learned anything, resort courses are the best! From our personal experience, they are designed to be easy, and it makes sense. People might have never played that course before, or are without their own clubs, or whatever the case may be. I’d definitely recommend playing resort courses because they’re beautiful, and not very stressful. You can still take your game seriously if you wanted to, or you can also just enjoy your round and take in the sights and sounds of what the course has to offer. I definitely did the latter.

Have you golfed anywhere in Palm Springs? What was your experience?

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Friday Afternoon – Wineries and Golf

I was expecting my friend to show up a little closer to noon, so that we could possibly have lunch before heading out for wine tastings. And also have time to get in a round of golf afterward. She was wrapping up her work trip “nearby” just north of Vernon, but there was so much traffic so it took her a bit longer than expected to get into Kelowna. Though, it really really didn’t matter what time we started because you can only really hit up so many wineries before they all start to taste the same… if you know what I mean.

We headed out to Summerland because we like a lot of wineries out there, and since it was the long weekend we thought we would try and avoid the crowds locally in Kelowna. We drove down and started our tasting up at Thornhaven. The last time we went, we loved everything they had to offer. This time we found everything to be much sweeter than we remembered. It was good, but today it was not to our taste. We had a great time in the tasting room though, as we lucked out between crowds and had the whole place to ourselves.

In addition to Thornhaven winery, we also went to Lunessence, Silkscarf, and Sumac Ridge before we headed back. Lunessence has great red wines and beautiful views of the vineyard and the lake. One of our friends really likes Silkscarf so we went back, but again we really didn’t care for it so I think we’ll stop trying. Shelby really likes wines from Sumac Ridge so we brought her there to wrap up the winery tastings. Sumac Ridge had a great range of wine to try, and we really like the Stellars Jay bubbly from there. After trying not to buy too many wines, we had a decent haul for ourselves to bring home.

Summerland is a quick jaunt away from Kelowna, so it didn’t take very long to get back. We put on our golf gear before we went wine tasting, so we were able to drive straight to the golf course. We decided to take Shelby to 2 Eagles in West Kelowna. She said she hadn’t played in a while, and we thought the front 9 offers beautiful views, isn’t terribly challenging, super walkable and gives you a good opportunity to socialize.

Since we were playing a twilight round and it was getting late, we decided to just eat at the course. The weather was super nice and we sat out on the patio.

Saturday – Hikes, Brunch, Charcuterie and Dinner

Sunday started off with a hike at Knox Mountain. If you’ve never hiked anywhere in Kelowna, Knox is a great place for it to be your first. We parked in the lower lot, and took the trail up to the top. We hiked Apex to Camelot to Ogopogo to Paul’s Tomb.

It took us a little over 90 minutes to do the hike, and then headed out for brunch at Central.

The food is pretty consistent at Central. We ended up crashing their luau party, so they had an even more fun selection of food. But we all ended up deciding to order off the regular menu. Brunch was really filling, so we decided that the beach was in order to relax and enjoy the afternoon.

There are tons of beaches in Kelowna, but Gyro is a nice place to go if it’s your first time. There’s plenty of parking, and the beach is quite large with a mix of sand, and grassy areas at the back. There are nice restrooms and change rooms nearby, as well as a simple food kiosk. There’s also a ton of shops and restaurants nearby, so it’s really quite a good setup.

Since we had been out all day, we headed home for our own little happy hour and dinner. Our friends turned us onto truffle salami, so we put some of that out with home made hummus and garden grown cherry heirloom tomatoes. We love snacking at our house, so we think we put together a pretty mean charcuterie. We will soon have to get ourselves a graze board since those seem to be all the rage, but I like keeping all the snacks separate so they don’t get soggy and mixed up.

Justin made lightly grilled albacore tuna, Shishito peppers, yams, yellow zucchini and grilled romaine for dinner.

After dinner, we ended up hanging outside on the patio some more with a couple bottles of wine. It was the perfect temperature, not too hot and not too cold. There was a slight breeze and didn’t seem like there were too many mosquitos out. We fired up the outdoor fireplace, and turned on the string lights. It was a perfect way to cap off Shelby’s visit.

Sunday – Chilling and Mountain Biking

Shelby wanted to hit the road early since she was heading back to Vancouver, so she left in the morning. Justin and I ended up going mountain biking to wrap up our weekend.

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