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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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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