ironcondor
Chronic gear flipper
You may recall that earlier, I started a thread asking for course suggestions/etc for the Palm Springs area, as four of us golfing buddies had a trip to plan out. That thread is here:
http://www.thehackersparadise.com/forum/showthread.php?68108-Palm-Springs-Desert-area
We went on the trip this last weekend. It was nothing short of incredible. I'll add some pictures later - they are at home and in full size, so I'll have to trim them a bit and post them later. ***UPDATE*** PICS now uploaded on a later post
The summary of the courses played are as follows:
Friday:
-Indian Wells - Celebrity
-La Quinta - Mountain
Saturday:
-Desert Willow - Firecliff
-PGA West - TPC Stadium
Sunday:
-Silverrock
Needless to say, it was a lot of golf in a short amount of time. Personally, I prefer playing 36 in a day if I can - so 5 rounds in 3 days wasn't too taxing for me. The trip was nothing short of incredible! I started playing ~3 years ago and this was the first time I had ever played out there, and certainly the first time I was able to do a multi-day overnight dedicated golf outing. It was fantastic. Throw in some Ruth's Chris, a sweet VRBO condo rental in the PGA West Palmer Residence complete with pool/spa, and it was just amazing.
On to the course writeups. Weather conditions for all reviews were similar. 80-85 F in the morning rounds, light wind <5 mph; just perfect conditions. Afternoon rounds it was 95-100 F, again a light wind never cresting above 6-7 mph.
Indian Wells - Celebrity:
This resort-style course ended up being my overall favorite for the trip. The conditions were just superb. Everything from the tee boxes, fairways, 2nd cuts, rough, greens, bunkers, hazard areas with blooming plants...just immaculate. It is probably the best conditions I have ever played in, bar none. The greens weren't that fast, but rolled true and approach shots checked up nicely. The track was not as difficult as some of the other courses, and you get away with some shots as many of the planted hazards are a free drop per local rules. The service was also great. Lots of water, ice machines, cold towels, etc. I played some of the best golf of my life (putting aside, I had 39 putts!! lol), shooting an 85, which was a new pb for me. I hit 11/18 fairways and had a career-best 10/18 GIR. No birdies, but 6 pars, 11 bogeys, and only one double. I will be coming back to this course - and I want to try their other course (Players) as well.
La Quinta - Mountain:
The location of this course is great. It's right against the hills behind La Quinta, which made for some incredible vistas and views. However, compared to the other courses I played this weekend, I was least impressed with this one, in both conditions, track, and service. Of course, compared to my usual local courses, La Quinta Mountain is still a winner.
The conditions of fairways varied from hole to hole, with the worst having some browning and best being flawless. Nothing to complain about. The greens I think were a blend of the dying winter and incoming summer grass. Maybe someone with more local knowledge can explain this a bit (this wasn't the case at Celebrity). The greens were VERY hard, but not crazy fast? Approach shots would just skip, but putting was manageable. In fact, the greens were so hard that there were ZERO ball marks anywhere. You could throw the ball down onto the green as hard as you could and not make a mark. I'd never seen this before. It changed how you played your approach shots.
Overall, still a great course. I'd recommend playing it, but if I had to rank compared to the others, I'd put this one in last. I ended up with an average (for me) 92. 50% fairways, 7 GIR, 37 putts. On one of the shorter par threes, a mountainside backs the green. I bladed my 9i off the tee and it carried the green, hit a rock up on the hillside, and came back down onto the green 8' from the pin. Two putt for par. LOL we couldn't believe it.
Desert Willow - Firecliff:
I was looking forward to playing this course the most. When we arrived early in the morning, the place was packed. We found out there was a shotgun tourney starting 20 mins after our tee time! The range was packed so we didn't warm up. I was a little miffed they didn't tell us about this when we booked. That said, the service was still otherwise great and the tourney ended up not being a problem at all. We didn't notice anything different in pace of play from a normal round.
Like Celebrity, the resort-style service and conditions were immaculate. Firecliff has 133 bunkers (excluding waste areas) and this was immediately apparent on each hole. What a tough course. Being okay in fairway bunkers, but doing awful in greenside ate me alive. I also struggled a bit more off the tee compared to the previous two rounds. The greens were not particularly fast, in fact I'd almost say they were slow, but very difficult to read. There were A LOT of missed birdie/par putts inside 6'. In fact, across the whole round, I can distinctly remember one of my buddies making an 8' putt and that was the highlight putt of the round. It was crazy.
You definitely have to play this course though. The quantity of bunkers is just staggering. On several approach shots, you'd look at the green/surrounding area and it was over 50% sand! It definitely brought decision making into play. Many times I'd lay up in the safe area and chip on, simply to avoid a potential bunker by the pin. The sand was in great condition. Probably the best sand I've ever played in. Nice and fluffy, consistent from hole to hole.
I shot a 98, it was brutal. Again, only hit 50% fairways, and this time only 5 GIR. 10 strokes alone were thanks to greenside bunkers. 35 putts and 4 penalties. It was like the Celebrity course on steroids. I highly recommend.
PGA West - TPC Stadium:
This Pete Dye course has a reputation...a love-hate relationship. Reading reviews prior to playing, most people hated the place. Things like "if I wanted to torture myself, I would've stayed home", "you will not find a flat lie anywhere", etc. I honestly started looking forward to this challenge, with a healthy respect and dose of fear. Especially the dreaded 16th par 5 "San Andreas" and 17th par 3 "Alcatraz", we were somewhat expecting to all shoot over 100 and just get destroyed.
I walked into this with the mindset of enjoying the tradition and history of this course, but attacking it with all my efforts. I reviewed my uneven lie knowledge again, and went in ready to roll. The service was nothing special, certainly not like the resort-style courses. The carts don't even have GPS. The clubhouse was really cool though.
As for the course - this course is unbelievable. Never before have I seen such utter disregard for anything even closely resembling "fair", at least compared to traditional courses. Right off the first tee, you can see the fairway, and one small flat spot on it. The rest was all rolling knolls, everywhere. I knew right then this would be an a$$-kicking of epic proportions. I could feel the spirits of defeated golfers calling out to me, warning me and begging me to join them in their misery. I grinned and exclaimed, "this is going to be f'ing awesome!!" and hit a 5i off the tee onto the flat spot. BOOM! It was the start I needed. The tee boxes were great, the fairways were fantastic, but not quite as good as Celebrity/Firecliff. There were some bare spots here and there but nothing worth complaining about. The rough to the side on the knolls was thankfully recently mowed but still gnarly as heck. You could almost feel the grass just grabbing your club and pulling it away from you with it just sitting there at rest.
Honestly, I think the course difficulty is hyped.....but just a bit. Granted, I'm used to playing uneven lies with all the local courses in the hills of Corona. But don't get me wrong. It is easily the hardest course I have ever played. We played the combo tees, but from championship tees the course is ridiculously long, like 7,600 yards. 600 yard par 5's, etc. My approach to playing this was damage control. Avoid the penalties, play things conservative and safe, take the bogies and run. And, have fun!
I was totally expecting to shoot over 100. I walked away with a 91! I was SO stoked about that. And that was with a double bogey 3 putt on 18! I only had ONE triple bogey, on a hole where my ball went right into the water and I struggled to recover. 7/14 fairways, only 4 GIR, and 34 putts. Only 1 penalty! As for the famed 16th/17th, they were probably my favorite holes I've played to date. San Andreas has a HUGE cut down the left side that just goes down into bunker/waste area. I played my drive right (and was successful at it) and laid up on the 2nd, wedged on, and took my bogey and ran. However, not without just trying the 20' bunker left of the green. We all walked down there and tried to get it up. All of us were successful at it but it really takes a massive swing and a lot of loft to get out. If you play this course, whatever you do, DO NOT go down there. There's no good way out except up, and the grass face is too steep to hold your ball if you are too short. But, you absolutely have to try it otherwise. So fun.
The next hole, Alcatraz, is an appropriately named island par 3. It's TINY. I typically don't have mental problems with water (I do more so with sand, oddly enough) so I just hit an easy 9i and managed to actually stick the middle of the green, 2 putt for par! I was thrilled with that. We played several balls, as it was slow that afternoon and there was no one even close behind us. Definitely a memorable hole for a memorable course.
You must try this place. However, be up to snuff on your uneven lies. Wide stances and leveling the shoulders with the slope, and changing clubs accordingly, will go a LONG ways to successful shots around there.
Silverrock:
This course is similarly located against the hills like La Quinta Mountain. However, the service and conditions were much better - a notch below Celebrity/Firecliff, and slightly better than Stadium. What a fun track! I highly recommend. There are some fun shorter par 4's that are ALMOST driveable (we played from the blues) and several risk/reward decisions to make.
At this point in the weekend, I think we were starting to get tired. My buddy got a bad case of the shanks, and couldn't shake it. At one point he even used his putter from 70+ yards out on the fairway to get to the green. He was 10' from the pin!! It was hilarious, but I felt bad for him. Nothing we told him helped...ha! Poor guy.
I walked away with a 90, hitting 11/14 fairways as my 915 came back into good graces. 7/18 GIRs, 38 putts. The greens were fast and difficult.
All in all, I struggled most with putting. I would miss by an inch or two, and tap in 3 putt. It was rough. But the trip was a total success, and we're already discussing about doing it again.
I will post pics later today/this week when I have the chance!!
http://www.thehackersparadise.com/forum/showthread.php?68108-Palm-Springs-Desert-area
We went on the trip this last weekend. It was nothing short of incredible. I'll add some pictures later - they are at home and in full size, so I'll have to trim them a bit and post them later. ***UPDATE*** PICS now uploaded on a later post
The summary of the courses played are as follows:
Friday:
-Indian Wells - Celebrity
-La Quinta - Mountain
Saturday:
-Desert Willow - Firecliff
-PGA West - TPC Stadium
Sunday:
-Silverrock
Needless to say, it was a lot of golf in a short amount of time. Personally, I prefer playing 36 in a day if I can - so 5 rounds in 3 days wasn't too taxing for me. The trip was nothing short of incredible! I started playing ~3 years ago and this was the first time I had ever played out there, and certainly the first time I was able to do a multi-day overnight dedicated golf outing. It was fantastic. Throw in some Ruth's Chris, a sweet VRBO condo rental in the PGA West Palmer Residence complete with pool/spa, and it was just amazing.
On to the course writeups. Weather conditions for all reviews were similar. 80-85 F in the morning rounds, light wind <5 mph; just perfect conditions. Afternoon rounds it was 95-100 F, again a light wind never cresting above 6-7 mph.
Indian Wells - Celebrity:
This resort-style course ended up being my overall favorite for the trip. The conditions were just superb. Everything from the tee boxes, fairways, 2nd cuts, rough, greens, bunkers, hazard areas with blooming plants...just immaculate. It is probably the best conditions I have ever played in, bar none. The greens weren't that fast, but rolled true and approach shots checked up nicely. The track was not as difficult as some of the other courses, and you get away with some shots as many of the planted hazards are a free drop per local rules. The service was also great. Lots of water, ice machines, cold towels, etc. I played some of the best golf of my life (putting aside, I had 39 putts!! lol), shooting an 85, which was a new pb for me. I hit 11/18 fairways and had a career-best 10/18 GIR. No birdies, but 6 pars, 11 bogeys, and only one double. I will be coming back to this course - and I want to try their other course (Players) as well.
La Quinta - Mountain:
The location of this course is great. It's right against the hills behind La Quinta, which made for some incredible vistas and views. However, compared to the other courses I played this weekend, I was least impressed with this one, in both conditions, track, and service. Of course, compared to my usual local courses, La Quinta Mountain is still a winner.
The conditions of fairways varied from hole to hole, with the worst having some browning and best being flawless. Nothing to complain about. The greens I think were a blend of the dying winter and incoming summer grass. Maybe someone with more local knowledge can explain this a bit (this wasn't the case at Celebrity). The greens were VERY hard, but not crazy fast? Approach shots would just skip, but putting was manageable. In fact, the greens were so hard that there were ZERO ball marks anywhere. You could throw the ball down onto the green as hard as you could and not make a mark. I'd never seen this before. It changed how you played your approach shots.
Overall, still a great course. I'd recommend playing it, but if I had to rank compared to the others, I'd put this one in last. I ended up with an average (for me) 92. 50% fairways, 7 GIR, 37 putts. On one of the shorter par threes, a mountainside backs the green. I bladed my 9i off the tee and it carried the green, hit a rock up on the hillside, and came back down onto the green 8' from the pin. Two putt for par. LOL we couldn't believe it.
Desert Willow - Firecliff:
I was looking forward to playing this course the most. When we arrived early in the morning, the place was packed. We found out there was a shotgun tourney starting 20 mins after our tee time! The range was packed so we didn't warm up. I was a little miffed they didn't tell us about this when we booked. That said, the service was still otherwise great and the tourney ended up not being a problem at all. We didn't notice anything different in pace of play from a normal round.
Like Celebrity, the resort-style service and conditions were immaculate. Firecliff has 133 bunkers (excluding waste areas) and this was immediately apparent on each hole. What a tough course. Being okay in fairway bunkers, but doing awful in greenside ate me alive. I also struggled a bit more off the tee compared to the previous two rounds. The greens were not particularly fast, in fact I'd almost say they were slow, but very difficult to read. There were A LOT of missed birdie/par putts inside 6'. In fact, across the whole round, I can distinctly remember one of my buddies making an 8' putt and that was the highlight putt of the round. It was crazy.
You definitely have to play this course though. The quantity of bunkers is just staggering. On several approach shots, you'd look at the green/surrounding area and it was over 50% sand! It definitely brought decision making into play. Many times I'd lay up in the safe area and chip on, simply to avoid a potential bunker by the pin. The sand was in great condition. Probably the best sand I've ever played in. Nice and fluffy, consistent from hole to hole.
I shot a 98, it was brutal. Again, only hit 50% fairways, and this time only 5 GIR. 10 strokes alone were thanks to greenside bunkers. 35 putts and 4 penalties. It was like the Celebrity course on steroids. I highly recommend.
PGA West - TPC Stadium:
This Pete Dye course has a reputation...a love-hate relationship. Reading reviews prior to playing, most people hated the place. Things like "if I wanted to torture myself, I would've stayed home", "you will not find a flat lie anywhere", etc. I honestly started looking forward to this challenge, with a healthy respect and dose of fear. Especially the dreaded 16th par 5 "San Andreas" and 17th par 3 "Alcatraz", we were somewhat expecting to all shoot over 100 and just get destroyed.
I walked into this with the mindset of enjoying the tradition and history of this course, but attacking it with all my efforts. I reviewed my uneven lie knowledge again, and went in ready to roll. The service was nothing special, certainly not like the resort-style courses. The carts don't even have GPS. The clubhouse was really cool though.
As for the course - this course is unbelievable. Never before have I seen such utter disregard for anything even closely resembling "fair", at least compared to traditional courses. Right off the first tee, you can see the fairway, and one small flat spot on it. The rest was all rolling knolls, everywhere. I knew right then this would be an a$$-kicking of epic proportions. I could feel the spirits of defeated golfers calling out to me, warning me and begging me to join them in their misery. I grinned and exclaimed, "this is going to be f'ing awesome!!" and hit a 5i off the tee onto the flat spot. BOOM! It was the start I needed. The tee boxes were great, the fairways were fantastic, but not quite as good as Celebrity/Firecliff. There were some bare spots here and there but nothing worth complaining about. The rough to the side on the knolls was thankfully recently mowed but still gnarly as heck. You could almost feel the grass just grabbing your club and pulling it away from you with it just sitting there at rest.
Honestly, I think the course difficulty is hyped.....but just a bit. Granted, I'm used to playing uneven lies with all the local courses in the hills of Corona. But don't get me wrong. It is easily the hardest course I have ever played. We played the combo tees, but from championship tees the course is ridiculously long, like 7,600 yards. 600 yard par 5's, etc. My approach to playing this was damage control. Avoid the penalties, play things conservative and safe, take the bogies and run. And, have fun!
I was totally expecting to shoot over 100. I walked away with a 91! I was SO stoked about that. And that was with a double bogey 3 putt on 18! I only had ONE triple bogey, on a hole where my ball went right into the water and I struggled to recover. 7/14 fairways, only 4 GIR, and 34 putts. Only 1 penalty! As for the famed 16th/17th, they were probably my favorite holes I've played to date. San Andreas has a HUGE cut down the left side that just goes down into bunker/waste area. I played my drive right (and was successful at it) and laid up on the 2nd, wedged on, and took my bogey and ran. However, not without just trying the 20' bunker left of the green. We all walked down there and tried to get it up. All of us were successful at it but it really takes a massive swing and a lot of loft to get out. If you play this course, whatever you do, DO NOT go down there. There's no good way out except up, and the grass face is too steep to hold your ball if you are too short. But, you absolutely have to try it otherwise. So fun.
The next hole, Alcatraz, is an appropriately named island par 3. It's TINY. I typically don't have mental problems with water (I do more so with sand, oddly enough) so I just hit an easy 9i and managed to actually stick the middle of the green, 2 putt for par! I was thrilled with that. We played several balls, as it was slow that afternoon and there was no one even close behind us. Definitely a memorable hole for a memorable course.
You must try this place. However, be up to snuff on your uneven lies. Wide stances and leveling the shoulders with the slope, and changing clubs accordingly, will go a LONG ways to successful shots around there.
Silverrock:
This course is similarly located against the hills like La Quinta Mountain. However, the service and conditions were much better - a notch below Celebrity/Firecliff, and slightly better than Stadium. What a fun track! I highly recommend. There are some fun shorter par 4's that are ALMOST driveable (we played from the blues) and several risk/reward decisions to make.
At this point in the weekend, I think we were starting to get tired. My buddy got a bad case of the shanks, and couldn't shake it. At one point he even used his putter from 70+ yards out on the fairway to get to the green. He was 10' from the pin!! It was hilarious, but I felt bad for him. Nothing we told him helped...ha! Poor guy.
I walked away with a 90, hitting 11/14 fairways as my 915 came back into good graces. 7/18 GIRs, 38 putts. The greens were fast and difficult.
All in all, I struggled most with putting. I would miss by an inch or two, and tap in 3 putt. It was rough. But the trip was a total success, and we're already discussing about doing it again.
I will post pics later today/this week when I have the chance!!
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