The most difficult golf courses in the Coachella Valley
Desert Sun reporter Larry Bohannan talks about some of the most difficult golf courses in the Coachella Valley
What can a renovation do for a golf course?
Take a look at the list of the toughest and easiest courses on the PGA Tour in 2025 and there is bit of information that is quite telling. And it concerns a golf course in the Coachella Valley.
With the end of the PGA Tour season, courses can now be ranked from toughest to easiest on the tour statistically for the season. In recent years, that has meant looking at the bottom of the list to see the courses of The American Express in La Quinta. The tournament is happy that it is known as a tournament where golfers can come and make birdies and eagles in good weather early in the year. But that changed a little bit in 2025.
Here’s a look at desert courses and other layouts in the rankings for 2025:
Nicklaus Private Course, PGA West
Of the 49 golf courses on the PGA Tour this year, the Nicklaus Tournament Course ranked 47th toughest, or third easiest, if you will. The course had an average of 68.247, or minus-3.753 strokes against its par, which is how the courses are ranked. This isn’t a surprise, since the Nicklaus Tournament Course and La Quinta Country Club have battled for the easiest course in the tournament rotation in recent years, and even been the easiest courses on tour at times. The Nicklaus Course surrendered 848 birdies in three rounds last January while giving up 20 eagles.
La Quinta Country Club
Just one slot higher in the rankings is La Quinta, which made its debut in the tournament in 1964. La Quinta’s strokes against its par of 72 finished -3.406. While La Quinta didn’t give up as many birdies as Nicklaus Tournament (768 compared to 848), La Quinta did give up a remarkable 37 eagles in its three rounds in the event, or just over 12 eagles per round for the 52 pros playing the courses that day. The back-to-back short par-5s at the fifth and the sixth holes each surrendered 12 eagles. La Quinta finished just behind El Cardonel, host of the World Wide Technology championship in Mexico.
Pete Dye Stadium Course, PGA West
Here’s where it gets interesting. In 2024, the Dye course barely edged out La Quinta Country Club and the Nicklaus Tournament Course as the toughest course in The American Express rotation with a scoring average of 69.284, hardly the beast that ran off the PGA Tour players when the course had a one-year stint in the tournament in 1987. But after a summer of renovating all 18 greens and green complexes, the Pete Dye course bared its teeth a bit in 2025.
The scoring average on the firm greens was 70.565, more than two shots tougher per player. In 2024, the course gave up 338 birdies in four rounds as the host course, but that number dropped to 287 in 2025. Eagles allowed were seven in 2024 and five in 2025, so no real difference there. It will be fascinating to see what 2026 will bring for the Stadium Course, since the greens will certainly be a little softer and more receptive than last January. The Stadium Course’s minus-.652 against par ranked it 19th among tour courses for the year, after being 39th in 2024.
Other courses
Not surprisingly, Oakmont Country Club, which hosted the U.S. Open in Pennsylvania, played as the toughest course on tour in 2025 with a plus-4.178 score against its par of 70. The South Course at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego was second at plus-1.685 for the Farmers Insurance Open, but that’s still two and a half shots easier than Oakmont. In a bit of a quirk, the South Course also hosted the Genesis Invitational in 2025 because of wildfires in Los Angeles, and the course played to a plus-.214 scoring average that week, 16th on the tour. Torrey Pine North, played in the Farmers Insurance event, was ninth overall at plus-.571.
Other courses on the West Coast Swing of the tour were the TPC Scottsdale of the Waste Management Phoenix Open at 27th with minus-1.214, Pebble Beach Golf Links at 37th at minus-1.898 and Spyglass at 39th at minus-2.013. Silverado North, played in the Procore Championship at the start of the Fall Series, was 18th overall, just ahead of the PGA West Stadium Course, at 71.5.
