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 is the toughest golf course in the Coachella Valley?
It’s a question asked not only by new golfers to the desert, but long-time players who are always looking for a challenge. It’s also a question that doesn’t really have an answer.
After all, what might be a tough golf course for one golfer might be easier for another golfer. If you struggle to get the ball in the air, an approach shot over water might be impossible, but your more-skilled friend might find the challenge thrilling. If you can’t hit the ball 200 yards, a 400-yard par 4 might be daunting, but your friend who hits his driver 250 yards will see it as a normal hole. Some players like fast greens, others like slow greens.
If the challenge of a course depends on the golfer, perhaps the best way to quantify the challenge of a course – not the toughness but the challenge – is to compare each course’s SCGA course rating. Each course that is part of the SCGA receives a rating from a judging team, and the higher the rating, the more challenging the course.
In the Coachella Valley, the five highest course ratings belong to
Ladera Golf Club in ThermalPete Dye Stadium Course at PGA West in La QuintaClassic Club in Palm DesertMountain View Country Club in La QuintaMadison Club in La Quinta
Those five courses, by four different architects, are each distinctly different, proving any course can be challenging but also widely accepted by golfers of any skill level.
Doug Sullivan, head of the SCGA’s course rating committee, says a number of factors are calculated into a rating, from lakes to bunkers to trees to the proximity of out of bounds. But there is one element that can make a rating soar, Sullivan said.
“Length is the biggest obstacle to overcome, especially for higher handicap golfers,” Sullivan said. “So step one is measuring a golf course and making sure we have the right length. And then those yardages can get adjusted based on roll, wind, doglegs, forced layups, things like that.”
Of course the highest rating for any course are from its back tees, but few golfers play the back tees, preferring instead for playing more appropriate tees. That’s why most courses these days offer as many as six sets of tees for a course. Each set of tees gets it own rating, with the rating going down the shorter the course plays.
Here’s a look at the five most challenging courses in the desert:
Ladera Golf ClubCity: ThermalOpened: 2023Player access: PrivateDesigner: Gil HanseLength: 7,705 yardsBack tees name: PinkCourse rating: 77.7Notable: Ultra-exclusive Ladera is not only one of the toughest courses in the desert by SCGA ratings, but it is also the newest course, having opened in 2023. Golf Digest named Ladera the best new private course in the country.
An expansive course on what was once a mango and lemon farm, Ladera is also a unique course. Hanse’s design features perhaps the widest fairways in the desert, some as much as 70 yards wide. The course is sloped quite a bit, with 140 feet being the difference between the highest and lowest points on the layout.
The fairways are generally bordered by native desert, since there is no rough on the course. The unmatched look of the course also comes from dozens of white-faced bunkers near the fairways and around the greens.
It is those putting surfaces that give Ladera its true character. With slopes, drop-offs and massive surfaces, it is a unique experience that few desert golfers will ever see.
Pete Dye Stadium Course, PGA WestCity: La QuintaOpened: 1986Player access: Semi-privateDesigner: Pete DyeLength: 7,300 yardsBack tees name: BlackCourse rating: 76.0Notable: Since opening in 1986 with the tagline “the toughest course in the country,” the Stadium Course has been the most famous course in the Coachella Valley. That fame has been enhanced by hosting six Skins Games in the 1980s and 1990s and by being the current home course of The American Express PGA Tour event.
This is architect Pete Dye at the peak of his powers, with all the tricks of his trade in force. Everything from 20-foot deep bunkers to 200-yard forced carries over water to sand moats around greens can cause a golfer plenty of trouble.
The par-3 17th, at 167 yards with an island green, is the trademark of the course. Many golfers play the course just to say they played it, not expecting to post a good score.
Classic ClubCity: Palm DesertOpened: 2006Player access: PublicDesigner: Arnold PalmerLength: 7,322 yardsBack tees name: BlackCourse rating: 75.9Notable: The first thing that ever happened on this expansive golf course was the 2006 Bob Hope Classic, the first of three consecutive years that the Arnold Palmer-designed course hosted the PGA Tour event.
Designed not to look like a typical desert golf course, Classic Club has plenty of trees that aren’t palm trees, giving the course a different feel than most Coachella Valley layouts.
The course has four demanding par-3s, the most scenic of which is the 12th and the toughest of which might be the sixth with a sharp drop down to a wash to the right of the putting surface.
The ninth and 18th holes are difficult par 4s with approaches over water, shots that can make or break a round.
Located on the north side of Interstate 10, the course is subject to breezy conditions. The course is still in touch with the professional game, hosting a local qualifier for the U.S. Open each year.
Mountain View Country ClubCity: La QuintaOpened: 2003Player access: PrivateDesigner: Arnold PalmerLength: 7,445 yardsBack tees name: PalmerCourse rating: 75.8Notable: This might not be one of the desert courses you would expect on this list, but that’s only because as a private course not every golfer in the desert has played the La Quinta course near the base of the Santa Rosa Mountains.
But Mountain View has some demanding holes as a signature Arnold Palmer design, holes that make even the better players think about playing the back tees. The closing holes of the course include a tough 222-yard uphill par 3 with a multi-tiered green, followed by a 543-yard par-5 18th hole that will require golfers with a strong drive to make a decision to clear a creek that cuts across the fairway to get close to the green or lay back from the water, leaving a short iron into the green. It’s the kind of intrigue that can be found throughout this memorable layout.
Madison ClubCity: La QuintaOpened: 2008Player access: PrivateDesigner: Tom FazioLength: 7,426 yardsBack tees name: MadisonCourse rating: 75.6Notable: This course has been famous in the desert for its celebrity membership, but it has also been growing in prestige through the years, slowly climbing lists of the best golf courses in the state and even the country.
One of the best Tom Fazio courses in the Coachella Valley, the course is too often known for its comfort stations of food and drink throughout the course.
The course is terrific, demanding solid play in every part of a golfer’s game. The layout has a mix of holes, with some shorter par 4s offset by two par 5s over 600 yards and other tough holes. The 18th, a 564-yard par 5, might be the most memorable hole on the course, requiring three strong shots to set up a birdie putt, but a par is always a good score on pretty much any hole on this course.
