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
Much of the reason the city of Indian Wells spent $13 million to renovate and redesign its Players Course at the Indian Wells Golf Resort is to attract a professional tour like the LPGA to play an event in the city. Joe Williams wants people to remember that would be just one week a year.
“Don’t lose sight of the fact that 51 weeks out of the year we’re a golf resort,” said Williams, the director of golf at Indian Wells Golf Resort. “We are not a tour golf course for those 51 weeks. You have all levels of players that are coming in for the winter who maybe haven’t picked up a club in three months and we want to show them an enjoyable day. I think the golf course will be playable for them.”
The city unveiled the redesigned course, with seven new holes including a new closing stretch at 16, 17 and 18, this week. At the same time, city officials said there has been progress in talks with the LPGA about putting the women’s professional tour on the course in the future.
“The LPGA has been very good to us, whether it be the (developmental tour) Epson Tour activities and that commitment to be here,” said Chris Freeland, city manager. “They have expressed an interest that they want to partner with us to bring an LPGA event here because they really feel there is a void here in the Coachella Valley with the Dinah Shore leaving.”
The renovated and redesigned Players Course saw architect John Fought rework a course he first redesigned in 2007 from a Ted Robinson original design from the 1980s. To make the layout more tournament friendly, Fought’s new course eliminates the old 17th and 18th holes holes that were on the south side of the Whitewater Wash, putting all 18 holes on the north side of the wash. That puts the wash on the left side of the three closing holes, the par-4 16th, par-3 17th and par-5 18th, a stretch that plays back toward Mt. San Jacinto for better views and a more demanding finish.
“We are very confident that the LPGA will love this course,” said Greg Sanders, a council member for the city who has helped push the project through. “We met with them when we showed them the proposed track. They were out here when it was under construction when the Epson Tour (Championship) was going on (in October) and they were very impressed.”
As for the residents and other guests who will play the course, the par-71 layout at just over 7,100 yards from the back tees will be both a challenge and pleasure, Williams said.
“I think what has happened here is going to produce quality golf for all kinds of levels,” Williams said. “I think you are going to find that the golf course flows much better. There is a good variety of holes and from an operator standpoint, my standpoint, I don’t have two holes on one side of the channel that can sometimes flood and cause operations hazards.”
The opening par-5 might be among the toughest opening holes in the Coachella Valley at more than 600 yards with water to the left on the third shot. But the front nine also has three par-3s, while the back nine has two par-5s and two par-3s. The closing hole, the par-5 18th has a dangerous second shot with a fairway that seems to hang over the wash to the left.
“The Players Course has been among the top golf courses in California ever since we first broke ground here in 2007, and we had the opportunity to not only refresh the entire golf course, but also to complete our original vision of the layout,” Fought said. “It’s been a pleasure to return to one of my favorite golf courses and one that I have many fond memories of, and I’m confident that the renovated Players Course will create new memories for golfers for many years to come.”
The redesign included seven new holes and a rerouting and renovation of the remaining 11 holes.
As for the possibility of an LPGA event coming to the golf resort, Freeland and Sanders said the main sticking point now might be finding a sponsor for the event.
“(The LPGA) would love to see women’s golf come back to the Coachella Valley,” Freeland said. “We have been really big advocates and I think they see that because we want the LPGA as much as they want to be here.”
