Growing grass, cleaning up landscaping part of re-opening Trilogy Golf Club
Work continues to re-open Trilogy Golf Club in La Quinta after is sat empty and unmaintained for two years
Joelle Spell and her husband moved to Trilogy Golf Club at La Quinta two years ago, just in time to miss out on playing the golf course.
“The week we moved in was the week it closed,” Spell said with a big smile. “We have never golfed it. Until today, right now.”
Spell is one of dozens of delighted golfers taking part last week in the soft opening of Trilogy Golf Club after two years of the course being closed through ownership disputes and an involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Bought out of bankruptcy by the Trilogy homeowners’ association, the course is reopening after nearly a year of renovations and cleanup.
“I’m so excited. I’m beyond over the moon excited to play it,” Spell said. “I have heard great things about it. I’m also excited to see it and feel it and experience the whole reason we moved here.”
The course layout remains virtually the same as when the course opened in 2002 that was designed by the late Gary Panks. That means it’s the same layout that hosted four PGA Tour Skins Games starting in 2003, with players from Tiger Woods to Phil Mickelson to Fred Couples and Annika Sorenstam playing the course.
The revival of the course after two years of dead fairways and greens is being embraced by golfers and homeowners, said Derek Mazzoni, the new director of golf at Trilogy.
“I’ve met enough people here so far that for the people who have been here through it all, and by through it all I mean for at least the last 10 years, multiple owners, going through the idea of multiple names, there is a lot of emotion with it too,” Mazzoni said. “Being able to walk out your back door to your patio, grab a cup of coffee and actually see a green golf course compared to coyotes or whatever else could be coming down the fairway.”
Mazzoni, who came to Trilogy only in October after three years of being head pro at Classic Club in Palm Desert, is part of a new staff at the facility that include Mark Goldman, a desert veteran, as new general manager, and management firm BlueStar Resort and Golf based in Scottsdale. The course is already advertising tee times for outside play as well as for Trilogy residents.
In renovating the golf course, taking out only five bunkers while adding only two bunkers, management and the Trilogy at La Quinta Maintenance Association board of directors have made some significant decisions, including embracing the Skins Game history at the south La Quinta layout.
“They really wanted to take it back to where they had an opportunity to recreate some of those (Skins Game) tees,” Mazzoni said. “But then also, at the same point, as the community and the players get a little older, put another set of tees up front.”
Those Skins Game tees stretch the golf course out to 7,115 yards, but the course can go down to the Trilogy tees of 4,310 yards at the 55-and-over community.
Another nod to the Skins Game is the naming of the holes, with about half of the names referencing the Skins Game, like Annika’s Miracle for the 18th hole where Sorenstam’s holed an eagle bunker shot, Tiger’s Waterloo for the par-3 17th where Woods put his tee shot into a lake, and Funk’s Millions for the ninth hole where Fred Funk closed out his win in 2005.
Some other changes were also made to the course without impacting the footprint of the Panks layout. While some greens were salvageable after two years, other greens couldn’t be saved. A decision was made to re-do all 18 greens, and Trilogy has joined the list of desert courses with MiniVerde grass. Mazzoni said one of the appeals of MiniVerde is it doesn’t require overseeding in the winter. He also said that in a round of golf he and other course officials played with members, the greens were firm but already rolling around 10 on the stimpmeter.
There is still work to be done at Trilogy, including completing a new pro shop and restaurant. For now, Mazzoni and his staff are working out of a starter’s podium near the first tee. But those are small issues compared to the revival of the course itself.
“The easiest part of this is just the support of the community,” Mazzoni said. “Those who were dedicated over the last year or so to get this done are very excited.”
