As I mentioned 30 days ago, July is about the bike and November is about the GOLF! Wrapped up the month and 17 rounds with a round at the Stadium course. I actually prefer the Nicklaus Tournament cou... Continue »

As I mentioned 30 days ago, July is about the bike and November is about the GOLF! Wrapped up the month and 17 rounds with a round at the Stadium course. I actually prefer the Nicklaus Tournament course, but due to some minor issues during the reservation process, I played nicely agreed on the Stadium course.

Once on site, check in was smooth. We headed to the all grass range, did some putting then teed off a couple minutes early. The stadium course is a lot of fun and makes you think. There are a ton of HUGE water hazards that come into play on a number of holes. Sometimes the water is in play off the tee, other times on the approach and of course the two famous holes. The island green Par 3, 17th and the Par 5 fifth hole with water left off the tee and right on the approach.

Whereas the fairways have a ton of undulations, the greens are fairly tame. I didn’t have any 3 putts all day and that’s a rarity for me. In addition to the huge water hazards the course is littered with large deep bunkers. Both greenside and fairway. Sand in the bunkers was good. Nothing that made you in awe but nothing to complain about.

Fairways were top notch. Maybe not quite a 10 but easily a 9. Same for the tee boxes. Easily a 9 as they were flat, lush and divot free. Greens rolled true and held well struck shots rolling at a medium-fast speed.

Don’t get me wrong the Stadium course is a fantastic track and well worth playing. Obviously, any course the PGA holds a tournament at is going to be great course. It’s just the Nicklaus Tournament course is one of my favorite tracks in the Palm Springs area.

Played on Saturday November 23rd. Course is coming into peak condition nicely. They still have the fairways and greens a bit shaggy as they heal from overseeding but I would say they are about 2-3 wee... Continue »

Played on Saturday November 23rd. Course is coming into peak condition nicely. They still have the fairways and greens a bit shaggy as they heal from overseeding but I would say they are about 2-3 weeks from perfection. Greens rolled about a 10, fairly smooth. Love pga west, top notch facility!

Rode the Blues (6739/73.1/140) twilight in slightly less than 4.5H... for 15 holes? Finally found a way to shoot in the 70's from the Blues @ Stadium, have it get too dark to play after 15 holes. CPO ... Continue »

Rode the Blues (6739/73.1/140) twilight in slightly less than 4.5H... for 15 holes? Finally found a way to shoot in the 70's from the Blues @ Stadium, have it get too dark to play after 15 holes. CPO and a slow group in front on a packed course made for a snails POP. Matched up with Dwayne, Mike and A.J., very nice group to play with. The weather was sunny, calm and around 95. The over seeded tees were mostly flat and lush. The over seeded fairways were lush and excellent to play from. The Bermuda primary rough was mostly dormant. Still thick even though mowed down low. It was usually nice to play out of. The plentiful sand traps were very well maintained with good quality sand. The over seeded greens putted medium slow speed and were firm and somewhat bumpy coming out of over seeding. Definitely weeks behind the Nicklaus greens. This was one of the toughest courses in the U.S. when it opened in the 1980's. More than usual amounts of water plus huge, deep sand traps are tough obstacles. Throw in the typical Pete Dye moguls and you have a layout that can beat up even PGA Tour players. #6 was playing 240 to a back pin with at least a 200 yard carry over water today from the blues. Just for giggles, one of my playing partners scoped the Blacks. 267 over water is a LONG par 3. However, always enjoy this layout, Excellent customer service as usual here. Cart gal around 4-5 times. Numerous water stations on the course. Good GPS on the carts. Nice all grass range that was very busy. Definitely recommended.

Rode the Blues (6739/73.1/140) twilight in slightly less than 3H using Forelinx. The weather was overcast, breezy and around 90. More than usual amounts of water plus avoiding the huge, deep sand t... Continue »

Rode the Blues (6739/73.1/140) twilight in slightly less than 3H using Forelinx. The weather was overcast, breezy and around 90. More than usual amounts of water plus avoiding the huge, deep sand traps are a higher priority here than almost any other course I play. Bad shots can be really penalized on this Pete Dye layout. Miss the fairway or green and your recovery shot will almost assuredly be a side hill lie, often an extreme side hill lie. Even relatively good shots barely offline can quickly result in a big number. The Bermuda tees were mostly flat with adequate coverage. Well maintained, only some par 3's needed divot attention. The Bermuda fairways were mostly lush with most divots already repaired. The Bermuda rough was lush and still thick even though mowed down low. Actually, nice to play out of at this level. The plentiful sand traps were very well maintained with good quality sand. The Bermuda greens putted medium speed and were firm and somewhat bumpy. Typical for late summer before over seeding. The customer service is always excellent here. Drink cart around once then closes early during twilight. Numerous water stations on the course. Good GPS on the carts. Nice all grass range that closed at 1pm today. Very challenging layout featuring moguls and many large bunkers that make for challenging sight lines that is in decent late summer condition. Always enjoy this layout, definitely recommended.

This is my son's first time at the Stadium course. Arrived at 5:40am for our 6:09 tee time. As we left our clubs near the bag drop, an attendant greeted us and loaded them to our carts. We walked in... Continue »

This is my son's first time at the Stadium course. Arrived at 5:40am for our 6:09 tee time. As we left our clubs near the bag drop, an attendant greeted us and loaded them to our carts. We walked in through an impressive clubhouse that includes Ernie's (we planned to get some breakfast to go but i guess it was still too early). We promptly got checked in and off we go to warm up. All grass driving range, chipping area and putting green. World class facility. As we approach the starter, he quickly reminded us that this is one of the toughest courses in the western region. And he wasn't kidding. We both bogeyed the first hole. The course was not in the best shape but decent enough to give us a good experience. Some of the bunkers were a little thin and some greens have bare spots. Made the turn and snack bar was closed. And no bev cart in sight. I guess getting out early, you need to bring your own food. There were water stations but no cups. Glad we brought our water bottles. As we approach 16 and 17, the heartbeat starts to beat a little faster in anticipation of the 'wall' or as it is noted as San Andrea's fault and Alcatraz. I survived 16 but my son did not and had a good 16 feet of a bunker shot to get up to the green. As he climbed back up to the green, you can feel the tiredness start to creep in. I reminded him to take it easy and compose himself before heading to the island green. After he calmed down, we hit our shots and his landed 6 feet for his birdie try, while my tee shot landed on the fringe. We survived the hole with ball dry and went to get our pars and victory was ours. Finished 18 in 3 1/2 hours (several holes waiting for 2some in front). Fun day indeed at Pete Dye's masterpiece. Certainly will be back for more punishment soon enough.

Overview: Finally played the Stadium Course at PGA West on Sat 1/26/19. It's hard to believe that PGA West has been open since 1985 and that the first course opened for play the following year. I th... Continue »

Overview: Finally played the Stadium Course at PGA West on Sat 1/26/19. It's hard to believe that PGA West has been open since 1985 and that the first course opened for play the following year. I think we all remember the hole in one that Lee Trevino had during the Skins Game back in 1987. I just remember sitting at home in Buffalo, New York and thinking "this is a golf course and community that looks absolutely amazing." There was the sharp contrast of the green overseeded rye grass versus the dormant bermuda grass and the Santa Rosa Mountains providing a scenic back drop. The sun was shining in La Quinta and I was wondering if I would ever to have a chance to play a course like this. For all intent and purposes this was the beginning of desert golf in the Southwest part of the United States.
PGA West has now grown to 6 courses ... with three of them being private and the other three being daily fee resort, but the Stadium Course was the one we all wanted to play because it was the course that we saw so many times on television and all we heard was how difficult it was.

Clubhouse: The Stadium Course shares a clubhouse with the Nicklaus Tournament Course and has a large pro shop and a nice place to eat (Ernie's). Service was good at the bag drop and in the pro shop, but outside services at the end of the round was not good. A member of my group left a chap stick and his suntan lotion in the golf cart, and he went back for it 5 minutes after we had our bags removed. The player assistant said he did not remember seeing anything and that he would not remember if anything was left in the cart because they had cleaned 166 carts today ... disappointing to hear this type of customer service.

Course: The Stadium Course was in great shape. The Desert Classic had just being completed on the previous Sunday, so it was still in PGA Tour shape. The greens were firm and quick, the fairways were lush and the sand in the bunkers was very good. I now understand fully about the Indio effect and how you need to bring that into the equation while reading putts. I can now say that the Stadium Course is a position golf course. You need to miss in the right place. It was a stern test of golf and I especially enjoyed 16, 17 and 18. I think 16 is an underrated hole and is very difficult because if you miss it down the left side you are in very challenging bunkers.

Final Thoughts: Pete Dye created a very good course that has held up over time and is a course that should be played if you visit the Coachella Valley.

Played today in great weather. Warmest I have played in weeks. Played in a great POP of 4 H. All I can say from my last time here, is WOW. I have played courses the week after a PGA tournament before.... Continue »

Played today in great weather. Warmest I have played in weeks. Played in a great POP of 4 H. All I can say from my last time here, is WOW. I have played courses the week after a PGA tournament before. This was the best conditioned of any one that I had played before. So clean. So manicured (looked like they used scissors (LOL). Never had a bad tee box. Never had a bad lie. Never got this much roll in a fairway. Never had so many 3 and 4 footers that I was nervous over (yes the greens were that good and that fast). This was one of the most enjoyable rounds of golf I have ever played (and I have played many). Customer service was terrific at all levels. Food and beverage after were just great. When in P S a must play, IMO.

Found a super awesome hot deal for $80 this morning and immediately pulled the trigger. Today was the last day that the course is open to the public before the Desert Classic next week. The first 4 ho... Continue »

Found a super awesome hot deal for $80 this morning and immediately pulled the trigger. Today was the last day that the course is open to the public before the Desert Classic next week. The first 4 holes there was a light rain then it stopped and everything was perfect.

Conditions were almost perfect as expected for a PGA Tour stop. For it raining pretty hard in the morning the course drained very well. I never found a puddle or muddy spot on the entire course including the traps. Fairways were cut short and when dry had extra roll leading to balls running off the fairways into the nasty rough. Greens were still firm and exceptionally fast despite the morning rain. I dont want to know how fast they will be when dry! Most Tee boxes were pushed up to reserve the nice grass for the pro's but all tee's were well manicured. Id say that the blue tee's were slightly shorter than the card expect for Alcatraz which was playing long.

Seeing all of the grandstands up make this course much more exciting and I can wait to play another course with grandstands. It also shakes your nerves because workers were watching me golf all day but I guess I liked the challenge as I shot a 79.

Played on 1/6/18. The course is in PGA condition. The stands are set up and the greens are rolling a glassy smooth 11.8, it had rained hard the morning off our tee time so they likely would have been ... Continue »

Played on 1/6/18. The course is in PGA condition. The stands are set up and the greens are rolling a glassy smooth 11.8, it had rained hard the morning off our tee time so they likely would have been north of 12 otherwise. Only 2 weeks away from the Desert Classic, this is the time to play out here. Pictures to follow!