played sunday 3/22, 8am shotgun, 4:45 round, forecast for 103 temp. That last hour the temp went up severely. wow. Course in fabulous shape. lush throughout. greens in good shape, true, a fast 10 on t... Continue »

played sunday 3/22, 8am shotgun, 4:45 round, forecast for 103 temp. That last hour the temp went up severely. wow. Course in fabulous shape. lush throughout. greens in good shape, true, a fast 10 on the stimp. the more challenging of the 2 courses. still wide fairways, but more danger near the greens on most holes. Fantastic resort, good customer service. restaurant good, 2 cart girls out and about. Both courses are in great shape and fun to play... probably a top 3 golf complex in palm springs. Had a great time.

Played on 6/26 at 8 am. The course is in excellent condition and the renovations have just made the course even nicer. The new greens are very firm and even well struck irons roll out quite a ways a... Continue »

Played on 6/26 at 8 am. The course is in excellent condition and the renovations have just made the course even nicer. The new greens are very firm and even well struck irons roll out quite a ways and leave no ball mark. The fairways, tee boxes and sand traps were all in great condition. Enjoy!

Played 6/4/25 @ 1240pm. It was getting a little warm when we started, by the end it was HOT! They completely leveled all the tee boxes and revised the greens. Tee boxes- it really makes a huge diffe... Continue »

Played 6/4/25 @ 1240pm. It was getting a little warm when we started, by the end it was HOT! They completely leveled all the tee boxes and revised the greens. Tee boxes- it really makes a huge difference playing from a level area. They are all new, so there were no problems there. Fairways were nice with a few brown spots here and there. The two sand traps that I had were great. Rough was just a little longer than the fairway- it's a resort course so it won't beat you up. The greens were something else altogether... They are still brand new and still settling in. They were hard as a rock and even well struck shots were bouncing off the back. The starter said play everything 10 feet short and have it bounce up because they're not going to stop. Very hard to figure out the greens until they settle in. I've seen the conditions better, but all in all it's still a wonderful course. One of my favs here.

Behind on my reviews this month, but better to post than not at all.

THANK YOU everyone that came out for our year end outing on 12/9 and all our great goodie sponsors. AndewZ28 on hand making it ... Continue »

Behind on my reviews this month, but better to post than not at all.

THANK YOU everyone that came out for our year end outing on 12/9 and all our great goodie sponsors. AndewZ28 on hand making it rain Linksoul apparel! OnCore Golf, Golf Moose and Vivid Golf also loading up the prize table.

I only played the front nine because I wanted to have more time hanging out with our group when they finished and setup our raffle/prizes. My favorite part of the outings is the good times we have after play so this worked out perfect.

Desert Willow Golf Resort was in super shape as always which many of the previous reviews indicate so I’m going to give an golf organizer perspective here.

First off, the staff is exceptional from start (the day I emailed DWGR to organize the event) to the moment we left and even follow-up emails asking how everything went. Very friendly, professional, accommodating and on time.

The staging area is perfect. It’s easy to keep track of all your players from bag drop to tee time. The practice facility is next to the clubhouse and includes driving range (balls already set up), practice putting and short game area. Golf carts are conveniently staged with a dedicated staff member and first tee starter making sure things are running smoothly.

On the course marshals do a good job keeping play moving.

After play, the patio is ideal for small groups to enjoy delicious food/drink with a stunning view of the 9th and 18th holes. For larger groups utilize DWGR's private banquet rooms.

It’s a very special experience and I can’t recommend enough.

Do not hesitate to book an outing here.

Happy Holidays

Played on the GK event at Desert Willow. Course was in great shape. Layout of the course is great with many tees to challenge every type of golfer and amazing Mountain views frame most holes.

Th... Continue »

Played on the GK event at Desert Willow. Course was in great shape. Layout of the course is great with many tees to challenge every type of golfer and amazing Mountain views frame most holes.

The pin placements that day were brutal. On ridges or tucked in corners. It’s a fun course on a Saturday there is no need to set it up in a way that would naturally slow down play.

The bar overlooking the course would a a great spot for after the round. The pro shop was nicely stocked. Thanks to linksoul for the shirt. With so much negativity in golf these GK plays really are the best part of the game for me right now.

Joined the big GK group at DW Firecliff in an 1110 tee time with fellow septuagenarian GKer rickgee. Rick and I played White and the others in the group were back on Lavender, so not as much interacti... Continue »

Joined the big GK group at DW Firecliff in an 1110 tee time with fellow septuagenarian GKer rickgee. Rick and I played White and the others in the group were back on Lavender, so not as much interaction as usual. The weather was picture perfect and we played at a steady pace – other reviewers have also commented on the good POP. We arrived at the course a little late ahead of our tee time and so only had a few minutes to take a few swings on the nice grass range – didn’t get a chance to stroke any putts, then called to the first tee right on time.

The course was in wonderful condition. White tees were level and in good shape – only a few were a little damp and showed more spike/shoe damage to be avoided. Fairways were like carpet with consistent great lies and good coverage. Rough was about 2 inches, not too long, but just sticky enough to affect the swing and require strict attention. I was in several bunkers and they were uniformly great, and for the most part other golfers had raked their usage areas (hey, we had an hour’s worth of GKers in front of us!). Greens were stellar – slightly firm but pretty receptive, rolled smoothly, and with consistent speed. I think we were all expecting them to be a little quicker, as the whole group left putts short all day long. Pin positions were tricky on a lot of greens, with locations on or adjacent to mounds and slopes that resulted in a lot of break right around the hole.

I was coming off an extended period of not playing, and I struggled throughout the round looking for consistency in any part of my game. Not being sharp, I left the ball out of position throughout the round, and I swear I had 8 to 9 putts where a significant slope or mound on the green was between me and the hole. You don’t make many (or any) of those types of putts, and you had to work hard to just 2-putt – it wasn’t until I left the ball below the hole on a reasonable grade that I was able to finally make a couple putts late in the round.

Despite my struggles I enjoyed the great course conditions, the COC weather, and the group I played with. Also great seeing many GK buddies afterwards on the patio, after being away for many months. Very good food and great prizes – thanks as always to Johnny for all his great efforts.

Saw the cart girl numerous times. Clean, convenient bathrooms and water stations. Sand/divot mix refills available in several locations. Just a first-class operation. I’ve never had a bad experience at Desert Willow over the years, and always look forward to playing either of the courses here.

Some of the best desert golf Southern California has to offer. Incredible property. Greens seemed relatively fast with their accompanied championship Sunday placements for a resort course but pace of ... Continue »

Some of the best desert golf Southern California has to offer. Incredible property. Greens seemed relatively fast with their accompanied championship Sunday placements for a resort course but pace of play did not suffer. Thoroughly enjoyed the challenge. Cant wait to get back here next year! Worth the trip.

9/9 GK event on a great late fall day 70ish no more thanan occassional light breeze playing on a scenic well maintaned and managed golf resort. Conditions overall were very good with an easy checkin ... Continue »

9/9 GK event on a great late fall day 70ish no more thanan occassional light breeze playing on a scenic well maintaned and managed golf resort. Conditions overall were very good with an easy checkin with assigned carts and easy access to the DR and practice areas.
Fairways have good cover with very few slightly thin areas where possibly the overseeding was affected by wind or water. Lies were good from the fairway and were sometimes tighter near the greens. There were more unfilled divots that I had expected. Rough was not long but as noted previously it could be quite sticky at times.
Bunkers have nicely compacted fine sand and had good cover with only 1 we encountered being thin at the low point. Tees overall lush and level with some issues on a couple of the par 3s where there were and overwhelming # of un filled divots. I played from the tan markers and in general the boxes were quite small so not easy to rotate the markers.
Greens were very healthy rolled medium fast and were fairly consistent. Their surface seemed a little crusty or maybe grainy but overall rolled smothly. Needed to have more local knowledge as they were tough to read as the prevailing topography was a definite factor(where was the Indio is that way sign) and some pin placements were downright devilish.
Fun layout with good variety and deceptively difficult as the wide appearing fairways were elusive. Additionally with pins often near edges short sided mises were often a given.
Well worth the spluge and Johnny once again was the consumate host.

Was the last group off at the GK Event this past weekend. Had an absolute blast and we finished somewhere in the 4:15 mark so pace of play was awesome!

This was my first time at Desert Willow and I... Continue »

Was the last group off at the GK Event this past weekend. Had an absolute blast and we finished somewhere in the 4:15 mark so pace of play was awesome!

This was my first time at Desert Willow and I absolutely loved it. I thought the layout was super interesting, challenging but fair and visually really stunning. I haven't played much desert golf but this one had a different feel to me. You feel like you're kind of secluded in your own oasis as opposed to being out in the desert. It was really cool.

The conditions of the course were fantastic. Kind of crazy how "sticky" the grass is this time of year. Had nothing but great lies all day, but that deep emerald green overseed is so lush. Absolutely loved the visual and playing conditions.

I had some difficulty with the greens and I think there is something about putting in the desert where the mountains or whatever have an affect on the break. They rolled pure but I felt like they were a tad slower than they looked but on chips and pitches had more roll out than expected. But they were fantastic, no complaints.

The staff was awesome, the facilities are great and it just feels a crazy world class experience. I would highly recommend Desert Willow to anyone with no hesitation. Great place!